To which aircraft does this cockpit belong?
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To which aircraft does this cockpit belong?
Hello everyone, a total newbie so please be nice 
I was going through some old photos today which I inherited from my Dad in 1996. There's one that's always puzzled me. It's of a cockpit. I believe he took it himself probably in the late 60s or the 70s. It would probably have been taken in an airport in England - perhaps Heathrow. Mum and Dad didn't travel abroad until later in life.
I would love to know which aircraft it was taken in. And as a wildside bonus who are the pilot, co-pilot and navigator?
If anyone can identify the plane I will love you to bits forever.
Here it is - many thanks
I was going through some old photos today which I inherited from my Dad in 1996. There's one that's always puzzled me. It's of a cockpit. I believe he took it himself probably in the late 60s or the 70s. It would probably have been taken in an airport in England - perhaps Heathrow. Mum and Dad didn't travel abroad until later in life.
I would love to know which aircraft it was taken in. And as a wildside bonus who are the pilot, co-pilot and navigator?
If anyone can identify the plane I will love you to bits forever.
Here it is - many thanks
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He's noting approvingly that the aircraft is old enough to have a Flight Engineer aboard - an 'adult' to stop the pesky teenagers in the front seats breaking thigs too much.
(Akin to the myth of the perfectly automated cockpit, with a big button, a pilot and a dog. The pilot's job is just to press the button. The dog's job being to bite the pilot if he tries to press the button)
(Akin to the myth of the perfectly automated cockpit, with a big button, a pilot and a dog. The pilot's job is just to press the button. The dog's job being to bite the pilot if he tries to press the button)
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Tridents flew with 3 pilots, except Northeasts which used a Flight Engineer betwixt Newcastle and Heathrow. If it was BEA, it was 3 pilots. BEA did not employ F/Es. The unique controls and window combination give the type away, though which model Trident an ex-groundgripper can come up with. We'd need far better resolution than that.
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Thanks Rainboe. I can do a much better resolution scan of the cockpit and then crop to a certain area so that I don't blow the picture sizing rules. I have scanned it big enough to see that the Adult (FE or third pilot - the one with three white/four dark bars on his shoulder at the back) wears a wedding band on his hand.
Which area could I zoom in on and crop to aid specific model (1,2 or 3) identification?
Dad did work for some time in the late 60's 70's for Westland Helicopters in London.
Which area could I zoom in on and crop to aid specific model (1,2 or 3) identification?
Dad did work for some time in the late 60's 70's for Westland Helicopters in London.
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How about scanning at v high res and putting it on one of the web's free photo hosting services, and then just post a link here? That way the PPrune photo size rules wont matter
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Reg on co-pilots panel is G-ARPR which was a series 1 according to G-INFO
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Note the nav display in the center of the instrument panel.
This looks like a Decca Navigator to me, and during trials in the late 1960's in California, we had one of these fitted to one of our aircraft.
A neat bit of kit, it was, very accurate.
This looks like a Decca Navigator to me, and during trials in the late 1960's in California, we had one of these fitted to one of our aircraft.
A neat bit of kit, it was, very accurate.
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Yes, the Tridents had Decca. Apparently for its time, it was amazingly accurate. Well served in North Western Europe for Decca stations. However, the Trident was flown by 'the enemy' at the time, though eventually we in BOAC were forcibly amalgamated with them and eventually the animosities passed into history! For the management, it must have been like merging 2 kennels of Rottweilers and Dobermans, but it didn't take that long before all was sweetness and light (about 20 years!).
The Tridents had red wings. The ad campaign was 'you could set your watch by the time the red wings passed overhead (whilst you were smiling up in the air watching them)' which caused tremendous mirth to the crews involved. The old BEA and BOAC crew checkins were totally separated. I would not have dared walking into the BEA pilot checkin- there was an effective state of war, not helped by rude comments being made about the unreadability of the various daft BEA logos on the fin. What fun it was in those days!
The Tridents had red wings. The ad campaign was 'you could set your watch by the time the red wings passed overhead (whilst you were smiling up in the air watching them)' which caused tremendous mirth to the crews involved. The old BEA and BOAC crew checkins were totally separated. I would not have dared walking into the BEA pilot checkin- there was an effective state of war, not helped by rude comments being made about the unreadability of the various daft BEA logos on the fin. What fun it was in those days!
Nav kit is DECCA HARCO I think.
We used to have a DECCA DANAC (very similar) on a Jetstream and also I installed one in a Hughes 500D. Very accurate but the guy flying the helicopter miss set his altimeter and tripped over some power lines in low cloud and crashed. He survived with just bruises.
We used to have a DECCA DANAC (very similar) on a Jetstream and also I installed one in a Hughes 500D. Very accurate but the guy flying the helicopter miss set his altimeter and tripped over some power lines in low cloud and crashed. He survived with just bruises.
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Left Seat- A Leach sadly deceased after car crash in poss Zambia and poor hospital treatment.
Right Seat- C Clarkson, graduate of College of Air Training, Hamble 1974 (where the best airline pilots in the world came from), so dates picture sometime after that. Not showing his rings, so can't provide further date clues
3rd pilot- working on that. Clues a bit sparse!
Whatever is the big artistically curved lever to the left of the Decca? Speedbrake?
Right Seat- C Clarkson, graduate of College of Air Training, Hamble 1974 (where the best airline pilots in the world came from), so dates picture sometime after that. Not showing his rings, so can't provide further date clues
3rd pilot- working on that. Clues a bit sparse!
Whatever is the big artistically curved lever to the left of the Decca? Speedbrake?
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Trident Cockpit
The lever to the left of the Doppler not Decca is the Parking Brake.
The Map followed the track and Groundspeed from the Doppler.
The trickey bit in the third seat was not to have your tea spilt when P2 moved his seat back
The Map followed the track and Groundspeed from the Doppler.
The trickey bit in the third seat was not to have your tea spilt when P2 moved his seat back
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Thankyou! What was that park brake lever- directly connected by cable? Must be the biggest one flying. That moving map is just Doppler? BEA did some work with Decca, didn't it? We had Doppler on the VC10- really only gave you digital L/R and DTG, no map at all. Hopeless over the sea, reasonably accurate (I think) over terrain with features. Not the best for an aeroplane that crossed oceans!
BEA would put the meal tray on the back of the copilot's seat. Designed so the 3rd pilot stabs himself in the face whilst trying to eat breakfast on final approach into Paris when the copilot adjusts his seat for landing?
BEA would put the meal tray on the back of the copilot's seat. Designed so the 3rd pilot stabs himself in the face whilst trying to eat breakfast on final approach into Paris when the copilot adjusts his seat for landing?
Last edited by Rainboe; 18th Apr 2009 at 22:38.