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What Cockpit?

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Old 1st Apr 2023, 11:41
  #3421 (permalink)  
 
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Here's another view.
Asturias, as ever, is sleuthing fairly well.




Last edited by meleagertoo; 1st Apr 2023 at 16:16.
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Old 1st Apr 2023, 12:47
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Looks a bit industrial to me -= British?
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Old 1st Apr 2023, 13:33
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The agricultural looking G clamp attached to the cockpit side is puzzling. The row of probably indicator lights at the top of the panel are odd, marked LH and RH and 1-5 (one missing). Some of the guages appear to have hand written stickers attached. The floor mounted thing about where the stick would be appears to be more recent than the rest but camera angles can give the wrong impression. None of that has led me anywhere so far. A museum piece?
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Old 1st Apr 2023, 16:03
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second picture has a clear "Flap Position" indicator/handle so definitely English speaking country. On the LHS that look like throttle pitch controls - but for a single prop?
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Old 1st Apr 2023, 16:25
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The agricultural G - clamp is the top of the boarding ladder.
Museum piece? Surprisingly, given its history, both battered and very incomplete examples are in storage at a US museum.
The 'floor mounted thing' appears to be an unusually unadorned conventional stick. I think at that stage of a prototype's career there would have been no need for more than a PTT on the stick, also explains the guidance notes on some instruments.
I can't explain the numbered indicator lights.

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Old 2nd Apr 2023, 11:15
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If its in storage at a US museum can we therefore assume it's a US built aircraft? I42 suggested it was but a confirmation would be helpful

well sort of........
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Old 2nd Apr 2023, 13:41
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It's American.
It set a global first and a US one. It was not a success despite excellent flying characteristics.
To say it suffered from a built-in identity crisis would be an understatement.
Multi-engine.
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Old 2nd Apr 2023, 16:16
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"It set a global first and a US one. It was not a success despite excellent flying characteristics.
To say it suffered from a built-in identity crisis would be an understatement."

Hmm - so perhaps something that tried to be two things (or more) at once................. like that ghastly submarine/plane that was on the board last year...................

I shall let my mind run free
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Old 2nd Apr 2023, 18:34
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I bet Asturias is a demon at cryptic crosswords too - and poker. Something tells me he either knows or is onto it.

Come on guys, read the pictures, look at the instrumentation. There are several clues there that just don't add up. Only fair to say there are some that don't add up to me either! Granted, nothing at all that will define the type, but certainly that would point in the right direction where precious few choices exist.
I think I've figured the five L and R lights. They're exactly what you'd expect to find in that position, though maybe not in such numbers - but this was a first.
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Old 2nd Apr 2023, 21:05
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Convair XF-81?
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Old 3rd Apr 2023, 08:06
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"is a demon at cryptic crosswords too - and poker. Something tells me he either knows or is onto it."

I do like doing cryptic crosswords - I never play cards for money and have hardly ever played poker - far more fun on here! And with about the same chance of making a fortune!!

I have learnt tho that you have to read EVERY word that an experienced challenger poster writes here - and then look to see what they HAVEN'T said.

I certainly wasn't anywhere near what seems to be Noyade's correct answer - I was thinking of some sort of Pushme-Pullyou like the Dornier Pfeil
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Old 3rd Apr 2023, 08:22
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I came across a picture of the XF-81 and for reasons I can't remember discounted it without further research. Like A56 I was heading down the wrong track. I suspect the indicator lights are some sort of yaw indicator based on reported directional stability problems with the prototypes. That cockpit ladder is one serious piece of kit!

Last edited by ea200; 3rd Apr 2023 at 08:22. Reason: typo
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Old 3rd Apr 2023, 12:43
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Noyade has it, well done. This is the first prototype with a Packard Merlin (hence the mixture control) and J33 jet - hence the Bearing Temp caption - never seen on a piston engine. Various other instrumentation anomalies suggest dissimilar engines (with the benefit of hindsight!)
My take on the L and R indicator lights is they are fire warnings. The early jets were horribly unreliable so I imagine would be festooned with zoned firewires so the pilot would know where the engine had failed and the implications of it.

Those test pilots certainly earned their dough...




Perhaps the biggest problem however, was the throttle lag the XP-81 suffered. Frank W. Davis describes the problem by stating “The pilot had about a 10 second lag when he wanted to go and about 2 seconds lag when he wanted to stop, with both thrust and drag being powerful and non-adjustable when they did occur.” (Consolidated Vultee XP-81, by Steve Ginter).Perhaps the biggest problem however, was the throttle lag the XP-81 suffered. Frank W. Davis describes the problem by stating “The pilot had about a 10 second lag when he wanted to go and about 2 seconds lag when he wanted to stop, with both thrust and drag being powerful and non-adjustable when they did occur.” (Consolidated Vultee XP-81, by Steve Ginter).

Perhaps the biggest problem however, was the throttle lag the XP-81 suffered. Frank W. Davis describes the problem by stating “The pilot had about a 10 second lag when he wanted to go and about 2 seconds lag when he wanted to stop, with both thrust and drag being powerful and non-adjustable when they did occur.” (Consolidated Vultee XP-81, by Steve Ginter)Perhaps the biggest problem however, was the throttle lag the XP-81 suffered. Frank W. Davis describes the problem by stating “The pilot had about a 10 second lag when he wanted to go and about 2 seconds lag when he wanted to stop, with both thrust and drag being powerful and non-adjustable when they did occur.” (Consolidated Vultee XP-81, by Steve Ginter)

Perhaps the biggest problem however, was the throttle lag the XP-81 suffered. Frank W. Davis describes the problem by stating “The pilot had about a 10 second lag when he wanted to go and about 2 seconds lag when he wanted to stop, with both thrust and drag being powerful and non-adjustable when they did occur.” (Consolidated Vultee XP-81, by Steve Ginter)
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Old 3rd Apr 2023, 20:31
  #3434 (permalink)  
 
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Thanks Mel. But A56 did the 'Hard Yakka' on this one - more than happy to hand control to him.
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Old 3rd Apr 2023, 22:14
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Make it so.
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Old 4th Apr 2023, 08:14
  #3436 (permalink)  
 
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Sorry - nothing to hand - and I wasn't anywhere near it TBH - I would have spent the next week dredging up strange "convertibles" ,.... car/plane, plane/dogs kennel, plane/birthday cake............... and all the other wonderful ideas from crackpots

Open House!
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Old 6th Apr 2023, 14:55
  #3437 (permalink)  
 
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Old 6th Apr 2023, 15:21
  #3438 (permalink)  
 
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Yak-12...?
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Old 6th Apr 2023, 18:35
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Nyet.
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Old 6th Apr 2023, 20:14
  #3440 (permalink)  
 
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Military trainer. Polish?
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