Spitfire style control column vs straight column
I've searched the archives to no avail so if this question is a duplicate, sorry.
Here goes: Can anyone give me valid reasons, be they ergonomic or otherwise, why British WW2 era fighters used a control column with a ring at the top as opposed to the straightforward style used elsewhere. I am an engineer, not a pilot so be gentle :) Knowing that necessity is the mother etc, I have to believe it was not just down to "this is what we had before, therfore this is what you get..." Thanks in advance |
They didn't know how to build a nice roomy cockpit like the Yanks
Think stick throw. |
In the days of manual controls a pilot could use both hands on a spade grip as opposed to a straight stick and therefore get more aileron quicker and therefore a faster rate of roll. There was nothing delicate about dog-fighting, it was throttles to the wall and violent manhandling of all the controls. Some pilots were so ham-fisted that they spun out of trouble. Other spun into it.
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I read somewhere that it was designed to eliminate the amount of lateral movement necessary with a conventional stick to obtain full aileron deflection.
(Like tinpis sez.) |
FWIW the Percival Prentice had a similar stick top IIRC. Make of it what you may, but dog-fighting was probably not top of the designer's priorities. Futile attempts at spin recovery, maybe. Heaving the damn thing off the ground, maybe.
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You could hang onto that style of stick during negative G.
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You **@#!**#@ Capot:
It has taken me years to erase the memory of that apology for a flying machine, and now you had to name the bloody thing and bring the nightmare back to life again, thanks a bunch ! |
These are all very sensible reasons for having a spade grip in a fighter. So answer me this, why did the Hotspur glider have one?
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No room unless you were Douglas Bader
BBC - WW2 People's War - WAR EXPERIENCES OF A GLIDER PILOT Part 1 WAR EXPERIENCES OF A GLIDER PILOT — Part 1 Training My name is Ron Willcox and I am now 83 years old. I was a glider pilot during the war. The training glider was called a Hotspur. There wasn’t a lot of room to sit and if you were a big man it was quite difficult to get in, and you would have to sit with your knees bent all the time. It’s rather like a ‘go kart’. We had a speed indicator which was the main instrument that you needed, and we also had an altimeter. |
This chap is building a replica Sopwith Snipe,
Sopwith Snipe Project His control grip is shown on page 20. Guess what shape it is... Cheers! |
These are all very sensible reasons for having a spade grip in a fighter. So answer me this, why did the Hotspur glider have one? |
Henry Crun
Here's some aversion therapy; http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/f.../th_Ident2.jpg Now back to the thread.................................... |
The RCAF Harvards (1953) had a spade in the front cockpit and a stick in the rear cockpit. You can't be fairer than that.
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I am not sure why some posters have expressed the view that the spade top in a small cockpit gave better lateral stick throws without hitting ones thighs.
I think they may have been confusing the Spitfire's cranked stick which certainly is easier to keep away from your thighs than a straight stick. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...irecockpit.jpg |
Originally Posted by xv275
These are all very sensible reasons for having a spade grip in a fighter. So answer me this, why did the Hotspur glider have one?
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Thanks for that High Tow, it certainly fits in with the information I have and it confirms that the one drawing I have shows the correct control layout for the Mk 1, indeed the penciled aditions might even be the first sketch of the cranked Spade grip.
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