Which military aircraft have you been in?

[Replicant]

Which military aircraft cockpits have you been in or would like to go in?  Did the ones you've been in surprise you in anyway?  Cramped?  Logical layout?  Did they make you wonder how they ever flew such things in combat?

Here's a list of ones I've been in...

WW2[/u]

Lancaster III - very roomy aircraft, good pilot view but nose bomb aimer section not as good as B-17.  Fuselage much roomier than B-17 though.

B-17G - fuselage very cramped through bomb bay, but great cockpit and excellent nose section.  Really surprised me how large it was up there.  Waist gunners surprised me when I thought just how thin the aircraft skin was!  Proabably my favourite aircraft to have been in.

Mosquito B35 - Bomber variant, surprisingly roomy probably due to staggered seating positions, very good visability.

Avro Anson I - very sweet twin.

Ju-52 - kind of reminded me of a old classic car... or rather a bus!  Nice though!

Short Sunderland - fantastic aircraft, typically huge on the inside and I would guess very crew friendly.  Seeing how the bombs swung out was really interesting.

Post War

Gloster Meteor F.8 - quite roomy for a fighter aircraft although I wouldn't want to spend too long in there.

EE Lightning - very cramped for such a large fighter aircraft.  Didn't help not being unable to move the seat!

Hawker Hunter - roomier than the Lightning but still smaller than the Meteor.

B-52D - surprised me just how many crew stations there were and how claustrophobic it must have been for them.  Pilot/co-pilot had arm chair like seats though!

DH Sea Vixen - very egonomic cockpit for such an old jet.  Very comfortable.

DH Sea Venom & Vampire - cramped side-by-side, not for me!  Jet Provost same sort of layout.

Fairy Gannet - sort of roomy, nothing too special, kind of imagine how the TBM would be.

F-111E - thing I noticed the most was trying not to smack your head on the canopy when trying to get in.  Very, very old instruments but side by side looked rather comfy.

F-4J - Very sweet aircraft although I found the forward view somewhat limited because of the large frame around the toughened glass.  Nice instrument layouts.

Harrier GR.3 (AV-8A) - pretty cramped and I wonder how they ever fought in these!

Harrier GR.7 (AV-8B) - very, very spacious, I would guess a pilots dream cockpit.  Very well laid out and excellent visibility.

Avro Vulcan B.2 - for such a large aircraft it has a smaller cockpit than a Cessna 152!  I can't imagine how they flew these without wanting to get out!

Panavia Tornado GR.1 - excellent layout, good visibility and very roomy.  Nice!

Helicopters - Sea King, Wessex, Wasp, Huey UH-1.  Wasp very cramped, especially trying to get in, but the others were great!

Aircraft I really would to have a look inside include B24, B25, B29, Hurricane, Spitfire and pretty much any German aircraft!

[hogenbor]

Boeing B-17 'Sally-B'

Ju-52 (fuselage)

Short Sunderland

Antonov An-2

PBY Catalina

[Replicant]

Ah, Catalina, bet that was nice?  Always liked the look of those side window pods, must have been great for observation!

[VWE]

I'm 6' 5" so nothing I've been in is roomy except the F4E.

P-51D my shoulders are too wide while the 109G6 though snug I actually fit.

P-47J for as large an aircraft as it is the cockpit is awfully tight and you need to be short. No way for me to sit in there with the conopy closed and my helmet on.

He-111 has a very comfortable seating position for both pilot and co-pilot and the view is exceptional.

US2B Tracker is tight but I can get into and out of the co-pilots seat inflight without much trouble.

B-25J very cramped, I can only fit in the tail section.

Mig-15bis yes, Mig-17 no.

PantherF9F yes, Mig-21 hell no! My God you would have to be about 5 foot tall to fit in the Mig-21!

F-86E yes, Fokker D VII yes, Sopwith Camel no.

TBM-3E very roomy both pilot and navigator but no way can I get into the ball turret.

F-104A no, F-105F yes.

TS-11 Iskra tight but able to fit.

FM2 Wildcat yes, any Mk. of Spitfire no.

F4U Corsair yes, very roomy.

P-40N yes.

L3-B yes actually though with me in the back and a friend in the front I think we were over gross takeoff weight... very slow climb and once in cruise the traffic on the highway below was actually going faster than us!

N2S4 Stearman yes, AT-6 yes, PT-19 yes, PT-22 no.

[Kev367th]

Flown in
BAe Hawk

Flown
Westland Lynx
Aerospatialle Gazelle
Chipmunk

Cockpit
Harrier
A10
Buccaneer
Spitfire
Vulcan

[Karnak]

C-47 cockpit.

Pretty cramped and cluttered.  I could work in it, but it would be uncomfortable on long flights.

I am 5'11" and about 180lbs.

[slimm50]

Post-war A26 Invader "Spirit of Waco". Sat in the pilot's seat while plane was on display at a local airshow.

[LtPillur]

Had a friend who owned a PBY I loved it!! Nothing bad to say. I fell in love with the look and feel and the way it sat in the water..just right.
Have flown a dc-3 (civilian version of the C-47). Cluttered to no end, noisy and unruly. Earned its name goony bird honestly.
Sat in P-51 I was in awe! What more can I say.
Flown the T-6 great plane but this one was REAL noisy
PT-17 a trip and then some. I want to own one when I get wealthy (right).
I was very lucky to start my flight training at the time when WW2 pilots were in there 50's and running flight schools. It opened a lot of very interesting doors for me.

Then the usual sit in walk arounds at air shows. I am amazed at how tight most of these thngs are. And crawling to a tail turrett must have taken some real cajones.
The thing that amzes me is how cluttered they feel, how tight they feel and how clumsy they look. I doubt I could have been a pilot in WW2. When I was in college (waaayyy back when) I had a friend who joined the Navy to be a fighter pilot. He was ~6 feet tall. He ended up flying "regular" planes because he was too tall for the aircraft.
Peace
Pillur

[Replicant]

Originally posted by VWE

TS-11 Iskra tight but able to fit.

What's one of those?

[Replicant]

Originally posted by Kev367th
Flown in
BAe Hawk

Flown
Westland Lynx
Aerospatialle Gazelle
Chipmunk

Cockpit
Harrier
A10
Buccaneer
Spitfire
Vulcan

Kev, you ex-AAC?

Love the Buccaneer, one of my favourite planes ever.

[68DevilM]

ch53,mh53,ch46d,and e,harrier,v22,cobra,huey,c5,c130 the new   j models ones are awesome.

been up close with a f16,f18,prowlers,warthogs,p40,whats the new bomber were getting? the liberator right? been in that one.

what sucked it that they just had the sounds of freedom air show at the airstation and they didnt bring too many ww2 aircraft with them.


im sure there many more that ive either been in or at least climbed up and looked in the cockpit.

theres one more but i cant remember the designation, but it's still in use since the cold war, has a long wingspan and a thin fusallodge. it has fall of wheels on the wings during take off and can climb to what was it? 60-70k.

one more hint!

think! top secret and spy plane.

ohh and single engine:aok

[StarOfAfrica2]

B-17

F-15

A6M

T-6 Texan

Stearman



Actually flew in the Stearman and the T-6, even got to operate the controls in the T-6.  Sweet flying plane.  Sat in the cockpit of the zero (same place that had the Texan).  

Stearman owned by a guy running tours from a small airstrip on the North Shore.  Took me on the route the Japanese used for their attack on Pearl Harbor and pointed out the original locations and dimensions of the airfields and bases as they were back in 41, as well as landmarks they used to stay on track.  He can even show you the little airstrip (Haliewa) the P40s managed to take off from for their 7-man counterattack against the Japanese.  I highly reccomend the tour if you ever visit.  He also does acrobatic tours with loops and immels.  Totally rocks.  Thats my wife's b-day present to me every year.  Flight in the Stearman (until it wears out or the guy dies I guess lol).

[Slash27]

B-17 Sentimental Journey and a Bf 109 fuselage when  was about 11.  I crawled in a Mig-15 about 2 years ago. Being 6'2" 275, it wasnt too comfy:D

[VWE]

TS-11 Iskra is a Polish jet trainer.

[mora]

Originally posted by Replicant
Avro Vulcan B.2 - for such a large aircraft it has a smaller cockpit than a Cessna 152!  I can't imagine how they flew these without wanting to get out!

Yes, it looks incredible cramped for an aircraft of that size.