The P-38G forward view with the makeshift factory armored glass is a bit limited. It almost seems as if the cockpit view is too high -- or not. I pulled some shots of the P-38G showing a pilot and my impression is that it is too high. I could easily be wrong since it seems like it's hard to get a really neutral shot of the cockpit given the plane's design. Most photos seem to be looking down (quite a bit) or looking up from the ground, which create perspective issues. Here is my presentation, and I hope anybody else with something more conclusive either way would post it.
Current AH forward view:
Some cockpit perspectives from Jeff Ethell’s P-38 Lightning in World War II color, the Net and the June 2003 edition of Wings:
I adjusted this one back and up some since the pilot is leaning forward.
I believe the view should be more in line with this, though this might be just a touch too low:
The images give an overall perspective, at least to me, that the top padded portion of the glass would appear higher from the neutral sight line in the forward view. The padded portion lies almost in line with the top of the head and not at the middle of the forehead as the current perspective would suggest. I feel this is the case even in a more typical zoomed view. This would seem logical as well since any engineering solution, even an interim one like this, would work to minimize any reduction in visibility. I tried to take into account the photos’ perspectives based on an aircraft's nose-high stance on the ground and the various photographer angles by using the tail boom line or the cockpit base rail as reference points.
Just my opinion, since none of the photos I could find are really absolutely conclusive. It's also hard to tell how seat adjustment comes into play since some of the photos I've seen show the pilot much lower or much higher than thay appear here. There's one of Art Haiden where he appears much lower in the cockpit.
Charon
