Author Topic: F4u belly window. (Read 364 times)

Pongo · « **on:** October 01, 2000, 08:18:00 PM »

Im building my F4u1d model and it has a big window on the belly. The pilot could look right down between his feet....Why doenst the game hog have it?

GRUNHERZ · « **Reply #1 on:** October 01, 2000, 08:58:00 PM »

Hi

Ds didnt have the window it was found to be useless.

thanks GRUNHERZ

Mathman · « **Reply #2 on:** October 02, 2000, 01:42:00 AM »

Pongo,

I did some checking after you brought this up in the MA earlier tonight. The window was in the early versions of the F4U, but was later deleted. However, before it wqas deleted, it was painted over. Most of the pilots never used it, and some even said they couldn't if they wanted to. They said that it would be covered with trash and dirt that had fallen down from the cockpit. It would cover it up from the inside to the point that it was useless.

-math

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"Any American fighter near Orote Penninsula. I have forty Jap planes surrounded and need a little help."
-Ens. W.B. "Spider" Webb during the Marians Turkey Shoot

ra · « **Reply #3 on:** October 02, 2000, 04:01:00 PM »

I believe the Wildcat had 2 windows down there, also pretty useless.

ra

Igloo · « **Reply #4 on:** October 03, 2000, 02:23:00 PM »

The C/F-18 has a canopy painted under it's cockpit. Kinda cool.

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Squadron Leader, Igloo.
C/O RCAF 411 Squadron - County of York

"Problems cannot be solved with the same awareness that created them" - Albert Einstein[/i]

Pongo · « **Reply #5 on:** October 04, 2000, 09:54:00 AM »

Thanks guys..

Toad · « **Reply #6 on:** October 04, 2000, 12:07:00 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Igloo:
The C/F-18 has a canopy painted under it's cockpit. Kinda cool.

Yeah, IIRC the USAF tried that a long time ago down at Luke AFB in Phoenix. They even got Keith Ferris the aviation artist to help in the designs/colors. An "air superiority" paint job project I think they called it.

I believe the idea was to induce a moment of doubt or a bit of misdirection as to which side of the planform you were looking at in a close encounter.

The US forces dropped the idea though.