Open cockpits

[mthrockmor]

OK, what I am about to ask is based on numerous John Wayne movies, which may be my answer right off the bat.

I know with many early war birds the canopy allowed for the canopy to be opened during flight. I am thinking of the P-40, F6F, etc. What about allowing this option as a command with certain birds in flight. I can only imagine being an F6F pilot, having crappy visibility due to those massive bars in the way, rolling back the canopy for much better vision. (And yes, Greebo seems to have this resolved somehow.) What about allowing the canopy to be rolled back and the visibilty improve correspondly? I would guess for some birds it would go from obstructed to something closer to the bubble canopy of the P-51D.

Thoughts?

Boo

[Krusty]

It could only be done at slow speeds with steady orientation. In AH it would be so badly abused and left open all the time (especially in dogfights).


In reality, it was opened on final approaches so that if you crashed, or you missed the deck and splashed down, you could ESCAPE that much more quickly.

[colmbo]

Like Krusty said, there would be airspeed limitations on having the canopy open.  An open canopy is more drag so a performance loss would ensue and if modeled correctly the pilot is going to be buffeted around quite a bit.

[MachFly]

We can do it like the flaps. Have it automatically close the the speed increases.

[colmbo]

We can do it like the flaps. Have it automatically close the the speed increases.

There's a thought.  And if we're going to have an open canopy can we also have head positions for an open canopy?  It would be handy as heck to lean out and look around the nose on my Hog.

[tmetal]

^^ I would prefer to see it done more like how the landing gear works.  can only be opened at or below a certain speed, and will seperate from the plane if left open above a certain speed.

[Devil 505]

^^ I would prefer to see it done more like how the landing gear works.  can only be opened at or below a certain speed, and will seperate from the plane if left open above a certain speed.

Whats to say that somebody wont intentionally leave it open to be ripped off. An auto-closing canopy is the only way to make it work.

[MachFly]

Whats to say that somebody wont intentionally leave it open to be ripped off. An auto-closing canopy is the only way to make it work.

Technically that could work, if you rip off the canopy you'll be a good 50kts slower (maybe more).

[MachFly]

And if we're going to have an open canopy can we also have head positions for an open canopy?  It would be handy as heck to lean out and look around the nose on my Hog.

+1

[Babalonian]

We can do it like the flaps. Have it automatically close the the speed increases.

Or, even more realistic, treat it like landing gear - have it create significant drag or (if bubble canopy) come flying completely off, possibly fataly damaging your plane or pilot... ontop of the increased drag....   

[MachFly]

Or, even more realistic, treat it landing gear - have it create significant drag or (if bubble canopy) come flying completely off, possibly fataly damaging your plane or pilot... ontop of the increased drag....   

I doubt it would wound the pilot but the plane could certainly be damaged, and it would create a lot of drag. 

[Babalonian]

I doubt it would wound the pilot but the plane could certainly be damaged, and it would create a lot of drag. 

About a year and a half ago we had our museum's Spit XIV canopy (same canopy as on the spit IX, XVI and many other models too) grace one of our pilot's forhead with about a dozen stiches before narrowly missing the vertical stabilizer (we thank the pilot's thick skull for defleting it) and shattering on the runway behind him while on takeoff roll (AND he was wearing a MODERN full-head flight helmet, much like in your avatar, minus the sun visor and oxygen mask).  And this canopy was in the fully closed position, so the wind barely had much tug on it (we suspect somebody (a kid/guest) tugged at one of the emergency release levers at some time, then pushed t back into its secure position without resecuring the cable release before the flight).  Our Spit XIV is currently visiting the CAF hangar in Bullhead City (I think) for 6-months, it has a loaner canopy on it currently, the replacement one is being blown and will be shipped off to Bullhead City in the next month or two.

^ now our museum's #1 reason why pilots always wear a helmet.  The close second being insurance, ofc.

[JUGgler]

We can do it like the flaps. Have it automatically close the the speed increases.

Would you make it so the only thing you could hear is the roaring gail passing from one ear thru your skull and out the other?

It's about realism 




JUGgler

[MachFly]

About a year and a half ago we had our museum's Spit XIV canopy (same canopy as on the spit IX, XVI and many other models too) grace one of our pilot's forhead with about a dozen stiches before narrowly missing the vertical stabilizer (we thank the pilot's thick skull for defleting it) and shattering on the runway behind him while on takeoff roll (AND he was wearing a MODERN full-head flight helmet, much like in your avatar, minus the sun visor and oxygen mask).  And this canopy was in the fully closed position, so the wind barely had much tug on it (we suspect somebody (a kid/guest) tugged at one of the emergency release levers at some time, then pushed t back into its secure position without resecuring the cable release before the flight).  Our Spit XIV is currently visiting the CAF hangar in Bullhead City (I think) for 6-months, it has a loaner canopy on it currently, the replacement one is being blown and will be shipped off to Bullhead City in the next month or two.

^ now our museum's #1 reason why pilots always wear a helmet.  The close second being insurance, ofc.

How can it possibly hit the pilot when departing the airplane? It can't go down.

[Oldman731]

How can it possibly hit the pilot when departing the airplane? It can't go down.

Canopy handle.  Same thing happened to Robert Johnson in his first P-47 flight.

- oldman