FA+
Shop
341
Views
Views
38
Favorites
Favorites
Category
All / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1600 x 1200
File Size 759.5 kB
Report this content
★
More from rabbi-tom
Listed in Folders
Parked in a F4U-A1 Corsair
This was a literal dream come true, to sit in the cockpit of a F4U-A1 Corsair from WW2. The Corsair is my favorite warbird, and having been around them constantly at various air shows, but never in the actual cockpit.
Admittedly it was a bit of a pain to climb inside the cockpit, and moreso getting out. But to actually work the stick and rudder peddles, and never realizing there was a small window on the floor just before the seat.
I stood in line for over an hour to just do this, And sadly it cost me the ability of photographing the Canadian built Avro Lancaster bomber in the air coming in to land at EAA.
But still....Wow!!
And there was a P-51 next to this Corsair and it was obvious the P-51 was far easier to climb in and out of the cockpit due to placement of the wing. The Mustang's cockpit was directly over the wing, where the Corsair's wing was forward of the cockpit.
*Edit* Just dawned on me, the original gun sight is missing. I guess to make landing visibility easier since its not like its going into combat.
Admittedly it was a bit of a pain to climb inside the cockpit, and moreso getting out. But to actually work the stick and rudder peddles, and never realizing there was a small window on the floor just before the seat.
I stood in line for over an hour to just do this, And sadly it cost me the ability of photographing the Canadian built Avro Lancaster bomber in the air coming in to land at EAA.
But still....Wow!!
And there was a P-51 next to this Corsair and it was obvious the P-51 was far easier to climb in and out of the cockpit due to placement of the wing. The Mustang's cockpit was directly over the wing, where the Corsair's wing was forward of the cockpit.
*Edit* Just dawned on me, the original gun sight is missing. I guess to make landing visibility easier since its not like its going into combat.
Category All / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1600 x 1200px
File Size 759.5 kB
Listed in Folders
On my page, I've got a series of photos I took of a P-51 and an F4U-5N. In a couple of the photos, I'm sitting in the cockpit of the Mustang. I'd often heard that most fighter pilots were around 5'7" or shorter. If you look at the photos, you'll see that my head was just below the frame for the canopy and the headrest hit me on my neck and shoulders. (I'm 5"11".)
Last warbird I got to sit in was the PBY Catalina the CAF had - air show in Texas in the 1980s. Crew let me try the controls, dang those elevators were heavy. All gears, chains and cables - no hydraulics. Was a couple of months before that plane and crew were lost in an accident doing a low level flight over the Gulf of Mexico. They clipped some pole a shrimp net was moored too. Got to me seeing that on the news.
WOW! Great opportunity. I have loved them since Robert Conrad and Baa Baa Black Sheep hit the airwaves in the 1970s. They probably removed the original gun site as it would be used as a hand grip by civilians getting out of the cockpit -- plus it's too much of a rare aviation piece of history.
Comments