Question about Spitfire Canopy

[HagarTheHorrible]

Is it right that the Vb hood has both a break out panel and the flappy paddles canopy eject ?  I thought it was one or the other with the flappy paddles superseding the break out panel.

[BlitzPig_EL]

I just wish the canopy could be opened without the cockpit side door being opened as well.

 

And I see they managed to keep the very low speed ground loop at the very end of the landing roll out.

 

[ShamrockOneFive]

So I opened the canopy and the side door did not open. What am I doing right/wrong?

[BlitzPig_EL]

Odd.

 

I hit my button mapped to open the canopy and the door opens as well, every time.

[CIA_Yankee_]

The side door opens based on your airspeed, as far as I can tell. If it'll get ripped off by the airflow, the pilot doesn't open it. But once you come to a stop, you can close the canopy and reopen it to see the side door opened.

[Hoss]

I'd like to know why the front canopy frame is skewed to the right, it's kind of distracting and makes you feel like you're sitting crooked in the cockpit

 

Cheers

 

Hoss

[ShamrockOneFive]

The side door opens based on your airspeed, as far as I can tell. If it'll get ripped off by the airflow, the pilot doesn't open it. But once you come to a stop, you can close the canopy and reopen it to see the side door opened.

 

Makes sense

[HagarTheHorrible]

Most pictures, or color profiles, seem to show the canopy without the emergency breakout panel, that said it's difficult to get a definitive answer because of the few photo's available and what there is, is fairly grainy.  One picture/profile that I can find with the breakout panel is wrong in other details, even where the photo of the real aircraft is distinct,  that it suggests that the whole profile is suspect.

 

 

 

Other profiles tend to show the Russian Vb's without  the panel ;

 

 

 

It seems the breakout panel was discontinued towards the end of "41" and, although it had nothing to do with escaping from the cockpit (was actually for emergency instrument defogging), it seems to have disappeared at the same time as the new canopy eject system was introduced (Red balls to you and me) and was probably a simple old canopy for new canopy, with new canopy eject system, replacement without the discontinued feature.  Although it wouldn't be difficult to believe, it seems odd that aircraft operating by 1943, even given the vagaries of Lend Lease would still be using the old Mk II  Spitfire canopies, especially given the presence of the canopy eject system.

 

As a side note.  Even if the mirror is disabled, for FPS performance reasons, should the mounting braket, or at least the plate part of it, still be visible ?

 

 

 

The mirror, to me, looks to be slightly convex rather than flat.

 

 

I saw this convex mirror feature in a Hunter cockpit a couple of days ago, it was subtle but effective.

[ICDP]

For a long time it was believed the breakout panel was fitted because at high speed it was almost impossible to open the canopy due to airflow.  Pilots would push out the breakout panel to equalise the air pressure so the canopy could be slip backwards during bail out.  I since found documentation that the panel was an emergency "demister".

 

All Spitfires built after Nov 1941 had the newer bulge sided canopy.  I would have liked the bulged canopy as an unlock.  Maybe it will be added at some point.

[unreasonable]

Good pictures Hagar - the mirror most certainly looks slightly convex to me too.  I would think, though, that removing the whole thing by unscrewing the base plate would be just as easy as removing the mirror from the mounting (and leaving a horn sticking up on which to impale yourself if you slip while getting in or out of the cockpit ).  After all, the mirror plus mounting plate is a whole unit - which could be fitted on another aircraft - the mirror on it's own is completely useless.

[HagarTheHorrible]

Good pictures Hagar - the mirror most certainly looks slightly convex to me too.  I would think, though, that removing the whole thing by unscrewing the base plate would be just as easy as removing the mirror from the mounting (and leaving a horn sticking up on which to impale yourself if you slip while getting in or out of the cockpit ).  After all, the mirror plus mounting plate is a whole unit - which could be fitted on another aircraft - the mirror on it's own is completely useless.

I was thinking more along the lines that, the mirror, in reality, would have been fitted, it is only left out in the sim, unless enabled, for FPS performance reasons. The correct pilots view from the cockpit should always include the mounting plate, even if the stalk and mirror are absent (for the already mentioned graphics reasons), unless that is Spitfires regularly operated without the mirror and thus the mounting bracket ?

[Trooper117]

I've found that on the ground, when you open the canopy, the side door opens as well... However, in the air, if I open the canopy prior to landing, (as per the pilots notes) the door remains closed.

Note: the pilots notes also refer to the door should be in the 'half cocked' position on take off and landing ...

Edited July 8, 2017 by Trooper117