Battle cockpit restoration progress

Hi David,

Wonderful stuff please provide regular updates as work progresses.

Kind regards,

Tim

Looking good Dave! 🙂

No problem Mike.

I should of course have said what a briiliant job you’re doing on your project Dave, somehow I forgot to mention that yesterday!

Thanks, Ant. Must qualify as one of the less desirable ‘offices’ in the Air Force.

Hi Dave,
The South Australian Aviation Museum are restoring N2188, they might have a few extra bits.
http://www.saam.org.au/our-collection/restorations/
I sure you already knew that though.

Still have heaps of work to go have most of the parts required but still need a early merlin windscreen , canopy and some cowl sections .

Would be interested in any other battle parts still out there.

cheers dave

As I understand it, there was a hatch in the belly that the Nav climbed in through, and he then sat ensconsed in the mid cockpit section between pilot and gunner. I once spoke to a veteran who’d done some navigational training on Battles in Canada, and he said he was very glad of the hatch in the floor when the one he was flying in turned turtle on landing and killed the pilot.

Can’t see the picture/s as I use one of those tablet thingies and either it don’t like the images or, (more than likely), I don’t know what I am doing; still, nice to know that a type for which I have always had a sneaky liking is being remembered. I have to say my admiration for the (very) young men who were expected to fight in it knows no bounds.
Question: where or how did the navigator operate? I know the usual crew was three and that that worthy was somehow closeted in the fuselage interior between gunner and pilot but I never have been able to arrive at a clear understanding of his exact station. There was a bomb aiming window in the belly for his convenience (!), but where did he sit and how did he get there?

Hi all here is a pic of my Battle cockpit restoration progress.

Cheers dave

Hi Dave,

Looking good. Nice to see something other than a Spit…. 😉

:applause: Very nice ,well done.How much of the project do you have or left to get?

Sweet, it’s coming along nicely, well done 🙂