Instrument panel question

There is a long thread on the subject elsewhere. Suffice to say, there are opinions either way, but also that there are a good number of instruments from all eras which do not have radium paint.

Bruce

I’m probably going to rattle a few cages now…but you should be made aware that some instrument faces, expecially WW2 are painted with a Radium type paint which is a bit naughty!

I completed a Mk 1 Hurricane panel, then on the advice from a friend borrowed a Geiger Counter. The panel was sold a few days later, along with a collection of WW2 German instruments that faired much worse when tested!

Some will say it’s a storm in a tea cup, but from what i witnessed, it wasnt worth the risk!

Now thats what I call balance – who wants to speak up for Jet Art?!

Bruce

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Crecy Publications have an excellent reprint series of most WW2 and post war RAF pilots notes, with illustrations of the instrument panel and drawing identifying the installed instruments by function.

The photos are usually detailed enough to identify scale range etc, but of course that still leaves some ambiguity to specific RAF Stores numbers.

http://www.afeonline.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=476

Available as new prints, they also pop up regularly as second hand on ebay.

I am not sure if the RAF Instrument Stores Index is available in the UK but the RAAF Instrument Stores index is available in CD form on ebay and it identifies the RAAF and RAF stores number of each instrument, its scale range and the RAAF types it was fitted to.in a matrix list format.

The commonality of types in RAAF and RAF service during WW2 and post war provides some value to UK collectors if a RAF specific index does not exist?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/RAAF-Instrument-List-WW2-1946-CD-/370478435376

Of course the hardest bit then is either finding a blank panel? (the 6 pack Blind Flying Panel is relatively easy to locate) but drawings and tracings exist in the hands of collectors etc to replicate blanks for Spitfires, P40’s, Lancasters etc.

The Instruments themselves are usually available on ebay or specialist suppliers such as Spitfire Spares.

http://www.spitfirespares.com/SpitfireSpares.com/Pages/instruments.html

Regards

Mark Pilkington

A lot are common to most types, plus there are readily available ref’s and help available. Here’s one example…

http://www.gbairspares.co.uk/reference.htm

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Thanks XG692 well spotted but I guess you have one! The right hand flange being 90 degrees out threw me, but with a bit of tin bashing it will fit. Pity the right hand top flange has been cut of. I have all the bits for it so there goes a bit more finished shortly.

DH112,

Your panel sits between the pilots legs on the Sea Venom FAW.22, immediately above the 1961 Intercom Amplifier.

It differs from the one shown in my copy of the FAW.22 pilots notes and AP in that your panel shows 1 double switch hole and then 4 single switch holes (albeit with the bridge missing between 3 & 4, numbered from left to right), whereas my AP shows 2 double switches and then 3 singles.

The double (that’s a single on your panel) is for the pitot head heater and Angle of Attack probe heater. It looks like your panel was fitted to FAW.22’s before the introduction of the AoA probe. The wiring idents on the reverse side of the panel (shown in your PM) match those for this panel in the FAW.22 AP.

From left to right the switches are …..

Battery Isolator, Pressure Head Heater (and later AoA probe heater also), Flight Instro Switch, Fuel Pump, Eng Starting Master Switch.

The two holes are for the Audio Deck Landing Aid controls.

Hope this helps.

XG692 & WN957

😮 Better to have too many copies than not enough!

Are you visiting Cockpitfest?

Thanks TwinOtter23 I was the the previous recipient of photo I think via the museum.

This may or may not help; below is a picture that I recently forwarded on for Newark’s Curator on a similar recent Sea Venom cockpit information request. :confused:

😀 That´s great! In german there´s only one word for both meanings.
Don´t expect any eggs coming 😉 .
Cheers,
Herbert

I hope you were brooding instead of breeding . . . !

Hello friends
After breeding over the pilot notes I now found out, that the panel of the pilot notes was originally of a Mk VII (see picture and mind the cutouts and holes, which some of them are filled with blind plates at the Mk XIV pilot notes). Adapted to Mk XIV standard 😮 .
It´s like the panel of the pilot notes Mk IX. They adapted a panel of an early Mk V. It was quite different to the planes of the production line.
So I decided to go for a replica taken from the drawing 37934-1-G.
So no Voltmeter necessary. Thanks anyway for your great help!
Cheers,
Herbert

Well, however I´ll be correct when I´ll mount the 20V meter (5A/1636 as one plan says).
Thanks your answers.
Regards,
Herbert

The line on the voltmeter, if it is anything like that fitted to a Hurricane (port side) or Spitfire panel is a line to denote 12v…..sorry chaps, but I still feel that the original poster is correct in it being a voltmeter and what you are seeing is not the ‘pointer’ but is a line at 12v (for an early mark)

That´s great, Keith!
I didn´t have a picture of that one and it´s nice to see a 20V Voltmeter.
Interesting also the cutout, that was once for a Mk VIII oxygen regulator filled with a Mk XI and an adapter plate.
Cheers,
Herbert

RM689/’RM619’/G-ALGT……No Smoking

I just love the ‘No Smoking’ placard.

It reminds me of a very old joke in ‘Flying Review’ when I first started buying it in the 1950s.

There was an RAF pilot sitting in his stationary Hunter puffing away, right beside a very large sign saying ‘No Smoking within 50’ of the aircraft.

He was using a 52′ cigarette holder. 🙂

Mark

Another RM689/G-ALGT Cockpit Shot

Here’s another shot of the cockpit of RM689/G-ALGT (Sorry, got gremlins in my serial numbers box!), from my files, and again courtesy of Rolls-Royce Plc, from above the canopy. Hope this is interest.

Regards
Keith

RM689/’RM619’/G-ALGT

Dambuster

An interesting photo with quite a few Rolls Royce personal modifications incorporated.

Re yesterday’s voltmeter/ammeter discussion, it is noted that the voltmeter is set on zero and that there is a digit mark at the 12v position.

Mark

Spitfire XIV cockpit Photo

For Puukka,..as you were asking for a photo of a Mk XIV cockpit, I managed to find this picture of Spitfire XIV, RM619, G-ALGT, in my files. It was taken some years ago, and is via Rolls-Royce plc. Hope this is of use. 😉

Regards
Keith