I found this aluminium seat (assumed to be from an aircraft due to its deep well for a parachute) on a farm (I’m in Australia) without any other parts or clues to its orgin.
It has seat posts at the rear with a height adjuster, and lap harness remnants.
It does not carry any part numbers on it at all, that I have been able to find, there is a portion of servere corrosion on its base, and perhaps that has consumed such markings.
It appears to be finished in a light green paint although most has worn off.
I asssume its of British origin and assuming its from one of the three most numerous pre-war designs of the 1930s that in Australia with the RAAF I am suspecting it to be either Hawker Demon, Bristol Bulldog or Westland Wapiti, but of course photos of those aircraft showing good views of the pilots seat are difficult to find.
I note the website selling the Hinds recovered from Afganistan shows some pilots seats of “similar” but not “same” construction, and those are fixed to the fuselage frame not on seat rails as this is.
http://www.hawkerhind.com/projects_for_sale.html
So I’m looking for some armchair assistance? Any ideas’? or recognition? or reference books or manuals that might show a simliar looking seat?
Edit: Another look still couldnt find any part numbers on the aluminium structure but there is a number cast into the steel seat mounts
– which is : CV-59456-1
Unfortunately the CV prefix does not exist in the forum list of part numbers :
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=105854
So the plot thickens???
Regards
Mark Pilkington
By: hindenburg - 7th July 2012 at 01:44
Not early Armstrong-Whitworth then?
By: powerandpassion - 6th July 2012 at 13:16
Not Hawker Demon
Hi, first post, here goes, few punts :
1. Not Hawker Demon or Hart/Hind variant, as these are burned on the retinas from trawling through plans/NZ Hind pics/ UK Demon/Hind pics etc.
2. CV often used in WW1 German serials, eg Fokker C.IV, C.V. War booty or souvenir pried off the backside of Richthofen ? Quick test, are any of the dimensions metric ? Ferrous tube dia, seat dimensions, spacing of rivets, dia of cutouts ? Go to friendly scrappie with radiation tester to ID metallurgy – matches British DTD metallurgy ? Any bolts – test thread, metric or imperial ?
3. Looks massively over-engineered for a seat. All those rivets and pressings. Looks like something made to keep folk employed in a struggling aviation industry -late 20’s to mid 30’s ? Not made in wartime emergency. Dutch from NEI ? German from New Guinea ? 1934 MacRobertson 8th placegetter ? Smithy’s Lockheed ? RAAF amphibian ? Looks Big. Looks Yankee – Vought Kingfisher ?
By: powerandpassion - 6th July 2012 at 13:08
Not Hawker Demon
Hi, first post, here goes, few punts :
1. Not Hawker Demon or Hart/Hind variant, as these are burned on the retinas from trawling through plans/NZ Hind pics/ UK Demon/Hind pics etc.
2. CV often used in WW1 German serials, eg Fokker C.IV, C.V. War booty or souvenir pried off the backside of Richthofen ? Quick test, are any of the dimensions metric ? Ferrous tube dia, seat dimensions, spacing of rivets, dia of cutouts ? Go to friendly scrappie with radiation tester to ID metallurgy – matches British DTD metallurgy ? Any bolts – test thread, metric or imperial ?
3. Looks massively over-engineered for a seat. All those rivets and pressings. Looks like something made to keep folk employed in a struggling aviation industry -late 20’s to mid 30’s ? Not made in wartime emergency. Dutch from NEI ? German from New Guinea ? 1934 MacRobertson 8th placegetter ? Smithy’s Lockheed ? RAAF amphibian ? Looks Big. Looks Yankee – Vought Kingfisher ?
http://forum.valka.cz/viewtopic.php/t/1179
Seat looks similar to pic in above link.
By: battle - 3rd July 2012 at 03:50
seat
Wapiti pilots seat has a rounded top .
cheers dave
By: battle - 2nd July 2012 at 11:28
seat
Hi Mark , nice find Wapiti bits have a WA prefix , having a look in my wapiti file no clear pic of seat yet , but there were 2 types fitted one adjustable in flight and an earlier one that was ground adjusted only.
From various pics of hind cockpits doesnt look like hawker but i could be wrong cannot find my bulldog book to look for pic / cutaway drawing will keep looking.
The seat looks very deep in the pan , would be made for a specific purpose , maybe a gunners seat would not a seat of this design restrict a pilots movement of controls.
cheers dave
By: Whitley_Project - 2nd July 2012 at 07:41
Hi Mark – I would send a pic to Guy Black
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July 2, 2012 at 1:33 am