Hi all,
A question about pilot’s seats. I recently had the chance to check out a Fouga Magister up close and I noticed that the seats looked very similar to the one used in Spitfires (and Fireflies? Not sure about that one). Also a photograph of a very early Meteor showed that the seat looked very similar to a Hurricane seat. Were seats recycled or is this just a co-incidence? Or is it the other way where Magister seats are used in Spitfire rebuilds?
Another thing about seats, I know that there are a lot of collectors or museum in the UK have pilot’s seats in their collection. Does anyone know if there is a Halifax pilot’s seat in the UK (excluding those in W1048 and PN323)
Here is another photograph of the rare Stirling pilot’s seat taken last saturday at Deelen.
Cheers
Cees
(p.s I drive a Seat Ibiza, could there be a pattern here? 😎 )
By: Bruce - 18th August 2004 at 10:10
Actually, there is a standard seat – its something like AS2396, though I will have to check to be certain!
These seats were fitted in loads of things – Vampire, Meteor, Prentice, Provost, Vulcan, to name but a few. The ones I have seen are all pretty much the same, though they may have slight adaptations to suit each particular type.
I have a Provost one somewhere – they do indeed look just like a Spitfire seat; they are made from compressed paper – but they are absolutely different, with no parts interchange – been there, tried that!
The late Meteors had a seat identical to that found in a Hurricane – I feel sure some have been used as such over the years!
Cheers
Bruce
By: Whitley_Project - 18th August 2004 at 10:03
Having played ‘hunt the Spitfire seat’ for a number of years, I’d be pretty certain that, pre-ejector seats, pilot seats were type specific, albeit that they may have been supplied from a specialist sub-contractor. There are just too many ‘lumps and bumps’ in aircraft for a ‘one size fits all’ not to compromise the designer, in my view.
A bit like Dunlop wheels. They all look very similar but there are scores of them, with minor differences to diameter, width, brake, bearing spread etc.
Any other views?
Mark
Whitley pilots and navigator seats were all made by AW. Incidently, we just turned up a Whitley navs seat.
By: Mark12 - 18th August 2004 at 09:12
Unified pilot’s seats.
Having played ‘hunt the Spitfire seat’ for a number of years, I’d be pretty certain that, pre-ejector seats, pilot seats were type specific, albeit that they may have been supplied from a specialist sub-contractor. There are just too many ‘lumps and bumps’ in aircraft for a ‘one size fits all’ not to compromise the designer, in my view.
A bit like Dunlop wheels. They all look very similar but there are scores of them, with minor differences to diameter, width, brake, bearing spread etc.
Any other views?
Mark
By: HP57 - 18th August 2004 at 08:54
Thanks Al,
Sounds very plausible.
Cheers
Cees
By: 682al - 17th August 2004 at 21:22
Hi Cees,
Don’t take this as gospel, but I’ve a feeling that there was a standard seat designed to a S.B.A.C. specification which was used in a lot of early postwar British aircraft, such as the pre-ejector seat Vampire and Meteor, as well as other types such as Provost, etc. It was moulded from paxolin or some such material and looks very similar to the Spitfire type. Maybe the French adopted it for their Magister?
Regards,
Al
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August 17, 2004 at 6:36 pm