RAN De Havilland Sea Venom FAW.53 cockpit
Another very black cockpit from the ANAM museum at Moorabbin airport outside Melbourne, Australia. This time the much more cramped office of a side by side seated Sea Venom. It is very clear this early jet is made of wood, as can be seen in some of the photos. For more information re this aircraft, WZ 901, please click http://www.aarg.com.au/de-havilland-sea-venom.html and http://www.adf-serials.com.au/n4.htm
Welcome onboard at iModeler Stellan, I'm glad to see these cockpit photos - must have been quite an experience to be able to sit down in these a/c. Looking forward for more, and indeed, we could certainly do with more walkarounds at this site!
BTW, isn't this incredible that deHavilland actually built these jets of wood. It's like a contradiction in terms.
Thanks, Martin. Happy to contribute if I can. Indeed it was an experience, don´t think there are many of these one is actually allowed to sit in, so I felt obliged to take some photos for future reference. I´ll take a look in my files to see what else I have in store for you. It´s a bit of a steam punk feeling to sit in a jet fighter made of wood. This particular Sea Venom was retired due to a heavy landing messing up the wing, guess the wood did better than the metal in this case...
An eye-opening tour of the aircraft's "office" for sure (looks pretty rough, though) - and just what IS that thing that looks like a 'plumbing fixture' with the red hose attached in that first pic...? 🙁
Is it an early example of the over-engineered cup holders now found in many cars? : )
Sorry, Craig. Dunno what it is, but if you scroll down on this link http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/75679-sea-venoms/ you´ll find an illustration of the interior. The "thing" looks like a ...sight with a reflector...?
Stellan, them instruments in cluster do look steam-punkish. I love the wood cockpit sides. Hope there's a wood worker or two on the restoration staff, today it would be fibreglass or composites.
They need a model builder to fix it up if ever. But I do believe its been restored once already, but not to flying condition.
Wood? Wow! They must had benn quite traditionalist at DH 😀
🙂 ... Greetings ... 🙂 :
Very nice photography Stellan, the close up's really show more than the normal. Looking forward to see more, thanks for sharing them.
Gábor, considering the Vampire was constructed during the war and the Venom was its offspring, it´s not strange it was partly made of wood. But hey, its British, so no wonder if its a bit old school 🙂
Thanks, DE4. Will check my files for more.