P-43: the confused and the perplexed

Started by Kyle Koppos · 22 ≡ · ↻ 2 months ago
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    Spiros Pendedekas said 2 months, 1 week ago:

    Belts look great, my friend @kopperhed!

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    Tom Cleaver said 2 months, 1 week ago:

    Actually, the AVG did have seatbelts. According to my old friend the late Erik Shilling, they did arrive with seatbelts because they were intended for the RAF.

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    Seamus Boughe said 2 months, 1 week ago:

    Yes, they did have seatbelts/lap belts, they did not have shoulder harnesses. I guess they were going to leave that up to the British. When the P-40s were sent instead to the AVG, all they had were seat belts/lap belts no harnesses.

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    Kyle Koppos said 2 months, 1 week ago:

    In the Dora Wings Lancer they give you shoulder and lap belts. They’re heavier brass though so a little more tricky to shape

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    Kyle Koppos said 2 months, 1 week ago:

    I do know the Export Hawk model 281 (i think that was the number) had british equipment like a british style seat and pitot tube.

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    George R Blair Jr said 2 months, 1 week ago:

    Looks great, Kyle @kopperhed. I have recently come across a couple of early-war fighters that had only seatbelts. Speaking as a former pilot who flew Air Force jets, I can't imagine not having shoulder harnesses. Despite the oddities, it looks like it is coming together nicely.

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    Michael Turner said 2 months ago:

    G’day Kyle (@kopperhed), Tom (@tcinla), Seamus (@seamus1), George (@gblair) and Spiros (@fiveten),

    The US didn’t seem to have adopted shoulder harnesses until early in the war.

    Certainly P-40s delivered to the RAF and RAAF are described as arriving with lap belts only and were retrofitted with RAF harnesses. I guess to do that they must have come with the attachment points fitted - perhaps that was the reason for the squared-off export seat on early P-40s (including AVG P-40s).

    Early USN aircraft - F4F and SBD for example - also only had lap belts.

    I don’t recall reading when the US changed to full harnesses but it must have been due to information coming out of Europe.

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