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Posted

I couldn't imagine what your neck muscles would be like, after a few hours airborne in a prone position!

Posted

I'm a little surprised that no-one appears to have thought of a design where the pilot is near-prone, lying on their back, nearly horizontal, but with the head and upper body slightly elevated.

Sort of like reclining in one of those elevated beds that the bedmakers produce. That would be a lot more comfortable than lying prone on your stomach with your head tilted back.

Posted
1 minute ago, onetrack said:

I'm a little surprised that no-one appears to have thought of a design where the pilot is near-prone, lying on their back, nearly horizontal, but with the head and upper body slightly elevated.

Sort of like reclining in one of those elevated beds that the bedmakers produce. That would be a lot more comfortable than lying prone on your stomach with your head tilted back.

They have mate, they are called gliders and sailplanes!

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Posted

O.K., I was actually referring to new and exotic combat design aircraft. The military equipment producers seem to have different priorities. I would hazard a guess the designers of these combat aircraft where the pilot lies prone on his stomach thought that having the pilots head right at the front of the cockpit would provide maximum visibility for the pilot.

Posted

I think the reason it’s not in combat aircraft but has been/is in gliders is the restrictions on overall ability to reposition your body in the cockpit to adjust sight to areas not within your sight in the normal position.  
 

gliders address the limits of reposition with extensive glazing and they towelling hats.  
 

fighters in a seated position have the greatest ability to move their bodies around for max vis options and they seem to accept that gforce management takes a second string to that. 

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Posted

Focke Wolfe 19 ente or duck in German.  A very Teutonic way to name a canard or duck in French.  

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  • 4 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

Kawanishi K-12 Sakura (Cherry Blossom). Planned as a long-range, non-stop, trans-Pacific aircraft, Kawanishi found its performance was inadequate, and the design was abandoned after only two prototypes were built.

It reminds me of a 1931 DeSoutter "Sports Coupe", which obviously came later. Perhaps the DeSoutter design was influenced by the Kawanishi.

Art Deco influenced aircraft design, as well as buildings and the automotive scene. I still believe the art deco era provided us with some outstanding designs of great beauty.

 

Edited by onetrack
Posted

It got a mention in this film about another Kawanishi almost ran.

 

 

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Posted
On 18/11/21 at 12:38 PM, onetrack said:

I'm a little surprised that no-one appears to have thought of a design where the pilot is near-prone, lying on their back, nearly horizontal, but with the head and upper body slightly elevated.

Sort of like reclining in one of those elevated beds that the bedmakers produce. That would be a lot more comfortable than lying prone on your stomach with your head tilted back.

Prone is lying face down. Supine is lying face up.  ( Letting you know makes me look like an idiot, but Im okay with that.) 

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Posted

Thanks for the correction, APenNameAndThatA - I'm quite happy to be corrected when I'm wrong, and letting me know doesn't make you look like an idiot, it just shows that you're a perfectionist.

Nothing wrong with being a perfectionist either, except it often grates with people who aren't.

  • 1 month later...
Posted

There's a profile in the Aircraft Sea Planes section.

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