P51 cockpit seat9/27/2023 To put it technically, it bugs me being like that. Although the corners are not sharp, they are minimally radiused and the hinge is available to catch on things. As for that hinge flopping about, it comes under Navy nomenclature as "an article adrift" in my technical mentality. You are a "beesy leetle beabare", as our Canadian friends may say! A real marvel!Īs I understand, on later examples of the Warren McArthur the seat pan was riveted rather than welded to save production time or costs. It might have been you who clued me in on the "Little Friends II" reference previously as I recall it being on a sim site and reading the same "bent straight-tubing" reference to Preddy's bird. With regard to the hinge you mention, I've never been able to find out what that was for, and it doesn't show up on any of the later WM seats I've seen - the early WM seat that I mentioned belonged to Bill Preddy's aircraft has that hinge, and you say, one end isn't attached to anything (I left it off my virtual creations). All of the P-51D-5-NA's I've ever referenced have the early Warren McArthur seat, however in some factory photos I've got from the cockpit of a P-51D-10-NA, it already has the later-style Warren McArthur seat with the curved/notched front edge/tubing. As for P-51B/C's, like the D's, a good number had Schick Johnson seats installed (wood versions very early on, but metal ones for the most part) and a good number had Warren McArthur seats installed too - those that had the WM seats would certainly have had those early versions with the straight forward edge to the seat pan, as that is what you still find on early production P-51D's (for instance, the seat from Bill Preddy's P-51K-5-NT still survives, and it was one of those with the straight forward edge/tubing - although it has a big kink in it today, that was as a result of the seat hitting the control stick when the plane crashed). I know very little when it comes to the T-6, but with regard to the Warren McArthur lower seat pan/bucket as you describe, I've always understood the ones with the straight forward tubing of the seat pan/bucket to be of the early style. Schick Johnson seat (of which there are variations): Warren McArthur seat (of which there are variations): Some T-6's and dual-seat Mustangs have one of each seat type, as usually did the field-modded two-seat P-51B/C's during the war. The preserved/unrestored P-51K's in the Netherlands and at the Crawford Museum, as well as a preserved/unrestored P-51D-25-NA in Switzerland, have WM seats, where as the preserved P-51D-30-NA at the Smithsonian has a SJ seat. The P-51D-20-NA "Sierra Sue II" has a Warren McArthur seat, because that is what it had in it prior to restoration, and the P-51D-20-NA "Upupa Epops" has a Schick Johnson seat, because that is what it had prior to restoration. The seat on this one is a Warren McArthur-type seat - it seems as though there is probably about an equal percentage of each seat type (WM/SJ) fitted to the Mustangs flying today, and perhaps in the T-6 too. Among the best Mustang researchers I've heard from/talked to, there isn't a firm consensus on which seat type was used per which particular Mustang production run/batch (other than perhaps the P-51D-5-NA and very early Allison Mustangs), since these seats in particular were sub-contracted out/government-furnished equipment (much like how there were two different types of wingtip nav lights used on the D-model Mustangs, depending on which was available at any given time) - to know, per plane, you'd have to see what the seat was in an original wartime-era photo. Both have levers on each side - one to adjust the seat up and down (at the right of the seat), and another to lock/unlock the pilot's harness (usually at the left of the seat). The Warren McArthur and Schick Johnson seats are interchangeable (they mount to the same sized/positioned seat posts), and versions of each are used in both the Mustang and T-6. Unfortunately there is no data plate or stencil serial left. I've seen one with adjustment levers on the sides and am curious on ID. I've also been lead to believe the T-6 also had the WM seats. As I understand, "Little Friends II" covers the subject pretty well but I don't have a copy. My question is, are there any online sources of photos ID'ing the variations of this design. Slightly off topic, but germane to P-51's.The last photo in the cockpit shows what appears to be, or similar to, a Warren McArthur seat. How did the television "hoarders" shows miss this one? Answer: No neighborhood association in Connie's back 40.
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