Why shouldn't we have them?

I want them.


Did all aircraft have these?

We should have those for all aircraft.

Not all planes had any lights at all.

...Nope, not all planes had opening canopies either... nice job owl

Actually opening canopies would be cool for all in game planes. But its completely accurate that not all planes had all lights. Though there are some "bugs" if you call them, in game with that.

Some planes didn't have lights, I think the B-24 had a disco ball though. Had to lift the ball turret up and swap it.

Yeah some of the planes you could pop open the nose like a C-5 and crawl in or others you could lift the tail and go in through the "poop chute".

I really like the ME-109 where you could crawl in thru the spinner and since the tube was clear plexiglass you saw the DB605 innards. Woe to the pilot that didn't replace or align the 20 or 30 mm cannon right after going through!

Too bad they didn't model that, but I can see why, they had 2001 deadline.

Opening pits for all aircraft will take a lot of work. Kind of like asking for a legitimate 6DOF for all planes but not nearly as bad. Just too much labor involved at this point.

Helcats, Wildcats, Zeros, Spitfires, Messershmitts, DXXI's, Hurricanes, Mig3's Lagg's. Probably missed a few. All of these have opening canopies in the game. Just can't tell you where I found them.....In time they will all open, just wait and see.

quote:

Originally posted by The_Stealth_Owl:
Did all aircraft have these?

No on both counts. The Bf109 for example has a rather heavy canopy that tilts sideways on hinges rather than sliding. You could open it in flight, but you'd be unlikely to ever close it again and in practice it was only opened to bail out.

doraemil, be nice.

Ah, yes. I remember in LO:MAC opening my F-15's canopy about about Mach 1. Took me a while to figure out why I couldn't close it again...

As a pilot I have to wonder why anyone would want an opening cockpit for landing.

I can open the canopy in flight on my airplane. This is nice for a summer day flying very slow.

It is also nice anytime I want to clean out the cockpit. I don't need to vacuum as I can just open the canopy and blow all the dirt out. Everything else that is loose such as my maps, approach plates, pencils, etc can end up outside too. It is great if you forget to close your eyes in the first few seconds because you get the joy of a 80 mph wind whipping around the cockpit and digging dirt out of your eyes while flying the plane.

It adds that extra level of difficulty that makes life exciting.

Landing with an "open cockpit" is a pilot’s throwback to the days of open cockpit aircraft. The resistance to an enclosed cockpit was surprisingly strong in the 1920's and many pilots felt you could never properly control the aircraft unless you could feel the wind.

Obviously this is just not true and we know today that this was just folks who did not want to leave their comfort zone. Personally I don't like leaving mine either when it comes to flying.

All the best,

Crumpp

If you've got any notion at all that your plane may catch fire during landing then you might want to make sure you can get out.

quote:

If you've got any notion at all that your plane may catch fire during landing then you might want to make sure you can get out.

Well many designs in the early days of enclosed cockpits incorporate a jettisoning mechanism in the canopy as well as a good design to prevent a pilot from being trapped. A crowbar works well for this too. Mine sits in a bracket within easy reach.

You can travel to any airport and see the number of pilots who like to hang outside the airplane or open the canopy upon landing. It is a technique that has fallen out of favor as the enclosed canopy has become accepted.

I have got over a thousand landings under my belt. Fortunately I have not caught fire yet or spontaneously burst into flames.

Many warbird checklists - and the pilots themselves - recommended that the canopy be open during takeoff and landing for precisely the reason M_Gunz stated. Should it all go to hell during the takeoff roll or landing, the pilot would need to get out of the aircraft as fast as possible with a minimum of fuss.

Yeppers, every take-off and landing I did in an EA-3B, whether land based or carrier, was with the top hatches open. And it was precisely as Gunz and Treetop indicate...to be able to exit the aircraft as fast a possible if needed. We didn't have any of that fancy ejection stuff ya see.....


WV

Hehe... opening pit on P-39 at +500kph for instance would be a real man's business .