B-29 cockpit

[lakota]

This is cool. Its a 360 degree view of the Enola Gay cockpit from the pilot's seat. It sure doesnt look very comfortable.

http://www.davidpalermo.com/data/slideshow/4/enolagay/index.html

[Pat/Rick]

It does look rather spartan doesn't it. Thanks for posting that! I can imagine spending a few hours in there on a mission. Makes those coach seats look pretty good on a long flight.

[Brett]

Speaking of seats, if you pan down using the arrows at the bottom of the screen you will see that the seats are bare metal without any padding at all.  I don't know much about old war birds but I'm guessing that they didn't have much for climate control systems either.  Flying winter missions must have been like flying in an ice box.

[Pot-Bellied Stallion]

If I'm not mistaken, they sat on their parachutes.

[Pat/Rick]

PBS, thats what i thought as well, I have never seen the flight deck of a bomber in person. I did notice the "window latch" near the seat though. looks to be a cam locking bar that operated multiple points of contact. I would guess that throwing the bar would unlock however many latches providing the windo to fall from the plane offering a means of emergency egress. Sadly most aircraft do not have the flight decks open to the public in museums. can't blame 'em, but i sure would like to climb around inside a few planes. 

[powderman]

LAKOTA. Thanks for the link. I really like those old warbirds. POWDERMAN. 

[Dixie Dude]

The B-29 did have pressurised cabins and were heated.  The B-17's and B-24's did not and they wore their "bomber jackets" and caps to keep warm.  And yes, they did sit on their parachutes. 

[powderman]

DIXIE DUDE. Thanks. Seems I remember reading about fighter pilots actually getting hypothermia during the war. At least they had cockpits, think about the WW1 pilots, all open air. POWDERMAN.