Albatros D.V Cockpit Variations - Who knows the gauges and handles?

[Olham 164]

Albatros D.V Cockpit Variations - Who knows all the gauges and handles?

 

I found these two photos of Albatros D.V or D.Va cockpits with individual installations.

I have marked and numbered all handles and gauges, and identified some of them.

RAF_Louvert and JFM were so kind to complete the list for us.

 

I have also added a screenshot from the "Work in Progress: Wings Over Flanders Fields".

 

 

 

Edited August 15, 2012 by Olham

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Here you go Olham:

 

3. Throttle

5. Magneto Switch Key

7. Starting Magneto

8. Altimeter

9. Tachometer

10. Fuel Pressure Gauge

11. Fuel Tank Flow Selector Valve

14. Fuel Quantity Gauge

15. Fuel Tank Air Pressure Valve

16. Fuel Pressure Gauge Valve Control

17. Air Pump Selector Valve

18. Fuel Tank Flow Selector Valve

 

 

Lou

 

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Edited August 11, 2012 by RAF_Louvert
fat thumbs and insufficient coffee

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Oh, and I meant to correct you about #6 as that is actually the Spark Control Handle, not the throttle as you have it noted Olham.

 

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[Olham 164]

Thanks a lot, Lou!

I have changed and completed the Jpeg, and changed it in post #1.

 

Don't tell my superiours, that a Camel pilot had to explain my favourite aircraft to me!

But hen it comes to technics, I'm a bit dumb.

So I still don't know, what a "Spark Control Handle" or a "Fuel Pressure Gauge Valve Control" do?

 

PS: Lou, it hits me each time I see the greasy grin of your new avatar - frightening!

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Olham, here is a brief outline of the functions for each of these controls and gauges.

 

 

A. Radiator Handle: Opens and closes the shutters on the radiator and is the control you forget about completely until your engine has overheated and siezed up tighter than a Scotsman's wallet.

 

B. Gun Cocks: The levers you forget to pull back and set until you are actually in a dogfight and push down on the firing buttons, (see '4' below), only to have nothing happen apart from getting your tail feathers dusted by the enemy pilot on your six who DID remember to cock said gun levers.

 

C. Flare Cartridges: Each color has a specific meaning that is generally agreed upon before the flight begins, and promptly forgotten about once in the air.

 

D. Flare Gun: Used to fire abovementioned flare cartridges, usually in a state of panic or druken revelry.

 

1. Control Column with Adjusting Clasp: That which you cling to and flail about madly in a vain attempt to regain control as you plummet to earth, after forgetting to set your gun cocks, (see 'B' above).

 

2. Rudder Pedals: A comfy foot rest.

 

3. Throttle: Makes the engine RPMs increase or decrease and as a rule works much better when you're sitting on the field than it does when you're in combat.

 

4. Firing Thumb Buttons: Control the left and right machine guns respectively, assuming you've set your gun cocks, (see 'B' above ... again).

 

5. Magneto Switch Key and Switch: Turns on and off the magneto. The key is mounted to a chain and hung over the edge of the cockpit when not in use, (and is often missing because someone's grabbed it to use as a bottle opener).

 

6. Spark Control Handle: Controls spark advance and retard, (ignition timing). Just one more thing to pointlessly fiddle with as you're plummeting towards earth.

 

7. Starting Mangeto: Provides spark to start the engine, by giving it a few robust cranks then flipping the mag switch on. Can also be removed and taken to the bar to be used in the fun drinking game, "Complete the Circuit".

 

8. Altimeter: Indicates your height above the ground and shows how rapidly you are plummeting towards earth.

 

9. Tachometer: Used to show your engine RPMs, which will be zero when you forget to use the radiator handle, (see 'A' above).

 

10. Fuel Pressure Gauge: Shows you how much pressure you don't have in your petrol tanks because you've taken bullets in one or, most likely, both.

 

11. and 18. Fuel Tank Flow Selector Valve: Used to pick which of the two empty tanks to run off of, (main tank or auxiliary tank).

 

12. Fuel Tank Pressure Handpump: Used to pressurize your fuel tanks, but like the rest of the fuel system components does absolutely nothing because of said holes in your tanks.

 

13. Compass: Used to get lost because you trusted the unreliable little bastard.

 

14. Fuel Quantity Gauge: Gives quantitative proof that you've lost all your petrol and will now be landing somewhere behind the enemy lines.

 

15. Fuel Tank Air Pressure Valve: Controls the amount of pressure in each petrol tank, which unfortunately is now being controlled by the bullet holes in both.

 

16. Fuel Pressure Gauge Valve: Allows you to switch between your main and reserve tanks in order to see that you really do have no pressure in either one.

 

17. Air Pump Selector Valve: Used to pick which of the two tanks you will vainly attempt to pressurize.

 

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Edited August 13, 2012 by RAF_Louvert
correct typos

[Cody Coyote 1]

Nice work gents, thanks!

:sohappy:

[Olham 164]

Wow, great list, Lou - nobody bothered to explain it so illustrative like you did, my friend!

Now, that explains many of the problems I had to face on so many occasions!

For example, I understand now, why my Albatros was never flying that much faster (or slower),

when I used No. 6 as a throttle! Mmuahahahahahhaaaaa!!!!

 

And it is very comforting to hear, that you Camel jockeys also have such funny compasses,

which often seem to me like a game of "Twister", or "let's guess, where 'home' lies!".

(The cute little bastards almost seems to hum "North, south east, west - home is best!")

 

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Edited August 11, 2012 by Olham

[JFM 18]

Hey, Gents,

 

Top cockpit is a D.Va. Bottom cockpit is a D.V.

 

I know the spark control handle as the spark retarding lever. Same difference. This lever allowed the pilot to delay the timing of when the spark plugs fired, compensating for slower piston travel at idling or low engine speeds as compared to piston speeds at cruise or full power settings. Fuel pressure gauge valve control allowed the pilot to turn off the fuel pressure gauge if said gauge was causing an air pressure leak. FYI, some of those instruments above where either not standard (e.g., altimeters) or actually RFC-captured (e.g., whiskey compass in D.V cockpit).

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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Fuel pressure gauge valve control allowed the pilot to turn off the fuel pressure gauge if said gauge was causing an air pressure leak.

 

Aaah, that actually makes more sense. Thanks for the correction Jim. So, you could disable the fuel pressure gauge and comfort yourself with the belief that the reason it was reading zero was because you'd shut it off and NOT because there were bullet holes in your fuel tanks. Very clever these German designers were.

 

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[JFM 18]

You know, Lou, you've touched something there. On many planes in flight sims, the engine should shut off when holed, if the tank is pressurized. As we know, most if not all WW1 sims available don't feature this. Maybe they'll have that in WOFF? Anyway, the way sims do it now is the engine keeps running until the fuel drains out and then shuts off. But, why? Fuel tanks weren't always shot at the very bottom, where all the fuel would drain away. I'd like to see them shot three-quarters of the way up, for example, so only some fuel drains away. Make the damage more random, as it was. This for gravity tanks if fuel pressurization is modeled, or all tanks, if not.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

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I agree Jim, and it should apply to not only holes in the tanks themselves but also in the pressure feed lines to the tanks as well as damge to the air pump selector valve and the fuel tank air pressure valve. However, I imagine it may be simply too many variables to contend with in the damage models.

 

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[JFM 18]

Can't believe that is applicable for all sims. Don't believe it, actually. But for WOFF, certainly plausible. Have to draw the line somewhere.

[Pips 5]

Interesting that neither cockpit features an inclinometer or airspeed indicator. Were they not common amongst German aeroplanes?

[+elephant 36]

Airspeed indicators (anemometers) were fitted as a field mod...

 

[Olham 164]

Today I found a screenshot from the work in progress "Wings Over Flanders Fields" posted by Pol

on the SimHQ forum, and as I had to do some final corrections anyway, I added the Albatros D.V -

cockpit as it will be in WOFF (see post #1 of this thread).

[Bullethead 12]

Because Olham is going on about Austrian Albatri, here's a pic of one of their cockpits with the caption providing info.

 

Note that the caption says "one of three" 153s with "raised guns". "Raised guns" means as you see them here, in the normal German position. All previous OeFFAG Albs (that actually had synchronized guns...) had the guns buried in the fuselage in front of the instrument panel, so they fired below the exhaust pipes instead of above. While this kept smoke and oil spray out of the pilot's face, it also prevented the pilot from doing much about stoppages. Thus, there was great demand by pilots to move the guns up to the German position even if that caused other problems. This "raised" position became standard on the Series 253.

 

The other pic shows the guns in the "low" position. All you can see of them is the ends of their long blast tubes; the guns themselves are buried under the fuselage decking in front of the cockpit. The long blast tubes were another Austrian feature, BTW. You can see their full length in the 1st pic, running over the top of the exhaust pipes. I think these were intended to reduce flash and smoke in the pilot's face.

 

Other things to note in thise pics....

 

The cokcpit shot is of 153.162, one of the 1st batch of "round-nosed" 153s ordered in October 1918.

 

The other pic is 153.104, one of the last with the original, German-style nose. As you can see, as usual by this point, they were flying it without the spinner. Also note the cowling enclosing the engine. Most Austrian planes had such cowlings but they only used them in Alpine winters to keep the engines from getting too cold. Otherwise, they kept their engines exposed.

[Olham 164]

The single, seperated exhaust pipes look like on an American dragster - I wonder how loud they were?

Then I notice a "real" instrument panel.

 

Was the Schwarzlose so much longer, or why did their rears reach into the cockpit so far?

[JFM 18]

To be pilot-accessible. With the tubes, the barrels ended inside the engine compartment so they were connected to a tube that ran through the compartment and protruded from the nose. This prevented muzzle flash from igniting any accumlated gasses in the compartment; can't say why they remained when moved atop the exhaust manifold. The top photo that BH posted is 153.181.

 

To add to what BH wrote, according to the book Austro-Hungarian Army Aircraft of World War One, by Peter Grosz, George Haddow and Peter Schiemer, page 257, "[it was recommended] returning the raised machine guns to the buried position (as in the earlier series) because blowing gases and oil interfered with aiming. In this connection, Flik 61/J reported that pilots flying machines with raised guns were forced to sit on two cushions to use the sights properly. At least up to aircraft 253.116, series 253 fighters left the factory armed either with buried or raised guns, apparaently at random. Whether raised armament was was planned as standard equipment on later production aircraft is not known."

[Bullethead 12]

The single, seperated exhaust pipes look like on an American dragster - I wonder how loud they were?

 

Probably loud as all Hell.

 

Was the Schwarzlose so much longer, or why did their rears reach into the cockpit so far?

 

The Scharzlose was rather shorter overall than the Spandau but most of the difference was in the barrel length. The receiver, OTOH, seems to have been rather longer but still had the parts the pilot needed to mess with up at the front end. Thus, to put those parts within reach, the breeches had to stick further back into the cockpit.

[Olham 164]

Thank you guys for all the info. Perhaps - one far away day - we will have the Italian front.

Then I'd surely start a campaign as an Austrian fighter pilot - in an Albatros of course!