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I always gave for granted Bf 109 squared canopy shape (at least from variant E-4) as peculiar of the type. Now I wonder why: I guess that would have been easy to follow curved shape of fuselage up to the windshield, making curved that as well. More or less as done with earlier variants, and even better like most contemporaries (e.g.: Spitfire, LaGG-3). Is by chance detailed in some official document why this choice? Thanks for any information.
I can't offer a definitive answer as to why from any official sources, but the answer is obvious as soon as someone enters the cockpit. The Bf 109 was small, its fuselage was narrow and its cockpit was not very spacious. In the mid 1930s the Germans could not build blown canopies, so used flat panes of glass and plastic. The extra room is welcome, I've sat in the cockpit of a Buchon and it is small in there; folding the canopy closed there is very little room and the sill is at shoulder height; just below the rim of the canopy there isn't much space.
You can see how constrained the pilot is in this image...
View attachment 646351DSC_8238
Here's the same aircraft's cockpit.
View attachment 646352DSC_7789
The heavily framed windscreen of later model Bf 109s is evident here.
View attachment 646353DSC_7794
Here's an interior shot of the RAF Museum's Bf 109G-2, which illustrates how cramped it is in there, especially with that central gun.
View attachment 646354Motor cannon
As for redesigning the airframe to fit a bubble canopy via a cut down rear fuselage would have taken much production out of the lines and I guess the Germans didn't believe that the cockpit's small dimensions was too much of a hindrance to visibility; the Bf 109 proved to be more than capable of meeting any adversary on equal or superior terms in the early years of the war.
Wasnt the main advantage of the Bf109 canopy in pilot exit? It was spring loaded so it sprung out of the way in a fraction of a second.
The jettison device does NOT jettison the middle swinging canopy. It releases the rear piece of 3 pieces, into which the swinging piece is fitted with a hinge pin, and then the connected lanyard pulls the main canopy away is it departs the airframe.
The main canopy attachment points can be seen in the images. If you look at the image below, the locking pin, actuated by the handle on the canopy locks to the rear canopy. I don't have a view that shows it on the forward edge of the canopy. So, are you saying that when the jettison handle is pulled, the entire unit is pushed outwards - the manual stating the pilot has to push the canopy away from the aircraft? If this were the case, the lanyard would not serve the function of dragging the canopy with it unless the locking pin was undone when the jettison lever is pulled. The other issue I see with the rear section leaving the aircraft is the aerial, which in this image can be seen overlapping the edge of the rear canopy. does the aerial go too?Actually, the main canopy is attached to the windscreen in front and to the rear canopy piece that gets jettisoned with pins.
Simple and very effective. We've had the canopy off on the Ha.1112 many tens of times and it works quite well.
Yup, found that in the manual, but the problem I see with the rear canopy coming off is the aerial. In the pictures above there is a fairing around it and it looks to be sitting on top of the canopy. Are you sure it is designed to be jettisoned when the centre canopy is? could it be that it comes off for maintenance?In flight, if you release the rear canopy, the lift air pressure will pull it out into the windstream and backwards along the fuselage.
The only way to get it off is to release the rear canopy. It goes back together rather easily, too.
The Czechs develop a sliding hood so czech that out.
Seems a decent job.