Seeking blueprints for early Texan / Wirraway seats

[derekbu]

Does anyone have copies of blueprints for front & rear seats for the Texan? I'm looking for dimensions to use in my CAC Wirraway drawings, and although the seats are not identical, the Texan drawings may be a good starting point. I'm also after the dimensions of the framework for the rotating rear seat...

Last edited by derekbu on Sun Aug 05, 2012 4:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

[derekbu]

Thanks to a fellow Wix'er contacting me offline, I now have what I was looking for. What a great community!

[snj-5]

Care to share what drawings / resources were provided and from whence they came?

For what kind of seats? Schick Johnson, Warren McArthur, or ???

Thanks,

Bela P. Havasreti

[derekbu]

Hi Bela,
I'm trying to find details (dimensions and ideally drawings) for the seats used in the CAC Wirraway, an Australian production version of the NA-33. So I figured it might make sense to see what seats are in early Texans and Harvards to see if they are similar. Doug MacPhail passed on a couple of pages from Harvard and T6 maintenance manuals, and then I also discovered your reply to his earlier seat question posted on WiX.

The Wirraway seats look similar to the round-backed Schick Johnson seats, definately nothing like the square Warren Macarthur. In fact they are closer to the Bendix seats in the pics from Mike Robinson on the thread above, with side plates that taper to nothing at their top edge, and round backs on the top of the seat. So some more searching resulted in finding this diagram, which confirmed some of the dimensions (like the distance between the support tubes).

But while this drawing is very close (and obviously it's a reference standard, not a seat from a particular manufacturer), this is still not exactly the Wirraway seat, since the Wirraway seat has a set of stiffeners on the back of the seat shaped like a triangle pointing upwards.

I also thought the Wirraway seats could be similar to those in the Yale, but after checking Patrick's restoration at Legend of Aces, its clear they are not the same. I guess NA-33 is still much earlier than NA-64!

Here are some shots of the Wirraway seat, courtesy of Doug MacPhail:


So anyone who can add some more thoughts, feel free!

[rcaf_100]

I also thought the Wirraway seats could be similar to those in the Yale, but after checking Patrick's restoration at Legend of Aces, its clear they are not the same. I guess NA-33 is still much earlier than NA-64...

The NA-64's were delivered with the round-top seats. When the RCAF went to convert their Yales from a simple lap belt to the Sutton harness, they found that they were unsuitable for use. The shoulder harnesses would keep falling down either side so they swapped them out for the square top Harvard seats.

[derekbu]

The NA-64's were delivered with the round-top seats.

That's good to know Shane. So maybe I can keep chasing up that alley...

Checking my Yale parts manual... yes, round-top seats! 55-53099 and 55-53100. It's not a great quality picture, but these seats sure look reminiscent of Wirraway seats.

Some day (maybe during Christmas vacation if I get back to Oz) I hope to get a tape measure onto a Wirraway seat. Until then I'll keep searching...

[derekbu]

Just continuing the follow-up for anyone interested in these seats, Ashley Briggs in Melbourne is restoring a CAC Boomerang for the Moorabbin Museum, and has started working on the seat, which is very similar to the Wirraway (round-backed) seat.

Photo of the dismantled Boomerang seat from Ash if anyone is interested:



I have also come across some drawings of later modifications to Wirraway seats which were made in the '50s to allow more modern harnesses.

[RandolphB]

I'm interested...and I would suppose most WIXers love a look at any airplane part at all...post away!

[Ewan]

For those interested in the above picture of the Boomerang seat, the aircraft behind it are a P51 flanked on either side by P40's, the P51 being overhauled after a wheels up landing...

The Boomerang is being restored for a local museum. Ash is currently working on a newly manufactured hydraulic shelf as the old one was fizzing away...

Cheers

[Rick65]

There is a fantastic thread on Warbirdz on Ashley Briggs and others great work - well worth some time to go through.
Ash's Kittyhawk (& general Aussie) restoration thread
http://www.warbirdz.net.au/forum/showthread.php?t=768