Warbird Information Exchange

Ok, here is one vintage one for you.

Dont even ask me what it is, you need to tell me, because I received this photo and have not had too much time to research it myself.

http://www.warbird-central.com/forum/ph ... photoid=17

It's single engine, has only two fuel tanks, it's capable of nearly 400 mph, it has flap or dive brake or aux hydraulic pump on the right side. It's obviously a flight test aircraft. It's also the back seat of whatever it is. Best guess is that it is a North American product

Based on the SWAG principle, it's an experimental Vultee P-66.

Can't be a P-66. Take a close look at the torque tube the stick is attached to. What you see is the aft end of the tube. Don't think there is a single seater that has that tube running that far forward without seeing any attach fittings of any kind. Also the panel shape is wrong for a -66.

I don't see the torque tube that you're talking about, I see structure, and if you notice the cable fitting on the aft end of the stick running aft, that is exactly the way a BT's front stick is rigged. Also that parking brake like handle and the control stick itself is pure BT-13, which, as you know, shared many components with a P-66. There also wouldn't be a parking brake control in a rear cockpit (if that's what it is) unless the airplane was rigged to fly solo from the rear seat. The rheostat knobs are also the same type.

It looks like an airplane built for a foreign government. I don't think many of those controls are labeled in english. I'm no expert, but I think it's a modified Swedish ordered P-66.

How about a BT modified for cloud seeding or some other type of aerial application operations just after the war?

My spares machine (41-23057) was pretty crudely modified into a single seater at one stage. It has an AD from 1949 done to it, but other than that I don't know anything about it's postwar history. I have seen some BT's modified for ag use, but they usually did away with the front cockpit, not the rear one.

It's likely not a BT given that the fuel selector is where it is.

Dan

Now that I look at this more Paul, the floorboards also look like BT-13 metal boards.

Do you recall where this picture came from? It's interesting; it has to be some kind of experimental machine, but obviously has flaps and retractable gear. I've never seen a picture of a P-66 cockpit. You wouldn't have one in your archives somewhere, would you?

Dan

The text on the instruments "Stängd" "Parkerad" etc is in swedish.
That rules out the BT-13, but points to the P-66!

/Lars Larsson

I received this picture via e-mail....however, I do think after reading a few posts that the individual claimed it was either a BT or a P-66, he was not sure, and either was I