Bubble canopy

Mudge · **Posted:** Sat Feb 27, 2010 12:47 am

OK...I've got a mental block regarding the name of this bubble top canopy. Someone help me out here.

Mudge the mentally blocked

sdennison · **Posted:** Sat Feb 27, 2010 1:23 am

Not sure Mudge, but that bird has way too many props do I think the canopy must have something to do with that... :shock:

JOHN MILLER · **Posted:** Sat Feb 27, 2010 1:48 am

is it the Malcolm hood?

Steve Nelson · **Posted:** Sat Feb 27, 2010 4:18 am

I know the blown sliding canopy on the P-51B/C was called the Malcolm Hood (after the inventor,) but I don't know if the Spit canopy was known by the same name or not.

SN

JDK · **Posted:** Sat Feb 27, 2010 5:33 am

It's just the standard (un-named) Spitfire canopy, in this case for a pressurised Photo Recon version.

Nothing to do with the Malcolm hood.

The Spitfire is the PR.19 donated to Planes of Fame by the Thais, then restored with a Shackleton contraprop and later sold to France. It now flies painted as a Mk.XIV with a more appropriate five blade prop.

JDK · **Posted:** Sat Feb 27, 2010 5:35 am

PS: The windscreen is the unarmoured PR type.

Mudge · **Posted:** Sat Feb 27, 2010 9:58 am

Thank you, kindly

Mudge the educable :shock:

Mark V · **Posted:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 7:57 pm

JDK wrote:

PS: The windscreen is the unarmoured PR type.

The double skinned version in the case of the Mk.19 - or at least this one anyway (single skin glazing for Mk.XI and earlier PR variants).

RareBear · **Posted:** Wed Mar 10, 2010 11:58 pm

The Malcolm Hood was a British invention to solve the vision limitations of the framed canopy and to increase the comfort level for taller pilots. It was adopted by the Americans and used primarily on the B/C model Mustangs. The factory adaptation of the full bubble canopy on the D model eliminated the need for the Malcolm Hood.

The Corsair also used a similar canopy after they raised the seat to give the pilot a better forward view.

Walt

AHancock51 · **Posted:** Tue May 24, 2011 10:23 pm

Sorry to bump up an old thread, but figured this would be better than starting a new one! Anywho, I'm just curious as to when exactly the US started installing the Malcolm Hood on P-51Bs. I'm researching P-51B-10 "42-106603", trying to figure out if she would have had a Malcolm or the standard bird cage. Thanks!

- Austin Hancock
Volunteer, 1941 Historical Aircraft Group

Dan Johnson II · **Joined:** Tue May 04, 2004 1:49 am **Posts:** 659

There are photos of Don Blakeslee's 51B and Jim Clark's 51B of the 4th FG with Malcom hoods prior to the red noses going on the 4th Mustangs, which was March 13, 1944 I believe. A photo of Blakeslee's "kite' in Debden Eagles by Garry Fry is captioned saying Blakeslee lead the first Berlin mission in his 51 with the Malcom, which was March 4, 1944. I'd imagine if anyone got one first, it would have been Blakeslee

That being said, not every 51B/C got them, so you wouldn't know for sure based on a serial number

If that's the Leland Pennington P51B, I doubt it would have had a Malcom. I don't believe any Malcom hood Mustangs made it to the MTO, and I've never seen a 332nd FG 51B/C with a Malcom

AHancock51 · **Posted:** Wed May 25, 2011 2:51 pm

Dan Johnson II wrote:

There are photos of Don Blakeslee's 51B and Jim Clark's 51B of the 4th FG with Malcom hoods prior to the red noses going on the 4th Mustangs, which was March 13, 1944 I believe. A photo of Blakeslee's "kite' in Debden Eagles by Garry Fry is captioned saying Blakeslee lead the first Berlin mission in his 51 with the Malcom, which was March 4, 1944. I'd imagine if anyone got one first, it would have been Blakeslee

That being said, not every 51B/C got them, so you wouldn't know for sure based on a serial number

If that's the Leland Pennington P51B, I doubt it would have had a Malcom. I don't believe any Malcom hood Mustangs made it to the MTO, and I've never seen a 332nd FG 51B/C with a Malcom

Why thank you!! I am researching the Pennington P-51B and trying to figure out if it just had the standard birdcage or was upgraded. I've never seen a Red Tail with a Malcolm so this makes sense. Now, I just need to figure out if it had the tail fillet or not, not sure if that has to do with dash numbers as well. Thanks again!

- Austin H.

Jim MacDonald · **Posted:** Thu May 26, 2011 4:09 am

Hey Austin,

You might try here http://p51sig.com/index.php. The guys at the P51 SIG are crazy nuts about the Mustang & can tell you just about anything you need to know.

HTH,

Mac

AHancock51 · **Posted:** Thu May 26, 2011 10:33 am

Jim MacDonald wrote:

Hey Austin,

You might try here http://p51sig.com/index.php. The guys at the P51 SIG are crazy nuts about the Mustang & can tell you just about anything you need to know.

HTH,

Mac

Oooh! Thank you very much, had not heard of this site before! I'll take my business there asap. Thanks again!

- Austin H.

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