Spitfire Controls

In article , N329DF
writes
It is very easy to fly, for me even more comfortable than a stick. I can't say
about in combat, but I have flown in Tiger Moth, Harvard Mk.II and Spitfire TR
IX,

Nice!

and all had circle control sticks.
Matt Gunsch,
A&P,IA,Private Pilot
Riding member of the
2003 world champion drill team
Arizona Precision Motorcycle Drill Team
GWRRA,NRA,GOA


At one point, RAF fighter pilots were advised to keep both hands on the
control column while firing - a spade handle made this easy, as was
applying a lot of control force when necessary. Plus it was
ambidextrous (did I spell that ok?) and easy to swap hands quickly
without having to overlap fingers (and trapping glove leather; very
annoying...). It also made it very easy to operate a stick-mounted
brake handle as this could be mounted to pivot side-to-side rather than
front-to-back - very natural to the fingers.

All in all, I wonder why we stopped using them - didn't look flash
enough for the export market I suppose...

By way of comparison I have an early Harrier control column handle. It
is ergonomic hell - hard to reach some controls and difficult to use
without pressing things you don't want to press.

On a trivial point, I have a 30 year old US-made screwdriver which has a
spherical handle and can thus be gripped with the whole hand - it is a
dream to use compared to the straight and/or or pistol-grip types - you
can really apply torque and pressure in comfort. Suspect the spade
handle shared some of these ergonomic characteristics.

Cheers,

Dave

--
Dave Eadsforth