Jump to content

Aviation History in Control Wheels; Yokes


Swifter
 Share

Recommended Posts

It would probably be very difficult to prove what came from the factory on every version of the Link. I can think of the possibilities that Link was asked to install Beech wheels on a particular contract or that a depot overhaul program did so later. I know that the Curtiss-Wright simulators were built in different versions for various bombers and airliners but I never asked anyone if the cockpits were perfect matches...

 

Yeah, well, your photo of the link with the Beech wheel certainly suggests you're right about the possibility! Thanks for that photo of the Link with the Beech wheel. I've been in a couple of Links and have probably seen a half dozen at various locations over the decades. That photo is the first I've seen with that control wheel. Just wondering, is your wheel is made of an aluminum alloy (IE: light weight) or is it a heavier metal? My Link wheel is about the size/shape of a Lockheed Hudson/Ventura wheel but far heavier. I think it's basically a pot-metal casting. Since Link wheels were never intended for flight, weight didn't matter and cheaper materials and construction were used.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

... and cheaper materials and construction were used.

In this case, too, might use of pot metal had a relationship with war time saving of better materials for combat service?

 

Junk metal becomes pot metal, and saves true steel, aluminum, bronze, copper alloys etc?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In this case, too, might use of pot metal had a relationship with war time saving of better materials for combat service?

 

 

 

Yes, prioritizing strategic materials was a big deal during the war.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Anybody have a nice B-26 Marauder control wheel in their collection? If so, then you have a rare piece. Not too many have survived. Attached are examples of both the later (rounded) and early (cross) wheels used in the Marauder. I'm not sure what the break point was was for introducing the later version. Cockpit shots of the Marauders exist with pilot/co-pilot wheels both of the early design, both of the late design, or a mix of the two with the early wheel being on the co-pilot's side. The late model wheel design also saw use on the post-war P4M "Mercator".

 

post-162703-0-23870600-1491878922.jpg post-162703-0-96741000-1491878933.jpg post-162703-0-21562500-1491878947.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Both interesting and informative. Thanks for showing. Jack

 

Thank you Jack. I'm trying to generate some interest in this niche corner of aero-collectibility.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Hi All:

 

Anyone out there have Boeing B-50 control wheel? Later B-17s, B-29s, C/KC-97s and B-50s all used the same basic "American Hard Rubber" model AC-168 wheel. But there are variations on the same basic theme used in each of these four aircraft. Those variations are mainly in the engraved lettering and in the switches that were mounted. The C/KC-97 wheels had pads molded into the hard rubber coating, on the rear of the stalks, for mounting autopilot disconnect switches. Which of the pads was drilled/opened determined whether it was mounted in the pilot's or co-pilot's position. It was somewhat the same for a B-50 wheel, but the B-50 had no molded pads and used a different switch mounting scheme from the C/KC-97.

 

Photos of the aircraft commander's wheels attached:

 

 

 

post-162703-0-38530300-1493495230.jpg

post-162703-0-12754000-1493495242.jpg

post-162703-0-67627700-1493495258.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

 

Yeah, well, your photo of the link with the Beech wheel certainly suggests you're right about the possibility! Thanks for that photo of the Link with the Beech wheel. I've been in a couple of Links and have probably seen a half dozen at various locations over the decades. That photo is the first I've seen with that control wheel. Just wondering, is your wheel is made of an aluminum alloy (IE: light weight) or is it a heavier metal? My Link wheel is about the size/shape of a Lockheed Hudson/Ventura wheel but far heavier. I think it's basically a pot-metal casting. Since Link wheels were never intended for flight, weight didn't matter and cheaper materials and construction were used.

 

From the look and heft, I'd say that my wheel is magnesium. Magnesium gets used in a few odd parts for weight savings but no production aircraft has really made extensive use of it. The military kind of soured on magnesium for airframe parts due to corrosion but there were many aircraft engine accessory cases and nose cases made of magnesium that gave many years of service. I recall a story of a WWII aircraft found underwater and contrary to expectations, the steel crankshaft was not a hunk of rust. The magnesium case components had been acting like anode rods, protecting the crankshaft from corroding severely.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

 

From the look and heft, I'd say that my wheel (post #25; 3.12.2017) is magnesium. Magnesium gets used in a few odd parts for weight savings but no production aircraft has really made extensive use of it. The military kind of soured on magnesium for airframe parts due to corrosion but there were many aircraft engine accessory cases and nose cases made of magnesium that gave many years of service. I recall a story of a WWII aircraft found underwater and contrary to expectations, the steel crankshaft was not a hunk of rust. The magnesium case components had been acting like anode rods, protecting the crankshaft from corroding severely.

 

 

In the end, I'd say you've made a reasonably good case that Link built some of their (multi-engine) trainers with the Beech wheel, and that they were made from light weight alloys. The photo in your posting #22 looks much like my wheel out of a Beech D18. With the exception that yours has a simple round mounting. All of the wheels I've seen over the years that came from flying aircraft have the mounting shown in the pix below....with variations in the center cap design.

 

post-162703-0-64884000-1497216714.jpg post-162703-0-75170100-1497216735.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Earlier in this thread I posted some photos of the control wheel out of a Douglas A26 Invader that I restored. It was noted the same wheel design was used in several aircraft. The first two pix below are of the wheel in my collection that came out of a Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon. The next two pix are of a wheel of the same design, different switchology, from a North American B-45 Tornado—this one is not in my collection…wish it was. The B-45 was a contemporary of the Boeing B-47.

 

post-162703-0-93814600-1502254263.jpg post-162703-0-20728900-1502254286.jpg

 

post-162703-0-20577500-1502254308.jpg post-162703-0-22475200-1502254325.jpg

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When new, it's likely the B-45 wheel above mounted the nice gold-toned (and seldom seen) North-American center cap in the following pix. Got lucky on Ebay awhile back and added this one to my collection. I think the same cap got mounted to the wheels of the North American AJ-2 Savage.

 

post-162703-0-69418200-1502254966_thumb.jpg post-162703-0-91502700-1502254981_thumb.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I recently randomly came across across a yoke the seller was clueless on that I recognized from the flight manual. Picked up the yoke from a USAF Cessna O-2A. I tend to like less popular aircraft so of course I was all over getting this and surprised no one else bid on it. Neat FAC aircraft, the yoke is pretty no frills, has a Radio XMT and ICS switch, Elevator UP DN trim switch and a guarded Wing Stores trigger. Only the FAC O-2A had that setup, the O-2B for psyops only has a Radio switch.

 

post-11373-0-14521900-1502852727.jpg

post-11373-0-29790900-1502852737.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I recently randomly came across a yoke the seller was clueless on, that I recognized from the flight manual. Picked up the yoke from a USAF Cessna O-2A. I tend to like less popular aircraft so of course I was all over getting this and surprised no one else bid on it. Neat FAC aircraft, the yoke is pretty no frills, has a Radio XMT and ICS switch, Elevator UP DN trim switch and a guarded Wing Stores trigger. Only the FAC O-2A had that setup, the O-2B for psyops only has a Radio switch.

 

 

Nice buy mohawkALSE. That overall wheel style was used on many "period" civilian Cessnas like the 172/182/210/337. But the left seater's wheel in the O-2 was unique in that the left stalk was thickened to accommodate the extra switches in the military variant. Gotta get one of those for my collection..!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

For some, collecting the hub covers or center caps from old aircraft control wheels is a hobby unto itself. Awhile back I bought a rather ratty but salvageable wheel cap from a B-29 bomber. Decided to do an inverse restoration on it. Meaning I reversed the colors. Boeing caps were black with Silver lettering when new. But on most of the caps in existence the lens with the engraving has turned yellow. Making the silver paint look like it's gold instead. Here are the "before" shots:

 

post-162703-0-82700500-1511726075.jpg post-162703-0-39775900-1511726102.jpg post-162703-0-69253800-1511726123.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Here's a nice grouping of caps having variations on the Boeing "135" theme. Still need to pick up an EC-135 cap if someone knows of one laying around..... ;-)

 

post-162703-0-41242600-1512528802.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Here's an interesting control wheel not often seen, from a later version of the Douglas C-124 Globemaster. Earlier versions of the aircraft used the same wheel as the C-54/DC-4.

 

 

post-162703-0-74869900-1520451948.jpg

post-162703-0-93886700-1520451958.jpg

post-162703-0-65981300-1520451973.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 9 months later...

Here are some photos of the control wheel from another 1950s Douglas product, the B-66 Destroyer. Very few of these survived to find their way into the hands of collectors.

post-162703-0-10138200-1547148731_thumb.jpg

post-162703-0-34588700-1547148746.jpg

post-162703-0-77777200-1547148760.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you. I'm trying to drum up some interest in this rather cool (even if it is arcane) area of collecting aero militaria. I consider the control wheel/yoke/stick to be the heart of an aircraft since (independent of the autopilot and throttles/engine) all flight commands pass from the pilot through it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
InvaderHistoricalFoundatio

Was hoping this thread would generate some posts from others who have an interesting control wheel, column/yoke or (hub) cap in their collection. Perhaps it will in time.

 

Meanwhile, thought I'd post some shots of this wheel from an A-26 (later re-designated B-26) Invader. They show the wheel in the as-bought, in-process and restored conditions. Often, a control wheel of a given design got used in several aircraft. This same wheel design was used on more aircraft than any wheel design I'm aware of. It was used on the North American B-45 Tornado, Northrop B-35 Flying Wing, Northrop P-61 Black Widow, Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon and on the Convair R3Y Tradewind flying boat. Anyone out there know of other wheel designs used in multiple aircraft?

 

In the early 1960s a bunch of A-26's were rebuilt and modernized by On-Mark Aviation. One of the mods some of them carried was a new wheel....which was the same as the one used the the Lockheed C-130.

 

 

attachicon.gifa26-1.jpg attachicon.gifa26-6.JPG attachicon.gifa26-20 -.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Swifter, that's an amazing job you did there! I've got a blank/unfinished control yoke for an A-26 coming next week. I'm hoping to complete it for display in my Invader museum. Can you give me some tips on how you restored yours?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

 

Swifter, that's an amazing job you did there! I've got a blank/unfinished control yoke for an A-26 coming next week. I'm hoping to complete it for display in my Invader museum. Can you give me some tips on how you restored yours?

 

Hi IHF: I responded to you with a PM.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...