Flying with canopy open?

[Iorwerth]

Is it ok to fly with canopy open? I am learning on a BF109f2 and accidently opend my canopy when flying. It didn't seem to have much effect that i could tell, but visibility was much better with it open, so was wondering if flying with the canopy open is problematic in any way. 

[72AGs_Buzoter]

9 минут назад, Iorwerth сказал:

Можно ли летать с открытым куполом? Я учусь летать на BF109f2 и случайно открыл купол во время полета. Насколько я могу судить, это не сильно повлияло на ситуацию, но видимость с открытым куполом была намного лучше, поэтому я хотел бы узнать, не создаст ли полет с открытым куполом каких-либо проблем. 

Скорость заметно падает, а это один из козырей мессера. Поэтому надо привыкать к фонарю и плохому обзору.

[Iorwerth]

Ok. Thank you. I will keep it shut 🙂

[Avimimus]

41 minutes ago, Iorwerth said:

Ok. Thank you. I will keep it shut 🙂

Some Soviet pilots initially flew the Hurricane in combat with the cockpit open because they preferred the visibility. It was done historically in rare cases, and is valid if you prefer it.

However, you will lose a lot of speed and acceleration!

A major exception is the Bf-109 - because the canopy hinged to the side (rather than sliding), it couldn't be flown with the canopy open. Instead one would have to use the emergency canopy release (and replace the canopy after every mission!). Similarly the P-39 has a side door rather than an opening canopy. Overall though, it is possible in most other types.

A final note - the latch doesn't always work in the Yak-7B... so sometimes the canopy won't 'catch' and certain manoeuvres will cause it to slide shut by surprise!

[Iorwerth]

Interesting. I suppose when I did it by accident in the BF109 my canopy just flew off, as i couldn't get it to close. If having it open loses a lot of speed and acceleration, then seems I better get used to having it closed!

[MDzmitry]

1 час назад, Avimimus сказал:

It was done historically in rare cases, and is valid if you prefer it.

"In rare cases" wasn't exactly rare on the Eastern front because most Soviet fighters didn't have reliable cockpit jettison system until 1943-44 (Yak-9M, Yak-3, late La-5 series and La-7). And cockpit couldn't be opened past a certain speed threshold or if the pilot was wounded. There was also the diabolical cockpit temperature problem of Lavochkin fighters, sitting at a "comfortable" 40-60 degrees Celsius. 

So many of them preferred flying slower, but with better chances of survival and/or not in a sauna.

[Kubert]

I read in Pokryshkyn's book that he let remove sliding part of his MiG's canopy after one of his colleagues have trouble to open it when needed to bail out during stall. Pokryshkyn did the same stall on purpose and found it is really impossible to open canopy in that situation. After this finding he started flying with sliding part removed...and many others as well.

 

Also in game specification for every plane, is mentioned that above certain speed is impossible to open/close canopy.

 

For BF-109 I never even though about removing canopy for better visibility. Simply for realism reasons. I would be grounded if I always came back without canopy...or mechanics would execute me. 

Edited January 5 by Kubert

[Dash,Polder]

You can safely open any 109's canopy once your speed drops below 200 KPH and it won't tear off.  I routinely do it dirtied up for landing and trimmed for speed on short final, sort of cool.

[MaxPower]

6 hours ago, Iorwerth said:

I suppose when I did it by accident in the BF109 my canopy just flew off, as i couldn't get it to close.

Yeah I think you would have noticed the canopy on its hinge if it didn't rip off.  Instead of offering better visibility to the right, it would be majorly intrusive in your field of view.

[AndyJWest]

In real life if you were to try either opening the Bf 109 canopy in flight or jettisoning it, you'd risk having it hit the tail surfaces.  

Edited January 5 by AndyJWest

[Czech693]

Would not be a good idea even if this sim lets you get away with it.  The canopy is heavy, especially on later models.  It has the armor plate (or glass) attached to it.  There is no mechanism to hold it open so the slip stream could cause it to slam shut on your head.  Very distracting while landing.