De Havilland Venom cockpit - prototype or early FB1

[John R]

Please can anyone provide me with pictures of the early Venom cockpit, i.e. pre ejection seat, showing the seat, instrument panel and anything between the canopy and fuselage aft of the seat?

[John R]

Just thought. The first Venom was produced using the fuselage on a Vampire FB5 so the general arrangement should be the same. Am I right?

[stever219]

It should be.  I've just done a quick shallow trawl and haven't found any photos of early single-seat Venom cockpits.  You might want to try contacting the de Haviland Museum at Salisbury Hall; they might have something useful in their archives.  Also have a look at Crecy publishing who produce facsimile copies of pilots' notes.  You won't see pictures of the area behind the seat (unless there's a cutaway drawing of the complete aeroplane) but there should be illustrations of the front and sides of the cockpit as your "starter for ten" (other starters are available).

[stevehnz]

When I first saw this my first thought was much as your second post. I held back expecting the experts to chime in but I'd be very surprised if they weren't largely similar to later Vampires as you suggest.

Steve.