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Just came across a photo of the TWA L-049 cockpit. Can anyone identify the instruments highlighted in the photo? Also, was this the "original" cockpit of all early L-049s?

That appears to be Howard Hughes so I would expect that aircraft to be a 'test article' and those gauges above the glare shield are not standard equipment on the production models but only installed for testing and evaluation.

The switch on the lower console looks like some sort of selector -- fuel tank, fire extinguisher, vacuum source, etc. - Not a selector switch at all. See my edit below....

EDIT: Looking a bit closer at that pedestal I see that the gauge in question is mounted below an attitude indicator and appears to have what looks like angular markings and two needles and may be associated with an ADF or radio compass. On later models there is a Radio Compass Control Box located in that position.

Paul

Found another picture of this same view taken at higher res. Looks like the labels on the upper group of mystery things say "2000 feet" (left one) and "500 feet" (right one).

Edit: I found it. It's an early form of a radar warning system: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news- ... d514970344

ClipperLuna wrote:Found another picture of this same view taken at higher res. Looks like the labels on the upper group of mystery things say "2000 feet" (left one) and "500 feet" (right one).

Edit: I found it. It's an early form of a radar warning system: http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news- ... d514970344

Ah, nice discovery. Thanks for the post!

Paul

"Radar Warning" is kind of a misnomer in modern context.

In actuality, it was a form of terrain/traffic avoidance using a modified radio altimeter "radar". Essentially it used a fixed "radar" beam that was aimed at an angle ahead of the airplane. It was designed to trigger when the return signal reached a certain strength that correlated with approx. 2000 feet of slant range to the airplane. In an L-049, that was plenty of time to avoid an oncoming mountain or look for an approaching plane. In a modern jet, it'd be useless since you'd cross that 2000 feet in about the time it took for you to recognize that the light was flashing.

Found this video last night of a walkaround of an L-049


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls92U1hk8Bk