Quote:
Originally Posted by Sutts
I remember reading something along those lines too in "Gun Button To Fire".
Some of the pilots used to fly with the cockpit open for better SA but soon stopped when they discovered that an open canopy caused wing tank fire to be drawn into and through the cockpit - through the open structure between the fuselage and the wing. For this reason, opening the canopy to bail out was a risky moment as a sudden surge of flame could rip through the cockpit as a result.
|
This is also stated in
McKinstry's book on the Hurricane - the Mk I's fuel tanks were only isolated from the cockpit by the open wingroot structure; according to
Stephan Bungay the gravity tank immediately in front of the cockpit also proved to be vulnerable and could burn like a blowtorch directly through the instrument panel; Dowding insisted that these tanks be covered with a fireproof coating manufactured by a company called Linatex and a fireproof bulhead was later fitted.