When our astronomy club visited the Cradle of Aviation Museum, I stopped to try out a full-size model of a 1911 Curtiss Pusher. The model is only of the center section of the airplane. I think that this is for kids, but hey, I am a kid, so I tried it out. What's interesting about the controls for this machine, is that only some of them are similar to a modern airplane. The "steering wheel" turns the rudder which is in the front, the stick moves the foreplane, for pitch control. There are no rudder pedals for the feet. But the most unusual control is that for the ailerons, out on the wings, and you move those by pressing your back into the "shoulder cradle" and tilting your body from side to side. Man oh man, would I ever think that I could fly an airplane with such unusual controls!
2 comments:
You are a big kid! I had to look up the plane to see several photos of complete plane. A little scary to think of them flying and landing on tricycle wheels.
Joan
I'm glad you're still a kid! I'm sure you would get the hang of flying this aircraft - with a few sore back muscles! bsk
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