early pre war Curtiss Hell Diver crash landing

I know that this was posted before on here some years ago with the photo.

The pilot made an unexpected exit and the rear radio/gunner was forced to make an attempt to land the airplane.

What is not said is that there was an extra control stick in the back plus peddles to control the plane in case of an emergency. The view from the backseat is not the bestAttachment 123881

I'll bet his britches were lemon yellow as well. Poor pilot but...should have had his harness tight. Thrown out indeed. Well done rear gunner...

I assume the pilot was wearing a chute and survived to explain why he hadn't strapped in correctly at a court of enquiry??

Good Lordy! Did the poor man have to clime into the pilot's seat during the chaos, or is there backup controls in in the gunner seat?

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Originally Posted by ssgross

Did the poor man have to clime into the pilot's seat during the chaos, or is there backup controls in in the gunner seat?

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Here...

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Originally Posted by RCS

What is not said is that there was an extra control stick in the back plus peddles to control the plane in case of an emergency

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thanks, Jim. I guess I got so excited that I stopped reading...too amazed to remember how to spell "climb", or to bother looking at the autocorrect squiggle. :)

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Originally Posted by browningautorifle

I'll bet his britches were lemon yellow as well. Poor pilot but...should have had his harness tight. Thrown out indeed. Well done rear gunner...

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That was my first thought too...:lol:
Great deed!

The design of the Curtiss dive bomber was obviously well thought out to provide an extra set of controls to
save both the airplane and rear gunner in case something happened to the pilot. This extra set of controls
would have also been useful in training too