This is a 360 panorama of the flight engineers station on a B-36: Six reciprocating R-4360s to keep an eye on, plus fuel, pressurization, hydraulics, electrical, and other systems.  Steam gauge heaven! 


http://www.nmusafvirtualtour.com/media/062/B-36J%20Engineer.html

Must have really been something when 4 jets were added! You can pan & zoom in & out in the picture.

 

Stan

 

Thanks for the link!

 

Kinda reminds me of touring Fifi (B-29) a few years back.  My (then) young son was quite taken with the complexity of the engineer's console, and was asking questions about it.  He was told something along the lines of "the pilots ask me nicely to do things, but I'm the one that's really in control".

 

Scott

Awesome. Thanks for sharing. Cpt out.

Next time someone badmouths an Airbus or talks about how autopilots and glass cockpits are killing true aviation... they should look at this.

From looking out the windows, I see this is the 36 on display at the USAF Museum. What a wonderful site. Reminds me of my favorite movie of all time, "Strategic Air Command" which I remember seeing as a starry eyed 9 year old boy. Thanks for sharing.

Outstanding. Looks like a plane that needed to be flown with, not just flown in.

Outstanding. Looks like a plane that needed to be flown with, not just flown in.

 

Looking at this, I'll certainly never make fun of the idea of a Flight Engineer.

Clap if you tried to turn some knobs and grip the controls like me. :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wvEzhyY9F4

 

Cheers,