How common was it...

For the canopy on a plane to jam? I mean obviously its hard to ask the pilots cause chances are they died when the canopy failed to open, but is there a statistic out there for how often the canopy would jam and fail to open?

Also, were certain canopies more or less likely to jam then others?

 

What era?
If its WW2, the hollywood version is "always, but the hero unjams it at the last moment". The real version is probably somewhat different...

Post WW2, ejector seats normally include a canopy "release" using explosives, so I'll guess fairly rare.

Tom

 

It happened to Robert S Johnson, flying a P-47 T-Bolt.
20mm shells shattered the canopy and damaged the frame-rails. He was unable to get out of the airplane.
He nursed his badly damaged aircraft safely back to base, and, after getting-out of his parachute harness, he crawled-out through the side of the shattered canopy.
A testament to the rugged P-47.

Tim

 

In the movie Pearl harbour the guy shot out the window with a handgun and then got out.

 

then again, Ben Affleck's Spitfire crashes into the Channel and magically remains in one piece in that movie...

 

I mean in WWII, not hollywood. Is there any real statistic for canopy failure?

 

prolly not kelly as a pilot with a jammed canopy would be blown to atoms when his plane struck the ground ( and hence no after action report ) ..i would imagine that bullet srikes on the slide rail were prolly much less common than is portrayed in the movies.. ...... tim , i also .love that storie ...johnson intentioally dropped thousands of feet to sea level to keep from freezing to death... though his bullet riddled jug was coughing ,trailing smoke and sputtering ...a lw pilot in a shiney factory new fw190 pulled allong side johnson and inspected the falterng p47 ..he then pulled behind johnson who scrunched up behind his armored seat plate while the german expended all his remaining ammo into the already desroyed p47 ...empty ,the german came along side again shrugged and saluted ...johnson crossed the channel and deposited his tattered plane with the crew cheif who promptly declared it a total loss...i dont even think it was worth keeping for spare parts

 

I've seen a few mentions about early Mustangs having a problematic canopy emergency jettisons in "normal" operations. That is, no battle damage to the canopy which would have made the matter worse for the normal canopy operation. I have a hunch that there are canopies that endure more damage than other canopies and still function properly when they're needed, but I haven't seen any studies made about it in anywhere. Interesting question indeed

 

Early Mustangs (Allison powered and B/C versions) did not have sliding canopy (it was multipiece affair left side having hinges and opened to the side and top side opening to the right). Sliding canopy was retrofitted to some B/C as Malcom hood.

 

that wasn't very sporting of the german pilot was it?

FNG

 

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Hurricane pilots in the early years of the war (1939 - 1941) would deliberately leave their cockpits open (ie: slide the capony right back and lock it there), so that they could bale out easier. And possibly they were just used to open-cockpit biplanes

One problem, as far as I remember, was that if they crash-landed the canopy would be jolted forward at such speed as to jam closed, which would often result in a pilot receiving severe or fatal burns before he could be chopped out.

 

In Top Gun the canopy opened when Maverick and Goose's F14 started spinning out of control during a training mission, but I don't think the canopy flew far enough, because according to the storyline Goose hit the canopy while ejecting and got killed. Maverick got out, though.

 

they were in a flat spin if memory serves me right, so they were falling, spinning and not actually travelling forward.

I assume the canapy release just forces it off and up so that the forward motion of the plane moves it out of the way, in this case there was no forward mortion so goose was fired through it

FNG

 

They were in a flat spin. You're better than this than I am, FNG. And, that makes sense. But how did Maverick get out when Goose didn't?

 

By then the cockpit was far enough away. Haven't seen that one in a while but I think Goose jumped first so the canopy had less time to get clear when he hit it. And it wasn't the canopy that killed him directly, but more likely the impact with the water, when he didn't get his 'chute open.

 

...but unfortunatly he still escapes i reckon??!!

 

Well this has gone from a simple question to analyzing why Goose was killed in a training accident in the movie Top Gun.

 

Topics have been known to do that. In fact, a Colt .45 or Browning HP topic turned into a debate over whether the M16 should have replaced the M14 as the standard rifle of the US Armed Forces, started by yours truly.

 

not only that but he returns to Hawaii in time for the attack and ends up almost disowning his best friend (I know the face but can't think of the name.....too many well knwon actors)

 

afflec spit hits the water at about 20 degrees attitude which will not only rip the spits wings off but alo afflecs head as well...then at pearl , afflec flees at sea level with 2 ijn zekes 50 feet off his tail ...the only hope a p40 has to escape is to dive away from the zekes but since the chase starts at sea level ,afflec would be killed again almost certainly ...then afflec is seen flying a b25 off the hornet with dolittle ...aparently afflec and his buddie had time to return to the usa to attend multi engine school and then b25 school ,and then dolittles b25 stol school in time to return for the hornet launch .. OR dolittle could select his pilots from actual high time b25 pilots which would make better sense prolly...of course the tactic of calling the tower and getting a sgt to step outside with a hand held .30 brning mg was a very common tactic for getting an enemy fighter off ones tail ...hartmann and rall used this very same trick in russia hundreds of times...even to this day all usaf towers keep a couple belt fed mgs ready in case of a bandit that wont shake off...