RE8 Gunners control column

[andallen]

I am making a one sixth scale model of an RE8 and have many photos of various parts of the aircraft. I am however stumped as to the purpose of the gunners control column and to what it was connected. Was it connected to a bomb release mechanism because from all the photos of other components, it looks as though it was attached to the elevator bar. If this is the case, the observer would have had the ability to control aircraft pitch. Does anyone know if this was the case?



Andrew

[Bletchley]

I think some two-seaters had a screw-in control stick for the observer, probably so that he could hold the aircraft straight and level whilst taking a sequence of photographs. It could also be used in an emergency, but I don't think this was the main reason for it being there, and it was usually kept out of the way. I am not able to confirm this with a source, I am afraid, as it is just something I remember reading somewhere, so I may be incorrect.

Bletchley :)

[andallen]

Thank You Anyway

[Old Man]

Was pretty common on English two-seaters. The purpose was to give the observer some chance at life if the pilot was disabled. The arrangement often lacked any rudder-bar, with the man expected to exert any needed rudder control by gripping the rudder cables passing along the sides of his cockpit where he was seated behind the pilot. Patches of leather were sometimes affixed to facilitate his grip.