Warbird Information Exchange

All

The Ford Tri Motor has a several instrument dials on the outside of the fuselage, can anyone tell me what they are, and why they are placed there ( I assume a quick reference for ground crew)?

cheers
Dave

From the photos I've seen they're Tach, oil pressure and oil temp. The panel on a Tri-motor is relatively small for instruments would be my guess.

The instruments are the tachometer, oil pressure and oil temperature. The center engine had these in the cockpit. I would guess that the direct reading indicators and cable driven tachometers worked better close to the engines. Here's what I found in an erection and maintenance manual for the Ford Tri-Motor:

Here is a photo of the instruments in flight.

It's a lot simpler not to have to make instrument runs (cables, tubes, pulleys, hoses) all the way to the cockpit. Much easier to put them on the nacelle, or strut.

And in those days the Captain flew the aircraft. The right-seater was available to run back and look at gauges.

Didn't last.

Dave

Thanks chaps, good eyesight required I guess!

Dave

There were other aircraft with some of the engine instruments mounted on the engine nacelles. The Bf-110 and Ju-88 come to mind. I'm sure that there were more types, as well. I'll see if I can find pictures of these two installations and post them.

A 1931 Stinson SM6000 (Tri-motor) I flew in back in the 90's also had gauges on the outboard engines, unlike the Ford, they were actually on the engine side cowlings.

Larry Kraus wrote:...some of the engine instruments mounted on the engine nacelles. The Bf-110 and Ju-88 come to mind

I did not know that.
I'm not surprised...lots of stuff was done to keep them simple. I'm sure similar arrangements were done on many civil aircraft.

And the Arrow Sport predated Pontiac's hood-mounted tach by being mounted aft of the engine.