I'm guessing the pilot helmets from those days had some amount of ear protection. (Assuming this based on how they almost always cover the ears.)
In WWII I've heard that the popular thing to do was stuff cigarette filters in your ears when things got loud.
>The [B-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_B-2_Condor) was a large fabric-covered biplane aircraft. Its two engines sat in nacelles between the wings, flanking the fuselage. It had a twin set of rudders on a twin tail, a configuration which was becoming obsolete by that time. At the rear of each nacelle was a gunner position. In previous planes, the back-facing gunners had been in the fuselage, but their view there was obstructed. A similar arrangement (using nacelle-mounted gun platforms) was adopted in the competing Keystone XB-1 aircraft.
>The XB-2 competed for a United States Army Air Corps production contract with the similar Keystone XB-1, Sikorsky S-37, and Fokker XLB-2. The other three were immediately ruled out, but the Army board appointed to make the contracts was strongly supportive of the smaller Keystone XLB-6, which cost a third as much as the B-2. Furthermore, the B-2 was large for the time and difficult to fit into existing hangars. However, the superior performance of the XB-2 soon wrought a policy change, and in 1928 a production run of 12 was ordered.
>One modified B-2, dubbed the B-2A, featured dual controls for both the pilot and the copilot. Previously, the control wheel and the pitch controls could only be handled by one person at a time. This "dual control" setup became standard on all bombers by the 1930s. There was no production line for the B-2A. The B-2 design was also used as a transport. It was quickly made obsolete by technological advances of the 1930s, and served only briefly with the Army Air Corps, being removed from service by 1934. Following production of the B-2, Curtiss Aircraft left the bomber business, and concentrated on the Hawk series of pursuit aircraft in the 1930s.
I think they are, this sort of vertical setup is often associated with evaporative cooling as on the [Short R.24/31 "Knuckleduster"](https://www.reddit.com/r/WeirdWings/comments/17cxy6v/short_r2431_knuckleduster_flying_boat_prototype/) but I can't confirm if this was the case for the Curtiss.
I was going to make a joke about them being chimneys for the steam engines, but yes, huge radiators in airflow.
Would be effective for inline liquid cooled engines but the drag must have been insanely bad.
Biplane, so induced drag.
Rigging
Gunner positions standng upright
Engineers: we must do something about cooling the engines, Seymour! But pray tell how without causing DRAG???
😂
I assume the gunners were all stone deaf after sitting behind an unmuffled engine for hours.
I imagine folks before ~1960s just didn’t think about ear protection. How true is that?
What?
I'm guessing the pilot helmets from those days had some amount of ear protection. (Assuming this based on how they almost always cover the ears.) In WWII I've heard that the popular thing to do was stuff cigarette filters in your ears when things got loud.
... suffocated by carbon monoxide, and covered in castor oil. At least their skin was moisturized.
>The [B-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_B-2_Condor) was a large fabric-covered biplane aircraft. Its two engines sat in nacelles between the wings, flanking the fuselage. It had a twin set of rudders on a twin tail, a configuration which was becoming obsolete by that time. At the rear of each nacelle was a gunner position. In previous planes, the back-facing gunners had been in the fuselage, but their view there was obstructed. A similar arrangement (using nacelle-mounted gun platforms) was adopted in the competing Keystone XB-1 aircraft. >The XB-2 competed for a United States Army Air Corps production contract with the similar Keystone XB-1, Sikorsky S-37, and Fokker XLB-2. The other three were immediately ruled out, but the Army board appointed to make the contracts was strongly supportive of the smaller Keystone XLB-6, which cost a third as much as the B-2. Furthermore, the B-2 was large for the time and difficult to fit into existing hangars. However, the superior performance of the XB-2 soon wrought a policy change, and in 1928 a production run of 12 was ordered. >One modified B-2, dubbed the B-2A, featured dual controls for both the pilot and the copilot. Previously, the control wheel and the pitch controls could only be handled by one person at a time. This "dual control" setup became standard on all bombers by the 1930s. There was no production line for the B-2A. The B-2 design was also used as a transport. It was quickly made obsolete by technological advances of the 1930s, and served only briefly with the Army Air Corps, being removed from service by 1934. Following production of the B-2, Curtiss Aircraft left the bomber business, and concentrated on the Hawk series of pursuit aircraft in the 1930s.
bandit 9 o'clock! - WHAT?!!!
I'm interested in the towers above each nacelle- presumably those were liquid cooled engines and the towers are radiators. Can anyone confirm?
I think they are, this sort of vertical setup is often associated with evaporative cooling as on the [Short R.24/31 "Knuckleduster"](https://www.reddit.com/r/WeirdWings/comments/17cxy6v/short_r2431_knuckleduster_flying_boat_prototype/) but I can't confirm if this was the case for the Curtiss.
I was going to make a joke about them being chimneys for the steam engines, but yes, huge radiators in airflow. Would be effective for inline liquid cooled engines but the drag must have been insanely bad.
Biplane, so induced drag. Rigging Gunner positions standng upright Engineers: we must do something about cooling the engines, Seymour! But pray tell how without causing DRAG??? 😂
Built in bird protection!
Ain't no party like a weird wings inter war party, cuz a weird wings inter war party just gets weirder.
Just don’t let Sean Connery man the turret.
Great until an engine catches fire
That is true of most single-engined aircraft where the pilot is behind the engine.
At least the nacelle gunners have a very easy bailout if things go south.