4-place intercom wanted for Scouts' Simulator

[Dave Hall]

Posting on behalf of Ian Thomas and the scouts:-

We are looking for a 4-place intercom for the Comet 4 simulator we are building.

For many years the Scout Aviation Centre at Biggin Hill has owned a DeHavilland Comet 4 cockpit section originally used by Air Training Services at Hamble to train BOAC pilots in cockpit procedures.

It was an electric valve driven affair but after a bit of investigation, we've discovered that all the potentiometers are still there and connected to the primary and secondary flying controls.

After a generous donation, we have purchased a high spec. computer and a projector and after being donated Flight Simulator X from Microsoft, we can now project a view of the outside world onto a screen in front of the cockpit windows and allow the young people to 'fly' the aircraft out of Biggin with a normal 15 minute flight being into Heathrow.

We have control of Rudder, Ailerons, Elevator and 4 throttles along with flaps, elevator trim and undercarriage all interfaced to the computer. This is true of both the Captain and First Officer positions as the two control columns are linked mechanically.

We also have a fairly hefty speaker system with a large sub-woofer to compliment the experience.

The cockpit is labelled G-APDB which is extant at Duxford in BOAC colours. Curiously this aircraft made the first commercial jet transatlantic flight from West to East on 4th October 1958 and 50 years to the day we are planning to officially open and dedicate the simulator by re-creating this flight with Air Scouts at the controls. That gives us just two weeks to finish it off!

The renovation budget has now been used and to add to the experience, we would really like to introduce an intercom/intraplane system so that we can pipe in ATC and get the young people used to RT procedures and practically how they use them. As the cockpit seats Captain, First Officer, Instructor and Observer, a 4-place unit would be ideal.

Some pictures of what we have and the upgrade process can be seen at

http://www.9therithairscouts.org.uk/sac ... allery.htm

If you have an old spare intercom available, please contact Ian Thomas at [email protected]

Thanks.