Bubble canopy

Closeup of the front view of an F-16 Fighting Falcon showing the bubble canopy

A bubble canopy is a canopy made without bracing, which attempts to provide 360° vision to the pilot.

History

Bubble canopies have been in use since before World War II, with some experimental bubble canopy designs in the World War I era. The British had already developed the "Malcolm hood", which was a bulged canopy, but the British Miles M.20 was one of the first aircraft designs to feature a true one-piece sliding bubble canopy. Although that aircraft never went into production, the concept of the bubble canopy was later utilised on other British aircraft, such as the Hawker Typhoon and Tempest. It was also later fitted to the P-51 Mustang and P-47 Thunderbolt amongst others.^[1] A well-framed version of an all-around vision canopy was also used on the Mitsubishi A6M Zero Japanese naval fighter, and different designs with much less framing than the "Zero" had, were used on the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service's Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar and Nakajima Ki-84 Frank land-based fighter planes.

The Bell 47 helicopter was the first production helicopter certified for civilian use in the United States, and in its Model 47D version, pioneered the "soap bubble"-style canopy for light helicopters — as named by its designer, Arthur M. Young^[2] — that it and the 47G model were to become famous for.

Purpose

The purpose of a bubble canopy is to give a pilot a much wider field-of-view than flush, well-framed "greenhouse" canopies used on early World War II aircraft, such as those seen on early models of the F4U, P-51, the Soviet Yak-1 and earlier, "razorback" P-47 fighters, all with dorsal "turtledecks" integral to their fuselage lines, which left a conspicuous blind spot behind the pilot that enemy pilots could take advantage of to sneak up on an aircraft.

The open-cockpit design combat aircraft of World War I had narrow fuselages, which often were not tall enough to block visibility to the rear, especially with seating positions that generally elevated the pilot's head well above the cockpit's edges. As planes became larger, heavier and faster, designs had to be made stronger, which often meant a taller rear fuselage, but designers tried to maintain the narrow fuselage for visibility.

However, as speed continued to increase, it became necessary to enclose cockpits – and this, in turn, streamlined aircraft so that they were faster. Increased "G-loading" during maneuvers forced pilots to wear tight, restrictive shoulder harnesses, and armor plating began to be installed to protect pilots from projectiles coming from behind.

Unfortunately, these changes denied a pilot the ability to twist around and look directly behind (known as "Checking Six," or looking at the "Six O'clock" position directly to the rear). Mirrors offered some help, but had a narrow field of view.

An early F4U-1 Corsair, with the recessed rear vision panels behind the sliding "greenhouse"-framed canopy.

Prior to bubble canopies, some aircraft, such as the P-40 Warhawk, featured a hybrid flush canopy design, combining a narrow rear fuselage with a glass enclosure conforming to the shape of a full-width fuselage - these often had a pair of recessed panels (one per side, behind the openable canopy) in the dorsal "turtledeck" structure, faired-in with framed glazing that was flush to the fuselage surface. This provided increased visibility while still allowing a pilot to keep the canopy closed for greater performance. Examples of such "recessed" rear vision designs were the "greenhouse"-canopied original F4U-1 Corsair as well as the P-40.

The bulged Malcolm hood, used for the Spitfire, F4U Corsair, and P-51B and -C Mustangs was another hybrid. While not offering as much visibility to the rear as the P-40 enjoyed, it allowed a pilot more visibility than a flush canopy would.

Examples

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  Restored Mitsubishi A6M Zero's well-framed clear-view canopy

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  Early-production Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar with bubble canopy (less framing than the Zero)

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  Miles M.20 showing the one-piece frame-less bubble canopy, the whole of-which slides rearwards to open

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  F-86 Sabre in flight

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  View of a Su-30 MKI cockpit with IRST system

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  F-22 showing the frameless canopy and the 360° view for the pilot.

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  The twin bubble canopies of the Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter.

References

1. "Malcolm hood", Aero files.
2. Arthur M. Young. Arthur Young on the Helicopter (Part 2) (YouTube). Arthur M. Young. Event occurs at 10:15 to 11:45. Archived from the original (YouTube) on December 10, 2010. Retrieved April 8, 2016. I thought the bubble was a great idea, and we tried it. It consisted of taking a large sheet of Plexiglas, and a plywood form, cut for the final dimension for the outside of the bubble, then heating the Plexiglas, putting it under the plywood form, letting air pressure come up through the middle, and it would blow just like a soap bubble. And, then we had a gauge saying how far to blow, and when it reached that point, we turned off the air pressure.