Flight Deck Layout

I must state for the record that at the beginning of this saga, I never intended to let things get this complicated. Along about 1989, I thought it might be nice to have a single rack in the shack to support an ART-13 and BC-348, similar to the rack in Flak Bait (the National Air & Space Museum's Martin B-26B), that has a BC-348 and an SCR-274N command set installed. The intent was simply to construct something that resembled original installations in WWII aircraft, using dimensions and aluminum materials that led to easy assembly. As things developed, I added a 45 degree corner to it simply "to use the space a little better". Then of course I needed "just one more" wide bay - to hold a few more acquisitions and provide visual symmetry. By now you should see where all this is going...

Just to provide some scale, each of the wide rectangular bays is three feet wide by two feet deep by about five feet tall. The three foot by two foot dimension allowed economical use of plywood from the home stores, and approximated the actual dimensions of those in avionics suites (especially countermeasures) in period aircraft. The use of varnished plywood has an impressive number of precedents, but I chose to additionally sheath the top of each piece in .032" aluminum sheet, primarily to assist in solving the grounding problem that accompanies the use of WWII aircraft radios in a radio amateur environment. Anyone contemplating replication should be aware that this material dents rather easily from carelessly dropped items, so consideration might also be given to thin stainless sheet if available at a reasonable price - at least for the main shelf. The corner bays have a two foot wide front, but of course fan out toward the rear so there is some room at the back corners for peripherals that do not require controls.

General Layout (not to scale) All equipment is from the WWII era with the exception of a new bay on the backside of the VHF sets, which will primarily house the mid-1930s progenitors to several of the WWII backbone sets, as well as an aluminum finish SCR-274N set that formed the foundation of USAAF HF command capabilities.
As you can see in the diagram, each of the bays is loosely dedicated to a particular theme, though the theme may be tenuous at times, or have discontinuities. The labels represent the primary radio set (or sets) that defines the position, but others are squeezed in as well. Starting at the upper right hand corner and proceeding counterclockwise, the links to each of the fourteen bays are as follows:

BC-375 Bay
ARC-5 Bay
BC-348 Bay
ART-13 Bay
Early (1942) ECM Surveillance Equipment
Mid to late war ECM Surveillance Equipment
Miscellaneous ECM and antenna switching corner
Mainstay WWII jammers
Super rare WWII jammers
Mostly VHF sets
Miscellaneous Bendix sets, ARC-5 Tunable VHF suite
Navigation Bay
and in the center of the octagon, the Navy Bay
Finishing off the octagon (I sincerely hope) is the new bay mentioned above (under construction), a late addition to provide a home for some otherwise storage-cabinet-confined sets of significant historical significance prior to WWII - The Beginnings

The flight deck is one of those endeavors that never has an end, it seems. Things are constantly changing, and future improvements include a new varnished plywood floor similar to that in the Enola Gay (see the Weird stuff page) and mounting of the aircraft chairs in front of the positions on adjustable seat rails.