I have noticed in several First World War aircraft that some of the instruments in the panel appear to be canted onto one side instead of being set in the usual manner which you see in aircraft today. Why was this?

Old Bill

Old Bill:
This was done to put the instrument in direct line of sight to make the instrument easier to read.
Blue Skies,
Dan-San

Hi Old Bill,

Dan is correct as usual! I have also read that instruments were tilted so the normal, expected readings faced directly up. This was to aid in aquisition of the instrument reading during flight. Instrument designers of the time did'nt design the face with this reading at the top, so the instrument was placed accordingly to allow for this.

And, in many cases, instruments were 'put where they fitted' rather than in efficiently-designed placements; ergonomics being in their infancy. For example, the S.E.5a's instrument panel was placed too far forward for easy reading of the dials - one of the reasons for the lowering of the pilot's seat, compared to the first S.E.5s? - and the early Nieuports usually didn't have an instrument panel at all.

Cheers!

(8:¬)}

Simba.

Here's a picture of what I'm pretty sure is the cockpit of an N-17:

http://home.earthlink.net/~paep/N-17_Cockpit_sd085a.jpg

Regards,

In my numerous hours of surfing I have found a few picture of ww1 plane cockpit here are some (I do not post the picture)
http://www.wwi-models.org/Photos/Fre/Bre14.../BE2/index.html
http://www.wwi-models.org/Photos/Bri/SE5a/...ieIV/index.html
http://www.wwi-models.org/Photos/Fre/SPAD13/index.html

I am not sure they are original instrument (except for the breguet 14)
Hope that help