In the early 1950 the adoption of a prone pilot was thought to offer the advantages of reduced drag (through elimination of the cockpit bulge) and better resistance to g-force swings when lying flat. In practice the difficulty of operating the controls outweighed these gains, especially after the development of special g-suits, and this plane was never flown solo from the forward, prone position.

This photo is copyright © Alastair T. Gardiner, and may not be used or published in any way without permission.

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