AeroAntique On-Line Library
The AeroAntique Library contains reference documents, downloadable for free, which you may find helpful when collecting or researching warbird artifacts. These are public-domain documents provided at no charge for your benefit. Be sure to check our home page for new warbird artifacts and news.
Index of Army Aeronautical Equipment with Navy and British Equivalents, Volume 6 - Instruments, Revised 01 March 1944. This 350+ page document is a master reference for instruments and related equipment and accessories used in aircraft of the US Army Air Forces, including many used in aircraft of the US Navy and aircraft made by US manufacturers for use by the British Royal Air Force. Each item page includes an illustration, specifications, dimensions, and manufacturers and their part numbers. The document file has been separated into smaller files for downloading here.
2 Engine Gages and Fuel Mixture Indicators
3 Hydraulic, Manifold Pressure, Suction Gages
4 Wheel and Flap Position Indicators
5 Tachometers and Tach Generators
7 Ammeters, Voltmeters, Accelerometers
8 Airspeed Indicators, Pitot Tubes
9 Altimeters, Rate of Climb Indicators, Venturi Tubes
10 Autopilot Systems and Accessories
11 Directional Gyros, Gyro Horizons, Turn & Bank Indicators
12 Astrograph, Clocks, Astro Compass, Compasses, Flux Gate System, Sextants, Drift Meter
Index of Army Aeronautical Equipment with Navy and British Equivalents, Volume 5 - Armament, Revised 01 March 1944. This 400+ page document is a master reference for armament and related equipment used in aircraft of the US Army Air Forces, including many used in aircraft of the US Navy and aircraft made by US manufacturers for use by the British Royal Air Force. Each item page includes an illustration, specifications, dimensions, and manufacturers and their part numbers. The document file has been separated into smaller files for downloading here.
2 Gunnery Equipment (Mounts, Sights, Containers, etc.)
3 Gunnery/Turrets Equipment (Turrets, Central Fire Control, etc.)
4 Bombing and Ordnance Equipment (Controllers, Guns, etc.)
Index of Army Aeronautical Equipment with Navy Equivalents, Volume 2 - Landing Gear Equipment, Revised 01 November 1944. - This ~200 page document is a master reference for landing gear and related equipment used in aircraft of the US Army Air Forces, including many used in aircraft of the US Navy. Each item page includes an illustration, specifications, dimensions, and some including the manufacturers and their part numbers. The document file has been separated into 2 smaller files for downloading here.
Index of Army Aeronautical Equipment with Navy Equivalents, Volume 3 - Oxygen and Miscellaneous Equipment - This ~400 page document is a master reference for Oxygen Equipment, e.g., tanks, regulators (Section 1) and Miscellaneous Equipment, e.g., belts, life rafts (Section 2) used in aircraft of the US Army Air Forces, including many used in aircraft of the US Navy. Each item page includes an illustration, specifications, dimensions, and some including the manufacturers and their part numbers. The document file has been separated into 2 smaller files for downloading here.
Maintenance Interchangeability Cross Reference Charts TO-00-25-29, Dec 1943 - This document provides a cross reference of aircraft maintenance items & parts, including instruments (pages 57-73) used by the US Army Air Forces against the aircraft which used them, either as originally installed, or could accept as as replacement. Instruments are indexed by description, manufacturer, part number, and type, in a matrix including aircraft by type and model. Instruments used exclusively by one aircraft model were not included since they weren't 'interchangeable'.
An updated version of the above-entitled Accessories for Airplanes-Engines Interchangeability Cross Reference Charts TO-00-45-1 dated Feb 1945. The entire document contains many different types of parts and is large, so it has been split up here. This version contains some newer instruments (e.g., Flux Gate Compass System) and later WWII aircraft (e.g. the B-29) which did not appear in the above version, but also does excludes some older instruments used in earlier aircraft.
A similar document which cross references WWII-era aircraft instruments to aircraft of both the Royal Australian Air Force and Royal Air Force is the 138-page RAAF 346 Types and Locations of Instruments in RAAF dated 1945. This document is rare and very worthwhile if aircraft of the RAAF and RAF are of interest (We didn't know that we had any instruments from Spitfires and Mosquito's until finding them in this document!).
If WWII-era US aircraft communication equipment is of interest, you'll want to download the Air Service Command's Airborne Radio Equipment Handbook, dated April 1943 (revised Feb 2001). This handbook describes radio systems of the time, components of these systems, their interchangeability, the aircraft which used these systems, and the location of the components within each aircraft.
One of the most comprehensive series of WWII/Post-WWII references for US military radio and radar equipment is the Graphic Survey of Radio and Radar Equipment Used by the Army Air Force, consisting of 5 sections of documents, below:
TM 1-413 Technical Manual Aircraft Instruments, dated Feb 1942 is an interesting guide to US military aircraft instruments of that era, their function, testing, maintenance, removal, and repair.
The US Navy's Training Course document Aircraft Instruments, NAVPERS 10333-A, dated 1954 provides a good introduction to instrument theory of operation, function, and maintenance of the types used in that era, with some interesting cut-away illustrations.
The WWII-era Aircrewman Gunnery Manual was published in 1944 separately by the US Army Air Force and the US Navy, but appear to be quite similar. The manual reviews the detail of the .50 Cal machine gun (and brief intro to the .30 cal machine gun and .45 cal pistol), gun sights and sighting, and the operation of the various power turrets used in bomber aircraft. Below you will find the US Navy version, split into smaller downloadable files:
- Introduction and This is Your Gun, Part 1
- This is Your Gun, Part 2
- Sighting and Sights
- Power Turrets, Part 1
- Power Turrets, Part 2, End.
And if WWII-era ordnance is of interest, the 366 page US Bombs and Fuzes, Pyrotechnics, published by the US Navy Bomb Disposal School September 1945 is a very comprehensive and useful reference.
Here is another useful WWII-era ordnance reference manual, the 492-page Aviation Ordnance Equipment Catalog OP-865 published by the US Bureau of Ordnance May 1944.
Two helpful references for WWII-era aircraft of the Japanese Army and Navy are Japanese Cockpit Interiors Part 1 and Part 2.
The 1000+ page Encyclopedia of US Air Force Aircraft and Missile Systems was published in two volumes by the US Air Force Office of Air Force History. The first volume describes Post WWII Fighters 1945-1973 (including landmark fighters of WWII and experimental fighters post WWII). The second volume describes Post WWII Bombers 1945-1973 (including experimental bombers post WWII). Each volume contains a section on each aircraft, describing its development (origin, design challenges, operational problems, and modifications), production decision dates, program changes, test results, procurement methods, technical data, operational characteristics, production totals, unit costs, and more. Missile Systems, despite being included in the title, are not included in these volumes (we surmise that there may have been a third volume but have not located it as of yet). These two volumes provide a wealth of information, (the Bomber Volume has been split due to its size) below:
- Post WWII Fighters 1945-1973 (All)
- Post WWII Bombers 1945-1973 (Intro thru B-52)
- Post WWII Bombers 1945-1973 (B-57 thru Appendix)
Here's an interesting reference Manual for Fighter Gun Harmonization AAF Manual 200-1 dated 30 January 1945. It contains all of the technical details to harmonize aircraft guns installed on the common fighters of the USAAF, including specific harmonization charts for P-38, P-39, P-40, P-47, and P-51.
While not specifically a warbird-related document, the US Federal Aviation Administration publishes a very helpful primer on aircraft instruments and how they function, including the underlying fundamentals of early mechanical aircraft instruments. You can find the document in pdf format at the the FAA website, just click here: Aircraft Instrument Systems.