Right era, wrong type of transportation

[KGS]

Originally Posted by Hoop

(Incidentally, few people are aware that the Spitfire had the landing gear handle on the right side of the cockpit. Who in the hell would do that to an otherwise near perfect airplane?)

Grumman F4F manually retracted/extended by turning the landing gear handle located on the right side of the cockpit (30 turns each way). A friend of mine flew one off the USS Essex during WWII. He said that it was always fun to watch a "newbie" on his first take-off trying to crank the handle and fly at the same time. He owned a '39 CV identical to mine at the time.
Ken