This is the coolest ASI ever....

[Half Fast]

Visited the Valiant Air Command warbird museum in Titusville a few days ago, and saw this airspeed indicator on a Tiger Moth. No worries about icing!

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Great museum, BTW. They have a fly-in breakfast every 2nd Saturday for $12 that includes museum admission (normally $20).

 

[RussR]

Actually, I would think that if you're picking up airframe icing, that airspeed indicator would be one of the first to collect it, given the several small radius corners. But an open cockpit in icing sounds miserable enough!

A friend of mine has one of those on his Pietenpol Air Camper. Pretty neat, basic, and pretty foolproof.

 

[Brad Z]

I get the sense that if you're flying an open cockpit plane like that, your ears provide everything you need to know about airspeed.

 

[Plano Pilot]

I rode in a Tiger Moth that had that airspeed indicator. It appeared to work well.

 

[asicer]

I'll bet the cost to overhaul is quite reasonable.

 

[Albany Tom]

Somewhere I read that even after aircraft had enclosed cabins, some airplanes were built with an open cockpit, so the pilot could "feel the wind", as a safety feature.

If that's true, I'm wondering if some of the early 737 variants were built with open cockpit for the left side? (I kid, I kid!)

 

[MauleSkinner]

I get the sense that if you're flying an open cockpit plane like that, your ears provide everything you need to know about airspeed.

Except that the FAA removed the whisper test from the medical requirements 20-some years ago, because they figured you didn’t need to tell your speed by the sound of the wind in the wires.