Graham Bleathman has done it again! Here is another one of his superbly-executed and highly-detailed cutaway diagrams of the 1950s-style Spacefleet hardware.

I feel that I have to mention the prone-position pilot's couch (again, becuase it appears in most of the Spacefleet spaceships in the original Dan Dare stories. This was something that was tried out in the 1950s in the UK, on the premise that it was better from the point of view of g-forces. It seemed to work, but the position was not comfortable for the pilot, and bailing out was difficult Special pilot suits removed the the g-force advantage, later on, and all fighters were fitted with conventional seats, thereafter.

Note for Dan Dare enthusiasts: the spaceship "Zylbat", given to Dan Dare at the end of "Mission of the Earthmen" had conventional seats, but underwent a re-fit at SF HQ, during the next story ("The Solid Space Mystery"), which included two prone-position couches. Bit of a retrograde-step, to my mind, and can someone tell me why that was never done with the "Anastasia"? Enough of this pedantry...