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The ring grip at the top of the stick has some ergonomic advantages - You can grip it palm up, palm down, or in between, and with either hand or both if need be. The Brits used it in combat aircraft in WWI through WWII and into the jet age...

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8GCBC said:

It's a little bulky looking.

CamTom12 wrote:I think (just assumption, I'd have to do a bit of research to validate this opinion.) that those grips were designed to allow 2-handed operation to overcome aerodynamic forces in the age of no hydraulics or low-pressure hydraulics during relatively high airspeed, high G dogfighting.

I think the cruising ergonomics were an unintended byproduct.

CamTom12 wrote:I think (just assumption, I'd have to do a bit of research to validate this opinion.) that those grips were designed to allow 2-handed operation to overcome aerodynamic forces in the age of no hydraulics or low-pressure hydraulics during relatively high airspeed, high G dogfighting.

I think the cruising ergonomics were an unintended byproduct.

Crzyivan13 wrote:us civilian joes not dive bombing wouldn't have to "combat" that in a normal situation.

CamTom12 wrote:

Crzyivan13 wrote:us civilian joes not dive bombing wouldn't have to "combat" that in a normal situation.

Very punny!! yuk yuk yuk!

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These are all very sensible reasons for having a spade grip in a fighter. So answer me this, why did the Hotspur glider have one?

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WAR EXPERIENCES OF A GLIDER PILOT — Part 1
Training
My name is Ron Willcox and I am now 83 years old.
I was a glider pilot during the war. The training glider was called a Hotspur.
There wasn’t a lot of room to sit and if you were a big man it was quite difficult to get in, and you would have to sit with your knees bent all the time. It’s rather like a ‘go kart’. We had a speed indicator which was the main instrument that you needed, and we also had an altimeter.

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These are all very sensible reasons for having a spade grip in a fighter. So answer me this, why did the Hotspur glider have one? Ergonomics amongst other things. Early MkI/II's had a straight vertical stick and rudder bars fitted and had no adjustment spare a somewhat moveable seat back. However on more than one occasion the seat back collapsed during approach causing some hairy and sometimes fatal landings. Modifications added rudder pedals on slides which could be adjusted for leg length and the vertical stick was replaced with a curved model with the spade grip on the end which curved back toward the pilot. This reduced the need to hold your arm out so straight to fly which relieved some strain on long cross-country flights. The result of the stick being nearer the pilot necessitated the spade grip so that it could be held at a more relaxed angle and not require you to bend the wrist the wrist so much. A side effect of the curved spade grip stick mod was that it solved problems with the straight stick getting jammed. When performing a "sporty" dive approach pushing the stick all the way forward pushed it behind the edge of the instrument panel. If it was moved to the side at all the top of the stick would get stuck behind the panel and you couldn't pull it back. Negative "G" plus a somewhat panicked pilot let to a few accidents. With the curved stick having the top further back it never reached the panel when pushed fully forward.