Editing Flight instruments (section)

=== Early history {{anchor|Basic Six}}===
In 1929, [[Jimmy Doolittle]] became the first pilot to take off, fly and land an airplane using instruments alone, without a view outside the cockpit.  In 1937, the British [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) chose a set of six essential flight instruments<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Williamson |first=G. W. |date=19 August 1937 |title=Instrument Planning: The New Service Blind-Flying Panel Described |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1937/1937%20-%202313.html |magazine=Flight |page=193 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140727222059/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1937/1937%20-%202313.html |archive-date=27 July 2014 |access-date=3 May 2024}}</ref> which would remain the standard panel used for flying in [[instrument meteorological conditions]] (IMC) for the next 20 years. They were:

* [[altimeter]] (feet)
* [[airspeed indicator]] (knots)
* [[turn and bank indicator]] (turn direction and coordination)
* [[vertical speed indicator]] (feet per minute)
* [[artificial horizon]]  (attitude indication)
* [[directional gyro|directional gyro / heading indicator]] (degrees)

This panel arrangement was incorporated into all RAF aircraft built to [[List of Air Ministry specifications|official specification]] from 1938, such as the [[Miles Master]], [[Hawker Hurricane]], [[Supermarine Spitfire]], and 4-engined [[Avro Lancaster]] and [[Handley Page Halifax]]  heavy bombers, but not the earlier light single-engined [[de Havilland Tiger Moth|Tiger Moth]] trainer, and minimized the type-conversion difficulties associated with blind flying, since a pilot trained on one aircraft could quickly become accustomed to any other if the instruments were identical.

This basic six set, also known as a "six pack",<ref name=6pack>{{cite web|title=Six Pack - The Primary Flight Instruments|date=13 March 2010|url=http://www.learntofly.ca/six-pack-primary-flight-instruments/|publisher=LearnToFly.ca|access-date=31 January 2011}}</ref> was also adopted by commercial aviation. After the [[World War II|Second World War]] the arrangement was changed to: (top row) airspeed, artificial horizon, altimeter, (bottom row) turn and bank indicator, heading indicator, vertical speed.