In keeping with the progress of yesterday, I did some more exploring and experimenting on the operation of the canopy structure. As explained yesterday, the canopy hinges from the RH side of the cockpit, overhead to a frame on the LH side of the cockpit. This frame opens outwards and upwards, lifting the canopy out of the way for entrance into the plane. Loosely fitting the frame into the rear cockpit it appeared that some parts of the latch were missing. After some head scratching and comparing it to the forward cockpit, I realized that the latch in the rear cockpit had been bent. The latching mechanism is actually quite simple. The latch is simply an aluminum tab mounted on the fuselage below the canopy rail. The tab rotates about 90 degrees into a slot in the frame holding the canopy closed. There is an additional safety latch that engages preventing the main latch from rotating out. The safety latch has a light spring that holds it either open or closed. Surprisingly, the latching mechanism is only accessible from inside the airplane. As originally built, there are no provisions to latch or unlatch the canopy from outside the airplane. This certainly won't meet today's safety requirements. All aircraft require the ability to open from the outside. And it's not practical from the security perspective. I have some ideas for some simple and tasteful modifications to permit the opening from the outside. In typical Dalotel design, the latch rotates around a custom built threaded screw. The screw passes from the inside of the cockpit, through a threaded boss that's welded to the fuselage frame. The screw has a very thin head so there's little chance of catching on it in the cockpit. The head is so thin, there is no depth for a screwdriver slot or socket. Since there is no slot on the head, the end of the shank is slotted. This means one passes a screwdriver through the threaded boss to reach the screw at the opposite end. The screw is about 3/8" diameter (yet to be measured, and there are no drawings for these parts) but the really strange thing is it has LH threads. Why in the world would they have made these screws and bosses LH threads? The latch only rotates about 90 degrees and for every 1/4 turn one way, it has to be turned 1/4 the opposite way. It wouldn't make a difference if it's LH or RH threads. After figuring out how some of these pieces worked, I spent some time cleaning up some of the grime and oxidation that have built up over the 50 years. There's a copper spring tab that's part of the canopy jettison latch. I gave it a slight polishing yesterday but it was still black. Today I gave it the once over with the dremel tool with a wire brush. It's cleaned up so nicely it's got some bling.