When entering the cockpit the pilot is offered this view on the windscreen and the instrument panel. As in most fighter aircraft of the era, there is not much room to spare, the cross section of the fuselage being kept to minimum dictated by the size of the engine. Fortunately the Spitfire office was rather roomier than the one of its main adversaries, the German Messerschmitt Bf 109. There is enough room for the pilot’s shoulders, and unlike the initial flat canopy, the bulged canopy of the Mk. V provided enough headroom even for tall airmen.