Bomb aimers/armourers panel

Quote from M-62A
” The “Distributor set at No.1” presumably relates to the brass wheel on right hand side of the sixteen switch unit – referred to as the “drum switch” in the Fig 24 I posted.”

Looking at one I have the drum switch when turned changes the function of the unit as indicated by text in the clear panel. The options are ‘Container’, ‘Distributor’, ‘Single and Salvo’ and ‘Safe except for jettison’

However mine is connected to a thing called a Distributor Unit Type VII 5D/1065 which is a clockwork contraption used to regulate the spacing between bombs by changing the time delay between release of each one (I presume). This distributor can be set on any number between 1 and 32 and is operated by turning a pointer to that number and then pressing a button which lets it turn back to the start, as it does so it makes contact with different terminals presumably letting electricity flow to each bomb release shackle.

I hope that helps.
Paul

Denys,
Thank you for posting the image of the Navigator/Bomb Aimer’s compartment. Fascinating photograph.

I think the Navigator slides his seat forward under the chart table and lays on the floor to perform his Bomb Aimer role.

No obvious signs of how the subject panel could be mounted but switches are in a convenient location for a prone bomb aimer. The “Distributor set at No.1” presumably relates to the brass wheel on right hand side of the sixteen switch unit – referred to as the “drum switch” in the Fig 24 I posted. The black triangular bracket (right at the bottom of the image just behind the chair leg) is described as the “Bomb Sight Mounting Bracket” in the USAAF manual. Presumably the panel beneath it was originally plexiglass.

Whilst all this does not prove the panel is from Hudson, I think it does illustrate it’s purpose fairly clearly.

I suspect marking the switch “polarity” was just to safeguard against possible mistakes. We in the UK expect a switch to be down for on and up for off, but not all the aircrew and ground crew were necessarily of British origin. In any case, many of us in the rural parts of the UK did not have electricity in our homes until the nineteen-fifties!
Tony

In reply to an email from Tony I can shed some light on this in respect of the unit and the Hudson.

The unit is AirMin 5D/656 and below is a shot showing the installation as it fits in the nose compartment for the bombaimer/navigator of the Hudson (this being NZ2035 at Ferrymead Heritage Park here in Christchurch NZ).

We have a couple of these units and neither has the plate in the upper right corner shown in the illustration from M-62A above, rather they both just have the AirMin id there.

One thing that does interest me is that the unit has the arrow marking between the two banks of switches showing which direction is on and which is off. These markings are “normal” to UKcentric folks as in up is off so why the need to so mark them? The Hudson being US has of course opposite sense switches all through it as in down is off. Is this a late version of 5D/656 so marked to remind crews in US sourced aircraft of the sense of the unit’s swithes?

htf

Taking a look at the photo and comparing with the ‘sketch’, I wonder about the following:
1. Near the upper left part of the panel, below the word ‘load’, there appears to be a cut-out. I imagine this cut-out is round with a little square on the left side; would this be for a lamp with night shade? The hinge for the shade would be on the left side.
2. Wording: looking at the alignment of the ‘250 LB’ and ‘SMALL BOMBS’, I think that the line under 250 lb should be ‘LOADED AT STATIONS’, just like the text further down.
3. Wording: the last line on the Armorer’s side may read ‘DRUM SWITCH SET TO DISTRIBUTOR’.

Does anybody have an idea why the panel would have instructions labelled Armourer and Bomb Aimer? I don’t know much about the whole system. Could this panel have been located in the bomb bay?

Just a thought, there is an assumption this is from a wartime aircraft? North Coates was used by various MUs post war for rendering down aircraft. There doesn’t seem to be any records of what was scrapped, but eye witness reports talk of big aircraft as well as small. The only ones I know of that were recorded were a Lancaster, the fuselage of Churchills York ‘Ascalon’ and a Hastings In addition to aircraft past their sell by date there were also crashed aircraft. So I suppose aircraft such as the Lincoln for example are possible candidates. The scrap areas were nowhere near the part of the airfield where this panel was found but quiet close to a taxiway. Its possible I suppose for this to have fallen from a recovery vehicle transiting scrap from the compound to the airfields back gate which is close by and consequently discarded. This doesn’t answer the question though of how it came to be buried given the fact it was previously unploughed ground. The facts remain though no other wreckage was evident and the ground has been ploughed again since the discovery and nothing else has surfaced
More questions than answers methinks

Looking at the outline at the top right, I suspect that we have most of it. It looks like more of a cover with instructions than the structural panel.

OK, so the assumption is that the mystery panel sits over the switchbox, with the switches poking through the holes. That makes more sense, I’d envisaged the switchbox mounted on the panel, which didn’t stack up.
Presumably the panel would then have to have other holes to access the other features of the switcbox, but those areas are now missing.
Andy

Nice work on “reconstructing” the panel!

It seems to be from a larger aircraft as the reference to Bomb Stations 10, 16 (and possibly) 17 & 18 suggests a pretty commodious bomb bay (or bays).

I can “see” Elliott’s suggestion of a 16 switch bomb selector unit but I’ve never seen one mounted to the panel on the rear as this one would appear to have been.

My files contain drawings and/or photos of the standard bomb-aimer’s panels in most wartime British aircraft but this looks nothing like any of them – sorry.

I’ll keep worrying about it though.

Given the ‘OFF’ ‘ON’ legend marked between the cut-outs, it would seem unlikely that this would then be obscured by a ‘Lancaster-style’ 16-way switchbox.
I’m also puzzled by the lack of screw-sized mounting holes associated with the four cut-outs.
Andy

Here is airfield’s drawing.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]254141[/ATTACH]

I should add that the January 1942 USAAF Lockheed A-29 Hudson manual (from Mach One Manuals) shows a Bomb Selector Switch box almost identical to that posted by Whitley_Project. Unfortunately there are no illustrations showing where the box fits and any panel that might be in front of it. Four 250 lb bombs or depth charges, with possible addition of two 100 lb bombs, was the standard offensive armament of a Coastal Command Hudson so why 16 bomb selector switches are required I do not know.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]254143[/ATTACH]

I have created a painting of the panel as accurate as can be, as you can see a lot of the surface paint has gone but it has been possible to get a fairly decent reproduction. For some reason yet to be fathomed out I am unable to upload images onto this site. Fellow enthusiast M-62A can and the image has been E Mailed to him for inclusion.

I was about to suggest the same thing! Listing the various bomb types mentioned on it might give some pointers to help identify it.

Can someone who has access to the panel transcribe the text onto this thread please? I can then go through my records and try to ID it for you if you like.

The panel was found on the surface of a part of the airfield close to where the old wartime runway would have been. The land had been ploughed for the first time since the airfields inception.
Curiously no other evidence of aircraft wreckage can be found nearby, and has been ploughed again since the find, agaain with no further evidence. A number of aircraft came to grief in that location including Hudson, Beaufort, Beaufighter and Mosquito and of course the B17. The only one that might fit the bill is a Wellington X1V of 612 Sqdn.
Post war a lot aircraft were brought to North Coates for scrapping but none were located in that area

It’s definitely British. The 4 rectangular cutouts in the top right corner would fit a bomb selector switchbox, similar to the one below

[ATTACH=CONFIG]254097[/ATTACH]

It is destined for the heritage collection at North Coates operated by the flying club

Term “bomb aimer” suggests British, nice relic! does it have a home??