Walter 63
January 2, 2010 at 8:00 pm

Stirling bit

Firstly a very Happy New Year to you all!

The component in the attached pic is allegedly a souvenir of 218 Sqdn Stirling BF501 HA-N that crashed in Belgium on 24.06.1943. At one stage parts of the metal have been used by one of the locals to make rings, of all things!

Dimensions as photographed are length 26 cm x width 12 cm. So, can any of the Stirling specialists on this forum identify this part please?

TIA

Walter

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By: John Aeroclub - 31st March 2025 at 15:22

Hi all
My Wifes Grandad has told me that when an aircraft came down the first thing they went for was the 303 rounds then the Perspex.
He said they used to pull the bullet part off then chew the cordite (I dont know if he was pulling my leg but it would explain a lot if its true) and the perspex for rings and bracelets.

Andy

Chewing cordite will make the skin appear jaundiced, handy for bunking off school. Ref Day of the Jackal.

John

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By: hindenburg - 31st March 2025 at 15:22

[ATTACH]180423[/ATTACH] The bit you have is the upper Rudder Hinge …shown here is the lower one.The lower being a larger hinge had six rivets at he square (bearing attachment) end,the upper one 4 rivets …numbers should start off 2296………………Mystery solved:)

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By: Walter 63 - 31st March 2025 at 15:19

[ATTACH]180423[/ATTACH] The bit you have is the upper Rudder Hinge …shown here is the lower one.The lower being a larger hinge had six rivets at he square (bearing attachment) end,the upper one 4 rivets …numbers should start off 2296………………Mystery solved:)

Brilliant! Many thanks Hindenburg, that will make one guy very happy!

As for the chewing of cordite mentioned by John and Andy, I know the stuff looks like spaghetti but chewing it, yuk 😮

Thank you all,

Walter