Aircraft Parts and Equipment ID – SS Thistlegorm Cargo

Back in July this year I worked some 3D magic on the wreck of the SS Thistlegorm, a shipwreck dating from October 1941.

The 3D models of the ship and her cargo can be seen here – https://sketchfab.com/simonbrown/collections/ss-thistlegorm and the story of the ship and how it was scanned can be seen here – http://thethistlegormproject.com

Now we do know aircraft spares were carried in holds 1 & 2. This area of the ship is very well preserved. Holds four took the brunt of the bombing and subsequent explosion of the cargo and little remains, but hold 5 is in better shape. There are two objects of interest in the hold; one is a small trolley – a bit like a small bomb trolley but looks wrong for that – and what looks like an aircraft wheel & tyre. The trolley is on the right and appears to have differing diameter wheels front and back and a circular feature at the top. The aircraft wheel is partly buried and marked on the left of the image. It looks too curved/rounded to be anything but an aircraft wheel?

The source model and image is scaled so anything can be measured directly from it, if anyone needs a distance. I have marked the overall sizes.

Here’s an ortho photo of the site:

https://simon-brown.pixelrights.com/p/WAWRkb

Over to the combined thoughts of the forum…