Any Hampden experts out there?

Thanks Cees,

Yes, the Preston Green ammunition container looks similar but is for .5 in. ammo, of course.

Hmmm, .5 in. under belly turret from a Halifax, eh? Now that would be a nice item to find!

Are you coming to Shoreham, by the way? March 19th. Not too far off now!

Alan,

I did some research among my Hampden books and it was confirmed herein that only the forward firing machine gun was fed from an ammunition drum and the others using round magazines with 97 rounds (we found one from Whitley N1521 that had not been fired and was filled with 97 rounds dated 1937).

Strangely I found a pic of the Preston Green belly turret as fitted in the Halifax and the ammunition drum which fed the machine gun looked very similar to yours.

HTH

Cheers

Cees

Not a bad idea at all!

There’s a guy over on WIX who regularly posts “U.F.O.” threads with pics of bits he has acquired but cannot identify. It’s fun to try and work out what they might be but, in my case, one lump of U.S. hydraulic gear looks like any other.

There’s still a few bits I haven’t positively identified out in the garage. I’ll start snapping them when they turn up.

Doubt there’s any Hornet bits though…. 🙂

whats in the shed?

682al

After the most successful and fascinating: “aircraft scrap yards” thread, maybe one day there be an equally popular thread: “what we identified on 682al’s shelves, after he had an open day to forum experts!!”

😀

Thanks everyone for the replies.

Yes, I think it must be the ammunition can for the fixed gun but someone with more detailed knowledge may turn up here yet.

Whitley-project, it was just another “can’t-resist-it-even-though-I-don’t-know-what-it-is” buy at Tangmere aerojumble many years ago. There was talk of it being a Spitfire ammunition container but the Parts Nos did not look right to me. A closer look revealed the HP Inspector’s stamps which gave me an obvious clue.

It’s a pity I only re-discovered it on the shelf last week as I was at East Kirkby a fortnight ago, and there was even someone working on the Hampden nose! I’d happily swap it for something more useful to me if they’re interested.

Hmmm, must continue to dig around on those shelves, it’s amazing what turns up… 🙂

Alan

The folks at East Kirkby ahve a lot of nose wreckage. It’s possible they would have a similar item or at least a parts catalogue. Either way, an excellent find! How did you come by it?

Here’s a piece that’s been on a shelf in my garage for I can’t remember how long. I bought it at a Tangmere aerojumble many years ago.

Judging by the part numbers, e.g. 528103 and Inspectors stamps HP41A, it’s from a Hampden. And it’s obviously an ammunition box for a .303 in. gun.

The Hampden had four Vickers K guns, three in flexible positions and one fixed in the nose.

I’m guessing that the flexibly mounted guns were fed by round ammo drums and that only the fixed gun would have had a box such as this, but can anyone actually confirm this?

Anyone got a stash of Hampden porn that they could share with us?

Cees, have you got “a bit of a thing” for the Halifax’s older (and prettier!) sister?

Al,

Mmm, I have to admit I do have “a bit of a thing” for the Hampden as well. I received a next batch of Halifax drawings this afternoon and among them were some Hampden instrument panels drawings so that confirms it. 😮

Imagine myself at the local HPA meeting (Handley Page Anonymous) standing up and admitting:

Ok, my name is Cees and I like Hampdens (as well)!!!!!

I fully agree with Bearoutwest that this is the ammunition box for the fixed forward gun, all others used the drum type.

Nice item, Would make the team at East Kirkby very jealous 😎

Cees

I wouldn’t dare call myself a Hampden expert, but the ammunition box would be from the fixed forward-firing gun. The Hampden used flexible mounts for the Vickers VGO (Vickers Gas Operated) ‘K’ guns in the lower nose (single), dorsal (double Vickers) and ventral (double Vickers). The fixed gun in the upper nose was aimed and fired by the pilot and was either a Vickers Mk V (or similar, as also used by the Gloster Gauntlets, Hawker Hinds, Harts, Furies, etc as their fixed forward guns) or a Browning. The Browning was much more reliable and less likely to jam, so was specified for later aircraft like the Spitfire, etc.
…geoff