Bristol Blenheim Oxygen feed system?

Thank you sir!

Not vastly different at the gun end, Mike. It’s the rest of the system that differs.

The pipe on this one appears to be plain rubber, whereas the pneumatic has braided protection.

I never thought about pneumatic, only hydraulic and electric solenoid. There is so much to learn!

Al, do you have a picture of a hydraulic sear release attachment similar to the one you posted for the pneumatic?

Regards,

First one is a Vokes Hydraulic filter – again, looks awfully like a Spitfire one!

Second is a nut from the battery terminal stowage

Bruce

You can’t have enough reference material.

The rear sear picture comes from Air Publication 1641E, Volume I Aircraft Machine Guns Firing Control Mechanisms.

Re your other pics, well the first item looks like an oil filter, which would explain why it was soaked in oil(!) and the second item is some kind of Wireless part judging by it’s 10A Stores Reference ((Miscellaneous Radio (Wireless) Equipment)).

Someone with a copy of A.P.1086, Book 4 from the right era might be able to pin it down for you.

Fantastic work guys! Al’s picture is absolutely on the nose, that’s it!
Al, where did you get that pic from…I have a few more bits and bobs and reference pics like that are superb!

ANy ideas?!

This was soaked in Oil of some sort….

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y276/thebobwalker/blenheim4.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y276/thebobwalker/blenheim3.jpg

I’ll be impressed if anyone can tell me what this is!!

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y276/thebobwalker/Blenheim0022copy.jpg

Yes, the Spitfire part I identified attaches to the ‘Wing Nut Connection’ shown in Alans picture above 🙂

Bruce

Here’s a pic of a standard rear sear release unit, common to most aeroplanes having .303 Brownings fired pneumatically.

One of your photos shows a Dunlop Part No. AHO5115 (if I’m reading it correctly).

The Spitfire bit is the Aluminium tee at one end of the hose. They are usually a 300xx part number.

Its possible that the Blenheim had these as well, but unlikely.

Bruce

I think so…..

The hydraulic rear sear release acts as a plunger in a similar way as the trigger of a conventional machine gun, allowing multiple guns to be fired simultaneously from the turret controls.

Regards,

Thanks turret boy…was the turret the same on Bolingbroke as Blenheim?

I had no luck in my search for some pictures of a rear sear release attached to a Browning .303. However I did find these three pictures of the Bristol turret mounted in the Canadian-built Bristol Bolingbroke.

Thanks, it was a Mk 1 so must have had at least 1 browning, although some of the mk1s did have the ventral pack with another 4
What exactly did this ‘sear realease’ do on the browning?

The Mk.IV variant had a crew of 3, and used the 995 hp Bristol Mercury XV radial engine. These engines gave it a maximum speed of 266 mph (428 km/h), a ceiling of 27,280 ft (8300 m) and a range of 1,215 mi (1810 km). The ground attack version mounted 5 machine guns and could also carry 1,325 lbs of bombs. It had the standard single machine gun in the port wing, a pair of rear firing 0.303 machine guns in a chin blister and a pair of machine guns in the rear turret. The Mk.IVF (fighter/attack plane) carried six 0.303 machine guns, four in a belly pack, 1 in the port wing and 1 in the rear turret. This model was also employed as a night-fighter using ground-controlled radar direction.

Regards,

John.

I had a quik google and came up with this……..

The Mk.I bomber had a crew of 3 and used the 840 hp (618 kW) Bristol Mercury VIII radial engines with single-stage supercharger. Maximum speed was 260 mph (418km/h), with a ceiling of 27,280 ft (8300m) and a range of 1,215 mi (1810 km). It was armed with two 0.303 caliber machine guns, one in the port wing outboard of the engine and 1 in the rear turret (a Vickers K gun), and could carry 1,000 lb (454 kg) of bombs of assorted sizes (4×250 lb, 2×500 lb, etc.).

Hope this explains the presence of .303 machine gun parts at your dig site.

Regards,

John.

wow…I never would have guessed. Ok, slight revision to my question…can anyone show me pic of this part of the Browning 303 mounting in a Blenheim/any aircraft? I’ve tried google but no luck
Thanks

Bob

It looks like a rear sear release unit from a Browning .303 gun.

Definitely not part of the oxygen system, but I suppose if the Blenheim had .303 Brownings, this would explain it’s presence at the wreck site?

Bruce…are you sure dude?! Do the part no.s relate to a Spitfire? Reason I ask is that this was taken from a Blenheim crashsite! The whole thing is about 15 inches long in total. I’m intrigued by the notion it’s off a Spitfire….to be fair a Spit did crash in the same valley but I can’t imagine how it’s wreckage could be in same area

Not Blenheim….

Not oxygen system either!

Spitfire. Its a connecting pipe from the wing to a machine gun.

Bruce