After a bonus half day off work came my way today, I decided to take a walk on the beach at Hornsea to see if anything ‘interesting’ had been washed up by the recent severe high tides and rough seas. This has been a fairly fruitful hunting ground previously for me which, given the wartime history of the area and the North Sea, is little surprise.
I have to say little in the way of possible aircraft parts was evident; the beach is largely covered with the remains of literally thousands of lobster, crab, fish, octopus, and even the odd bird, porpoise and seal which succumbed to the weather. I did come across a couple of bits of aluminium aircraft skin; I intended to gather these on my return trip but they had been spirited away by the time I came back.
In amongst the weed and other debris there were many blue practice rocket tails, legacy I assume of the former RAF Cowden range just down the coast. I did find the base of what looked like a valve or plug, whether or not this is aircraft I couldn’t say!
I also came across another bit of aluminium; I didn’t retrieve this though as it could frankly have been off anything…
But one piece I did retrieve, was this, as I am pretty sure it is indeed aircraft in origin. But what…?
I have given it an initial clean up, the only identifying marks I have found so far are these on the nuts holding the plate to the tube.
H W? M H?
The tube section is 2ft10 long, and 3 inches diameter if that helps. Over to you chaps!
By: Blue_2 - 27th January 2019 at 07:44
Possibly. I best check it’s still there first, and hasn’t been ‘liberated’…
By: D1566 - 26th January 2019 at 20:50
That might make a good story for the local paper?
By: Blue_2 - 26th January 2019 at 17:52
It certainly came as a surprise to find such a large chunk on the beach!
By: Whitley_Project - 21st January 2019 at 23:59
Great find sir
By: Blue_2 - 21st January 2019 at 20:53
I suspect not; they already have this piece within the fuselage of their Hampden I assume.
By: Tin Triangle - 21st January 2019 at 20:48
Wow, that’s quite a chunk! Might the guys at Cosford be interested, at least for pattern purposes?
By: Blue_2 - 21st January 2019 at 16:45
Bringing this thread back, but given what I found today I feel it makes more sense than starting a new one. As you may remember, the big bit I found last March was identified as Hampden spar section. Today, on the same bit of beach, I found a considerably bigger chunk of Hampden…
50487817_2229871677071225_4279717748327579648_n by Graham Buckle, on Flickr
Straight away I knew it was Hampden; the 2 tubular sections are too similar to what was already identified to not be! A few more pics for you, after I fished it out of its puddle…
50610857_2229871760404550_2388577325013794816_n by Graham Buckle, on Flickr
The piece of net also has bits of aircraft structure tangled up in it
50639485_2229871880404538_2902838884922556416_n by Graham Buckle, on Flickr
50292206_2229872170404509_6845472898187001856_n by Graham Buckle, on Flickr
There’s even a bit of cabling still attached to it…
50309918_2229872037071189_1941904707664478208_n by Graham Buckle, on Flickr
I suspected, and confirmed when I got home, it was a main spar carry through from the Hampden. This is it oriented correctly, and I believe looking from the rear of the aircraft
50234283_2229871950404531_4909504827463041024_n by Graham Buckle, on Flickr
Sadly if this piece from the very core of the aircraft has washed ashore, it suggests the Hampden is little more than a pair of engines and a scattering of components on the bed of the North Sea not far out from the beach now.
By: Blue_2 - 25th March 2018 at 07:51
Regarding the plug/valve/CRT base, it’s only 1 1/4 inches diameter…
By: Blue_2 - 24th March 2018 at 22:31
Not at all WP; interesting to see what comes to light! Off for a walk on the beach again tomorrow. See if anything else chooses to be found…
By: Whitley_Project - 24th March 2018 at 22:12
Thanks for confirming Hampden Project
By: Hampden Project - 24th March 2018 at 17:04
Yes it is a bomb door hinge bracket, hence it been overpainted black. It is one of the two centre brackets, the broken off end fits to the hinge in the bomb bay, the edge nearest the large lightning hole fits to the door.
By: Whitley_Project - 24th March 2018 at 11:37
Hope you don’t mind me posting this Blue_2 but as we have a Hampden expert around I wondered what we think of this piece? It has a HP stamp – the prefix is hard to make out on the photo but in the right light looks like 52 followed by 432C25 and some other letters that I cant make out. So the number is 52432 C 25.
My money is on Hampden. There is earth brown paint, overpainted black.
IMG_8415[1] by Elliott Smock, on Flickr
IMG_8417[1] by Elliott Smock, on Flickr
By: Blue_2 - 23rd March 2018 at 13:26
Many thanks for that Hampden Project. After being lucky enough to get a good look round the East Kirkby Hampden at the bonfire night do last year, that was going to be my next port of call!
By: Hampden Project - 23rd March 2018 at 08:01
5242 B 4 is a Hampden centre section main spar tube, the GR number denotes that the centre section was made by English Electric at Preston, there might be an EEP inspection stamp as well.
By: Arabella-Cox - 22nd March 2018 at 19:47
Quick, get the letter stamps out Blue_2 🙂
Anon.
By: jamesinnewcastl - 22nd March 2018 at 15:14
Hi
The ‘plug’ looks like the base of a CRT given the width of the guide at the centre. Valves usually have a smaller version. If the base is over 2ins wide then it’s very likely a CRT base. These bases were also used as plugs too. The answer would lie on the other side of the item. If it has single, stiff wires in the pins and glass with cement it’s most likely a valve/crt, if it were a connector then the wires would most likely be multi stranded and possibly covered in an insulator.
Not rare – pic of the other side and dimensions would confirm – any writing on it?
Cheers
James
By: Blue_2 - 22nd March 2018 at 14:28
I hadn’t considered Hampden…
By: Whitley_Project - 22nd March 2018 at 12:06
Could be Hampden Graham. Both the 52 and GR suggest this. A HP stamp in a circle will confirm
By: Blue_2 - 22nd March 2018 at 08:59
I had a spare half hour this morning, so I thought I would take a look over the random bit of metalwork I found yesterday to see if I could see any part numbers. A long, long shot after decades in the North Sea, but…
Are those digits I see?
After carefully removing the marine growth covering/protecting the area, this was a most pleasant surprise…
It appears to read:
5 2 42(assuming construction date) P-4(also possibly a B or R; difficult to say)
GR 30626
So, over to the numbers gurus. Any ideas chaps?
By: Blue_2 - 22nd March 2018 at 06:17
No problem Errol! I had to convert to Flickr after the photobucket “pay or we hold your photos to ransom” debacle. I really can’t grumble!
Cheers for the answers so far. So, the consensus is Wimpy, which I can go with. Now we just need a Wimpy expert to come along and tell us what bit!
*edit, and no once its sussed out I won’t be ebaying it. It’ll either be kept by myself or found a suitable home. It’s highly likely that while part of the aircraft in question has survived, the crew did not. Trying to profit from that would just be plain wrong; I know if parts of the Lanc my Great Uncle and his crew were killed in appeared on ebay I would be less than happy to say the least.
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March 21, 2018 at 3:58 pm