I recently purchased the following item on ebay. It was described as part of the valve rocker assembly from the Merlin XII engine that powered Spitfire P7309. This Spitfire was shot down on October 27th 1940 with the Pilot, Pete Olver DFC, baling out and surviving. Other reports on the internet indicate that this Spitfire was actually shot down on October 25th, right at the end of the Battle Of Britain.
I have no reason to doubt the information that was given on ebay, but the date difference made me wonder if there is any way of verifying if this is a genuine Merlin engine part. It looks authentic to me but I thought that other members of this forum might have a more educated view. The only stamped marking is on the sole surviving arm (is it the cam follower?) and that reads RR112.
I’m not interested in whether I paid over the odds for this part, all I wanted to own was a real Merlin engine part that potentially came from the BOB era. I’ll be happy if I can establish that there’s nothing to indicate that this does NOT belong to a WWII Merlin.
I realise that the full camshaft would be much longer than the small piece I have purchased, but could the impact of a crash really bend the camshaft this much?
Thanks for any light you can shed on this. I attach a copy of the photo that accompanied the ebay listing. It includes a pound coin to get the scale.
By: Arabella-Cox - 11th April 2011 at 19:15
Whiskey Magna
Can of worms, indeed!
Clearly something needs unravelling here. However, I can confirm 1972 is the correct date for the recovery!
Paul McMillan might have some input here. (Paul – I owe you an e mail!!) What is certain is that this was Soden’s aeroplane – whatever the number is.
By: Wishbone - 11th April 2011 at 00:45
TonyT
Thanks for clarifying.
Tangmere 1940
Thanks for posting – the plot thickens!
I looked up S. F. Soden on the internet and all reports say that the plane he baled out from on Oct 25th 1940 was Spitfire P7635. Is it possible you made a mistake with the number in your post? The reason for asking is because I plan to mount the assembly on a plinth (for my own benefit) with a note on the possible Spitfire sources.
From everyone’s input I’m confident that this part is from a Merlin engine which in turn means that there’s no reason for me to doubt the ebay listing description of it being from P7309 (or possibly P7635 due to the reason given by Tangmere 1940).
By: ZRX61 - 8th April 2011 at 18:49
Follower looks just like the Merlin ones I have sat on the mantle 🙂
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April 6, 2011 at 11:55 pm