When Halifax NA 337 hit the water, the rear fuselage was torn off. This resulted in the four ammunition trays, running from the ammo boxes at the mid-fuselage to the rear turret, being somewhat ‘pretzelized’ at the point of breakage!
I suppose it is too much to hope that, maybe, some ammunition trays might still exist, somewhere, in Britain!:(
They are made from stainless steel of a very complex shape and to attempt to repair them looks like a major, major challenge.
Are the trays in the Lancaster similar?
Who would have made them, the aircraft manufacturer, or the turret manufacturer?
Thanks for any input.
Deryck B.
By: turretboy - 15th June 2007 at 02:57
Photo below shows the profile of the Lanc ammo ducts.
By: Deryck - 14th June 2007 at 13:31
Halifax ammo trays.
Thanks Guys,
We actually have a lot of the traywork, we probably have only about 10 or 12 feet that got mangled.
It is in stainless steel and a very complex form to carry the weight. I was hoping to be able to get away with a fair copy of the exterior of the track, but that is also a quite complex form.
I guess we will have to ‘bite the bullet’ and re-manufacture the tangled sections.
Just FYI I will take some close ups.
Thanks again for your input.
Deryck.
By: Whitley_Project - 14th June 2007 at 12:00
Hi Deryck
I think your best bet would be to repair them – sympathetic rewelding and patching where necessary. I think there are quite a few Halibag drawings around, but if these are pressings they will be very pricey and difficult to make.
By: Peter - 14th June 2007 at 00:09
pic of tray?
Deryck.
I would think they were specially made for the halifax. Do you have any surviving sections at all?
By: Fluffy - 13th June 2007 at 21:08
The ones in the Lanc are stainless steel the drawing nos are Lanc so they would have been made by the aircraft manufacturer. We had some made a few years ago for PA474
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June 13, 2007 at 8:51 pm