Handley Page O/100, O/400 and V/1500 relics

Palmer tyres

I did a quick search on the web and found this information. its text from a book which appears to be out of copyright.

Elementary principles of aeroplane design and construction : a textbook for students, draughtsmen and engineers (1921), author – Arthur William Judge.

WHEELS.
The lighter wheels of earlier aeroplane practice are now being replaced by much stronger wheels with wide axles and wellsplayed spokes for taking side stresses. The hubs are invariably made plain, with gunmetal-steel bearings for lightness and quick replacement facilities. The sizes of aeroplane wheels vary from 10 inches in the case of the wing-skid tip wheels up to 32 inches for very heavy machines, the standard size for monoplanes and biplanes being about 700 x 85 mm., for total machine weights not exceeding 1,400 pounds.*
A section of an aeroplane undercarriage wheel is given in Fig. 50, showing the method of taking lateral stress by means of four rows of well-splayed spokes and the long bushed hub for the axle bearing.
The wheels are usually fitted with detachable celluloid, metal, or canvas discs, to minimize head resistance. The larger the diameter of the wheel and the greater its width, the better is it adapted to traversing rough ground ; the use of wheels in parallel or in tandem enables the machine to travel over rougher ground, owing to the hollows and crests being “bridged” over better.
It should be here mentioned that the lower the normal landing speed in still air, and the lighter the total weight of the machine, the lighter will be the landing chassis, in construction and weight, and the smaller the section, though not necessarily the diameter, of the wheels.

* For very large machines, such as large twin-engined and multiengined machines, weighing from 8,000 up to 25,000 pounds, wheels varying from 900 x 200 mm., up to 1,500 x 300 mm., are now used; the number of wheels ranges from two in the lighter of these machines, up to as many as eight in the largest.

O.400 Tyre size, 900×200

Denys and flyernzl
Good spotting, I did not notice the tyre when I was last at Ferrymead.
It is not from a O.400, according to FS20, Schedule of spare parts for Handley-Page Bombing Machine, O.400. This book shows that 4, “Wheels, Palmer (off set—900×200)” are fitted. The illustration given also suggests that the wheels do not have spokes and are in fact solid.

For Peter here’s a pic taken yesterday of the wheel we have at Ferrymead.

It came to us in the 1970s from the Para Rubber Company here in CHC and they had received it in the inter-war years as a promo piece as they were the agents for Palmer tyres.

It had been stashed in a store and the rubber has hardened and cracked to expose a steel core which has rusted and so it is in the shape it is forever.

Para had the “information” that it was from an HP. The tyre itself is marked “Palmer Cord Aero Tyre 1500 x 300”. We just eyeballed photos of a/c of the period and used humans as scale and so the HP claim seems right but perhaps someone in the UK can provide further info based on the size?

cheers

Pm’d you G-ORDY

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I think “DiveTheWorld” may have had the secret details of an intact one sunken in Lake Windermere, and had side scan sonar and confirmed diver sitings to prove it, and were able to recover it for interested investors willing to fund the recovery – unfortunately that opportunity now seems lost with the principal’s passing.

smiles – grabs his hat and coat and quickly departs

Mark Pilkington

There was a thread on Sunderlands, recently, being sunk in lake windermere, it appears that some guy make claims and also said he had side scans, but it appears to have all been a fake and the guy is now dead, so I think this DiveTheWorld may be part of it, there are members of this forum who know the whole story.

Cheers Brian.;)

I’ve got a lamp from the navigator’s position in an O/400 – its like a tiny Anglepoise lamp – I put a battery on it a few years ago and the bulb still lit up! Got it from a guy who worked at the factory in Cricklewood.

I saw a large wire-spoked wheel complete with aviation tyre at the Ferrymead Museum (Christchurch, New Zealand) many years ago.
My informant at the time told me that it was off a WW1 Handley-Page aircraft, and had been bought to NZ in the 1920s as a trade exhibit for the tyre company.
If it is still there, all we need is the rest of the aircraft.

Data Plate attached…provenance ???

( coat already on before typing !!! ) 😀

I saw a large wire-spoked wheel complete with aviation tyre at the Ferrymead Museum (Christchurch, New Zealand) many years ago.
My informant at the time told me that it was off a WW1 Handley-Page aircraft, and had been bought to NZ in the 1920s as a trade exhibit for the tyre company.
If it is still there, all we need is the rest of the aircraft.

Phew, that means my airworthy replicas of all three will still be unique sights then and I won’t be pipped to the post 😉

.
I think “DiveTheWorld” may have had the secret details of an intact one sunken in Lake Windermere, and had side scan sonar and confirmed diver sitings to prove it, and were able to recover it for interested investors willing to fund the recovery – unfortunately that opportunity now seems lost with the principal’s passing.

smiles – grabs his hat and coat and quickly departs

Mark Pilkington