Help Identify Some Control Columns Please!

Time to resurrect this thread.

Thanks for all the replies so far. The whole exercise has cleared up quite a few mysteries but there’s still one or two left on the thread, plus a few more to come.

Here’s one of them. It never ceases to amaze how manufacturers can apparently not put any part or inspection numbers on their wares, but this one doesn’t seem to have any of either type.

It’s about 28″ tall, and the grip is a nice alloy feature. There appears to be a p-t-t button set into the top of the grip, but in terms of recognition features, that’s about it.

Any help in identifying it welcomed!

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Not Whitley i’m afraid AM

Just to keep the thread rolling while you all scratch your head over yesterday’s mystery, here’s a couple more…

These are not from the “job lot” collection we bought but are ones picked up at various events over the last many years.

The lovely yoke was a lucky find at Beaulieu autojumble years ago. The vendor specialised in R-R spares and the story he gave was that a little old lady drove a vintage-era Rolls Royce but couldn’t see the road ahead because of the wheel rim. This yoke was therefore fitted to fix the problem! When the car was eventually restored, a standard wheel went back on it.

For years I clung to the hope that it might be from an Empire Class Flying Boat but now I’m not so sure. Here’s a photo of a flight deck and I can detect several differences in the wheels.

The yoke is not unlike the designs used by Armstrong-Whitworth as well as Shorts but in every cockpit photo I look at there seems to be differences; our wheel doesn’t quite match any of them.

Anybody have a suggestion?

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The second piece is well…different. It features a column, and a spade grip, but does that make it an aeroplane control column?

I can’t recall where this one came from (but probably an aerojumble). My mate says it’s “agricultural” and made out of steel. The spade grip is welded to the column.

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I promised there were one or two oddities still to come and this is one of them.

It definitely came into our hands as part of the job lot purchase of sticks and columns from another collector but it’s hard to match it to anything on the list we were given.

It’s about thirty inches in length. The fittings at either end are free to rotate but don’t seem to be joined (i.e. they rotate seperately but not together).

There is what looks like a small window at one end, partially obscured by a piece of alloy “guard”. You can make out what looks like numbers in the window but it isn’t clear what these might be indicating (and rotating the end fittings don’t seem to alter them).

Once again, it is remarkably and frustratingly free of part numbers but there is a small, damaged sticker that might give a clue.

The word SARTHE can be made out plus part of a logo. Sarthe is a French Department. Are we looking at something (Anglo) French?

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Thanks again, Tony! So, not much of a “bruiser” after all!

JP

Hi folks,

Back with a Bank Holiday selection.

To start with, here’s another “pretty much sure I’ve solved this one myself” stick.

The clues are engraved on the small collar that fits at the bottom of the stick (held in place by a 1/4″ bolt).

Confirmation would be nice though!

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The second column is a bit of a bruiser. British (I think), cold war era. What is it please?

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Actually, I think I’ve solved this one myself.

Having posted the message, I looked at the column again and thought “helicopter”. That triggered a vague recollection of a helicopter with 350 in its title, which led me to:-

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8e/As355cockpit_krj.JPG

The column appears to be from a Eurocopter AS350 or some kind of variant of that type.

Confirmation from “one who knows” still very welcome though.

Back with another soon!

Thanks again for the comments and suggestions, all duty noted.

We’re coming to the end of the “job lot” mysteries but there’s still one or two oddities left.

Here’s the next one. The two parts were together in a bag and the material is similar. The column has various Part Numbers on it (see close up) and while the socket does not carry any part numbers, the big plastic wheel is embossed with 350 A2/ 1569 2100 so “350…” appears on both parts. In addition, the column fits the socket (although not in any positive, locking way that I can see) so I assume it’s all one item, but I could be wrong?

It looks too hideously modern for my tastes, say 1970’s onwards?

Any ideas, folks?
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they look like 504 to me. Shouldhave an AID stamp up the collar end of the wood

I’ve seen a similar stick top on a 2 seat Bleriot trainer, as well as the 504.
From the drawings I’ve seen, the 2 seat Snipe had spade grips in both cockpits.

Bob T.

Another weekend bump.

Oh dear, perhaps I’ve been a bit too obscure with the last post.

For info, the top stick is from the front cockpit of an Avro 504 (K and probably other Marks too).

The obvious temptation is to say that the other stick must be from an Avro too. It has many similarities to the already identified stick but is obviously shorter and made from a different type of wood.

What I’m trying to establish is whether this design is an exclusive Avro hallmark or whether other manufacturers used it too?

From the list we were given when we purchased all these columns, there are only two real candidates – Snipe Trainer and H.P.31.

I’ve pretty much discounted H.P.31 but Snipe Trainer remains a slight possibility until we can confirm it one way or the other.

Perhaps I need to p.m. our Forum “Snipe” expert? 🙂

Meanwhile, here’s a drawing of an Avro 504K front stick to keep you entertained!

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some proper “joysticks”

…and here they are.

Now, I do know what the top stick is and it is pictured here for comparison purposes.

It’s the lower stick that requires identification.

Going from the list we were given when we acquired the job lot of columns and grips, there are two possible candidates, i.e. Snipe trainer or Handley-Page HP31.

The Handley Page H.P.31 was a two-seat single-engined biplane built to a specification for a carrier based torpedo bomber and reconnaissance aircraft in the mid-1920s. The Air Ministry selected the Blackburn Ripon instead.

It had one forward firing machine gun controlled by the pilot, so I would expect to see an early spade grip and firing lever atop the column. This stick looks way too early to be from a mid-1920s machine, but maybe an emergency stick was carried in the rear cockpit, just in case the gunner/observer/navigator had to take control?

As for the second candidate, Snipe Trainer, well I would have expected a Sopwith type spade grip but perhaps this design was thought sufficient? I cannot see any part numbers on it, unfortunately. While similar to the top stick, it’s made from different wood, and is slightly “daintier”. I cannot see them being a front and rear pair, can you?

As always, your thoughts and suggestions welcomed!
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Snoopy7422, I’ll pm you back once I’ve spoken to my chum.

@AM;- Check your PM’s.

Yes, I’ve always had my doubts about this one too.

I was hoping the casting number might flag something up though.

I’ll be back soon(ish) with some proper “joysticks”.

@AM – Re;- Post 22. If this pattern was indeed for an aviation-related purpose, then my guess would be a wobble-pump for manual fuel transfer on a multi-engined a/c, or, – possibly, u/c operation, but that’s just a plain guess… However, the design looks like it was not permanently fitted, which seems to back this up. Also, from the sectional design of the handle weight-saving is inferred, so it was probably cast in aluminium – again, suggesting an aviation-related function.

Someone will now find-out that it’s off a Mersey ferry….:)

Hi alan,
This looks more industrial to me. A cast handle that you would find in factory machinery.
David

here we go again…

Firstly, thanks to everyone for offering suggestions and opinions, they are all appreciated.

Thanks in particular to Snoopy7422 for what seems like another positive id on the Proctor column. Unfortunately, every photo and line drawing I’ve managed to turn up so far has the bottom casting obscured by the leather shroud on the cockpit floor but the rest of the column certainly seems to match up nicely.

Now, here’s the first of this week’s challenges.

Described on our list as a “wooden stick pattern”, that is exactly what it appears to be. The challenge of course is to identify the aeroplane that such a stick would have belonged to! I cannot recall seeing a similarly shaped control column but hopefully someone out there will have bells ringing for them. There is a clue in that the casting number is well preserved. It is FD 4586 A.

Any ideas, chaps?

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given central fulcrum hole and the two holes for something to fit a hyd tank reservoir hand pump handle makes sense.

A weekend “bump” in the hope that something turns up.

Don’t let me down now chaps, some of those yet to come could be a right headache!

Ian_ thanks for the lead on the Mitchell. My googling took me to a similar illustration which obviously isn’t this part but there may well have been other pumps on a B25 so let’s not rule it out just yet.

Hi guys – it looks a lot like a hydraulic hand pump handle to me too. I wouldn’t get too hung up on the part number as these were often bought in as proprietary parts and not made by the company manufacturing the aircraft. It’s not a wartime Lockheed one, or Dowty either and could well be American. Maybe try over of WIX?