Hydraulic Recuperators

I would have expected to find them in, e.g., Wellingtons and Sunderlands postwar. In other words, anything continuing to use operational Frazer Nash turrets.

I would guess most 10 Group Lancasters had them when they were flown home after the war. Many were converted to non-bomber roles in the forties and the turrets and other equipment may have become redundant. A fair bit of Lanc stuff seems to survive over there, so perhaps Canada is your best bet?

That said, I found a n.o.s. F.N. relief valve in a junk shop a few years ago – you never know what will turn up! 🙂

That generally seems to be the case when we need something!

These are hens teeth i’m sad to say. I’ve been looking for an intact one for 12 years! I have the crash remains of two but not enough to make one.

Does anyone have any ideas where there may be some of these recuperators or which aircraft they were fitted to post Lancaster?

cypherus- Thanks for the info. I wonder what the fourth recuperator was for- perhaps the flaps, U/C and bomb doors (?). We’ll keep searching as some are bound to turn up at some point.[/QUOTE]

The four hydro circuits were as listed in my earlier post, the forth one would be for the absent ‘Lower Mid Turret’ if fitted, I have not seen a Lancaster myself fitted with such an item but my assumption is it’s circuit would be installed if required.

As TonyT describes it very well they are these days known as ‘Accumulators’ but these normally are single task items, those fitted to your airframe have obviously multiple components installed as a single unit serving different functions there being a manual priming pump section, the actual ‘Accumulator’ with pressure adjustment, and an inclusive manifold section for fluid routing.

If the aircraft is not being prepared for flight it would be feasible to rework this section of the hydro system to include the above functions using modern alternatives with the only component that may require manufacturing being the manifold to mount these onto.

A note I found indicates that there were two alternative pumps fitted with pressures being 500 or 300 psi and flow rates of 11.8/9 or 10 gallons per minute, still looking out the reference numbers for the two pump types.

Spoilsport 😎

I saw the title “hydraulic recuperator” and thought in a Pythonesque way it could be all manner of useful gadgets!

What’s a recuperator? Is that similar to a hydrulic pump?

Basically it is a chamber or cylinder with a diaphragm in it, on one side of it there is the system hydraulics pressure, say at 50 PSI on the other there is springs or a gas, normally nitrogen say at 49 PSI, so when in normal operation the hydraulic fluid on one side of the diaphragm will push it and hold the diaphragm over against the gas or spring side, now when a service is selected, say the gear, the pressure in the hydraulic system will drop as valves open and fluid starts to flow, as the system pressure drops the gas pressure then pushes the diaphragm the other way as it now is greater than the system pressure forcing the fluid into the system and increasing the pressure until the pump catches up with the demand and then forces the diaphragm back ready to do it all again.

Some fighters also have them in the fuel system, if you have a high wing gravity feeds the fuel to the engines backed up by pumps, if you then roll inverted the pressure and flow reduce because the wing is now below the engine, the recuperator gas on the other side of the diaphram, which is normally a round sphere then forces the fuel it holds into the system maintains pressure and fuel flow to the engine ( on average for about 20 second if memory serves me correctly) to keep the engine running. And on a low wing jet the pumps would now be in the airspace when inverted.

Today you would tend to call it an accumulator

Does that help?

Thats it! Two please, next day delivery will do 😉

This may help…

Similar, its a part in the hydraulic system that maintains a head of pressure for the turret, also has a hand pump on to increase pressure…..correct me if i’m wrong.

What’s a recuperator? Is that similar to a hydrulic pump?

Stewart24- Thank you for supporting NX611. I’ve had the lack of Website info about the restoration mentioned to me a couple of times so i’ll get something sorted! There is no date to start yet as we are currently gathering all the parts ans spares etc that we will/may need. We know it will take around 18 months and £3-£4 million.

cypherus- Thanks for the info. I wonder what the fourth recuperator was for- perhaps the flaps, U/C and bomb doors (?). We’ll keep searching as some are bound to turn up at some point.

Looking at a layout drawing of the Lancasters hydro systems I have above my desk, Odd what you keep hanging around, The aircraft appears to have been fitted with four Recuperators all identical with numbers A.M. REF. NO. 50 E 13545. though there apparently could be two different types of pump fitted, have a note of the type numbers somewhere though how detailed that information is I would have to rummage it out to check.

Presuming the A.M. may refer to the Air ministry.

The two starboard engine driven pumps running the Nose and Mid Upper turrets through separate circuits and the two port engine pumps running the Mid Under (if fitted) and tail turrets, each circuit having it’s own dedicated relief valves, Header tank, and ‘Volkes’ filter.

A relative now long since deceased had described working on the design of these, ‘Horrors’ as he put it, going into great detail about the workings of them and the equipment and used to proudly display his missing finger tips, lost while testing the nose turret rotating unit as he described it.

Hi NX611_1945,

I used to be a frequent visitor until I moved to Australia a couple of years ago now. I treated my wife to the taxi ride onboard Just Jane before we left the UK which she really enjoyed.

Last time I visited I spoke with Fred Panton who told me of the plan to lenghen the existing runway there and the restoration to flight. I keep an eye on the website but there is no mention of the restoration project. Is it still happening and what is the projected timescale so see her back in the air so I can plan a trip home maybe.

Sorry I cannot help with those particular parts i’m afraid, good luck and I hope to get back to East Kirkby again one day.

Stewart.

It may well be a possibility to have them operational during the taxy rides, however it ‘opens the door’ to losing limbs etc!
The mid-upper turret would be fitted for flight but it is possible we would fit it for the taxy runs however it would reduce the number of riders which would inevitably push the riding price up per person to cover costs.
The bonus is the Martin turret doesnt need a recuperator!!

If you get the turrets working can taxi ride visitors work the turrets 😀
BTW are there any plans to install the mid-upper turret?