Message Pick-up gear

Hawker biplane info

Hi Paul,

I have a copy of the order you mentioned already, it’s Wirraway Order No. 57 of 29 August 1941. Sadly my copy does not include any drawings.

The order references drawing 08-73901, would love to get my hands on that one!

Regards,
Derek

Derek,
Do you have any information on Hawker biplanes : Hart, Audax, Hind, Demon, Hartbees (SA) – you seem to have a lot of APs and Wirraway stuff – CC gear detail ? Can you PM to exchange info ? We have Belgian beer in Australia but I wonder what Wirraway information is doing in Belgium !

Hi Paul,

I have a copy of the order you mentioned already, it’s Wirraway Order No. 57 of 29 August 1941. Sadly my copy does not include any drawings.

The order references drawing 08-73901, would love to get my hands on that one!

Regards,
Derek

G’Day Derek,

There is a Wirraway Order, including a drawing IIRC, for fitting the message hook – I just cannot find my copy at the moment. I horrible feeling it may’ve been lent to someone and I haven’t got it back. 🙁

Brgds,

Paul

Excellent! This is fantastic. The pole and fittings look the same as Wirraway installation, just the attachment is different, since the Wirraway didn’t have the convenient fixed undercarriage axle! Many thanks.

Audax and Demon pickup

Thanks for all these tips, I’ll look into the Hind next time I can get to Cosford. Plus the Demon connection is an interesting one which I’ll follow up as well. The Air Publication describing the Hawker Audax also has a poor quality sketch of the pick-up gear attached to the axle.

Regards,
Derek

Derek attached are Hawker plans for message pickup for Audax (first introduced in the Audax) and the Australian Demon.

Thanks for all these tips, I’ll look into the Hind next time I can get to Cosford. Plus the Demon connection is an interesting one which I’ll follow up as well. The Air Publication describing the Hawker Audax also has a poor quality sketch of the pick-up gear attached to the axle.

Regards,
Derek

I believe the early Westland Lysander’s had a message hook similarly attached, slightly off to one side of the centre line.

I have seen a picture of a 208 Squadron Lysander, with it’s hook deployed ready to collect a message, flying at a very low level.

Cabbage

All RAAF Hawker Demons (1935) were supplied with message pick up gear a close visual match to the picture of the Wirraway. I haven’t heard of Wirraways specified with this feature so wonder if this was a piece of equipment taken from a Demon and ‘tried out’ in the Wirraway where appropriate. No doubt radio would have rendered the message pickup gear obsolete in a frontline aircraft winding its way through jungle valleys in 1942.

Maybe this is in fact an arrestor hook for deck landings on the roof of a pub serving beer. This would be more consistent with much tactical thought, then and now.

You may find that the RAF museum at Cosford has an example of the message pick up system on display fitted to their Hawker Hind. I have seen it but do not have any photos of my own, but here is a link which shows the gear, as you say, fitted to the axle of the aircraft. I’m sure you’ll find plenty of posted photos of this machine, which was recovered from Afghanistan many years ago and is displayed in Afghani colours.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/collections/hawker-hind-afgha

Good luck, WZ862

@WZ862, thanks for the suggestion. I looked up the AP manual for the Audax, the pick-up gear shows in one of the photos, but no more details. So I tried the AP manual for the Wapiti, and in this one it shows on a side-view drawing of the aircraft, attached to the landing gear axle.

But I’m still hunting for more details. This gear was also used on Lysanders…

While I cannot help you directly, you may find the Hawker Audax a useful source of research as they may have been fitted in this way also. I think (memory is not good)that there is one Hawker Audax airframe in the UK for rebuild, they may have information.

During the period when RAF Stanley was being translated (by the REs) into a modern runway the ‘airfield’ was unusable for landings/take-offs by the Airbridge.
Incoming mail was air-dropped at very low level (I was there – tks chaps!)
Outgoing mail was picked up by a ‘snatch’ similar to the system outlined above. A wire(?) was strung between two poles. On each side was a pouche in which the outgoing mail was packed. The Herc (12 hrs down from ASI!!!) came in and dropped the incoming mail. It then had some sort of hook trailing out of the ramp door which picked up the wire and, lo and behold, mail from FI was on its way (12 hrs to ASI!!!) to UK.
On one occasion there was not sufficient outgoing mail to “balance” the pouches on either side of the pick-up wire. The solution was to put all the mail into one pouche and balance it by putting an equivalent weight into the other side. This other side, on this occasion, was balanced by a fairly recently dead cow’s head (the minefields were still, then, claiming victims). The ‘snatch’ was successful, but when it arrived at ASI OC Ascension complained to OC Stanley about the cow’s head. OC Stanley replied that he thought that OC Ascension should look to his own staff because “when it left here it was a whole cow”!!!!!!!!!!!!
Subsequently knighted Air Marshals may have been involved. Airbridge Pilots may have included the likes of Akister and Rowlands, etc, etc. Who can say?
Just thought you might like some light relief from the cavortings of the Burma Spitfires which (to my astonishment) made 2nd Item in the Classicfm News at 1000 today!!
HTH
Resmoroh