Hi everyone,
I’ve been having a bit of a sort out in the garage again (that’s the one that keeps on giving of course) and a few bits and pieces have turned up that I’d appreciate your expertise and advice on:-
1). Seat harness pieces.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]241474[/ATTACH]
I’ve a load of harness straps. The first batch are parts of the Sutton Harness and pre-war dates can be seen on some of them. I’m not sure there’s quite enough to make up a complete set, so I suppose the question is, can spares be obtained and are they expensive (in non-flyer condition)? Is there a demand for a harness in this sort of condition?
The second batch comprises various straps for the “Z” type harness. There are lap straps and shoulder straps, etc. Stores Refs include 6F/249, 251 and 252. Again, is there any value to these oddments? Their condition ranges from “not bad” to “poor”. Anyone got a use for them?
[ATTACH=CONFIG]241472[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]241473[/ATTACH]
2). Mystery levers.
I’ve turned up various sets of levers and quadrants, all rescued from scrapyards decades ago. I’d appreciate any help in identifying them.
Two sets of single levers.
A good starter clue on these as the levers are clearly stamped with AW Inspector’s stamps, e.g. AW300 and AW57B. Parts numbers stamped on them include SP44692 and SP49018.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]241475[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]241476[/ATTACH]
Three sets of triple levers.
These resemble the single levers described above in design and also bear AW Inspector’s stamps. One lever is stamped SP53695 1.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]241477[/ATTACH]
Teleflex R.P.M. levers for a twin engined aeroplane.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]241478[/ATTACH]
These look to be late wartime or early postwar. They are quite simple in design. Are they possibly from an early jet, in which case, is the Meteor a possibility?
Edited to add: Looking at the quadrant, the nearest lever is for the port engine, which places the friction damper wheel on the side away from the pilot in the Meteor, so it looks more like it occupied a central position, i.e. on a pedestal between two crew members? The Anson/Cheetah used Teleflex controls for the RPM levers but I don’t recall a friction lock?
American (?) levers.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]241479[/ATTACH]
I couldn’t spot any identifying marks on these pretty corroded levers. The design isn’t typically British, might they be American?
Combined Dive Brake and Landing Gear Lever
[ATTACH=CONFIG]241480[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]241481[/ATTACH]
This seems to use one lever to operate both systems – seems like a recipe for disaster to me! When I read the annotation “DO NOT OPERATE THIS HANDLE ABOVE 200 KNOTS IND.” I thought of a Naval aircraft of course, which brought to mind Skua or Barracuda, but is it even British? Grumman Avenger or something, maybe?
The two plates on the top of the quadrant read “UP – LANDING GEAR – DOWN” and “OFF – DIVE BRAKE – ON”. A casting number on the lever reads VS 234B(or 8)7-1.
By: Arabella-Cox - 25th January 2025 at 18:07
By: Arabella-Cox - 25th January 2025 at 18:07
I like to post something a bit different every now and then. This original 1918 Air Diagram has never been “in the garage”, (at least not in mine).
By: Johnny Kavanagh - 16th January 2025 at 22:48
By: Johnny Kavanagh - 16th January 2025 at 22:48
PM on it’s way Alan…
By: Wyvernfan - 16th January 2025 at 18:51
By: Wyvernfan - 16th January 2025 at 18:51
Botha.. of course… I knew I had seen that in the past somewhere whilst researching cockpit Throttle boxes!
By: FKA Trolley Aux - 16th January 2025 at 08:59
By: FKA Trolley Aux - 16th January 2025 at 08:59
Brilliant !
By: Arabella-Cox - 15th January 2025 at 19:22
By: Arabella-Cox - 15th January 2025 at 19:22
Regarding the above item, after a little more searching through my cockpit photos, this came to light.
From AP1688A Vol. I – Item 91: Hinged plate guarding lever for EMERGENCY lowering of wheels
Given the poor reputation of the Botha, I wonder how often the flap had to be lifted in a genuine emergency?
By: Arabella-Cox - 11th January 2025 at 19:08
By: Arabella-Cox - 11th January 2025 at 19:08
Another mystery item presented in the hope some info will be forthcoming. A flap covering an emergency undercarriage release lever, with a few stamps which may help? The cover is 3″ across.
p.s. Info on countersunk nuts still wanted!
By: Arabella-Cox - 19th December 2024 at 18:26
Rather than start a new thread I thought I’d post this question here.
Having moved on the large collection of AGS fasteners I pictured on here a while back, I open a long neglected drawer, only to rediscover a mass of these little critters. 4BA aerotight nuts but with a countersunk underside. Question then is, under what circumstances would these be used, i.e. why the countersink? Any ideas?
By: Aircraft - 16th November 2024 at 21:04
I like the mystery panel Alan!!!!
By: Arabella-Cox - 16th November 2024 at 17:29
Still tidying up loose ends. Just occasionally something turns up in the bottom of a box of stuff that still needs identifying. Here’s a few:-
The “mystery” panel wasn’t really much of a mystery but here’s a match to a wartime photo.
The small switch panel had been nagging me for some time. I thought I recognised it but I couldn’t pin down a photo showing one in situ until this one turned up. This is one of the Coastal Command versions of the Wellington.
This last small lever really did give me headaches until I started tidying up my gigabytes of cockpit photos when I suddenly found myself staring at this corner of a Beaufighter cockpit. The lever controls the warm air flow into the cockpit. Also found on the Beaufort and Blenheim (and probably other stuff too).
By: FarlamAirframes - 30th August 2024 at 11:40
Would look great with the Junghans in the middle. Pic from manual for comparison.
By: Arabella-Cox - 29th August 2024 at 17:46
Someone asked for a photo of this one about ten years ago – I hope he’s still around to spot this post!
Incidentally, this is actually one of the last items from “the garage” which is part of the title of this thread.
Fans of the thread needn’t worry though – there’s still two other garages, several sheds and a loft to go at!
By: TEXANTOMCAT2 - 25th July 2024 at 21:06
Ah could be the top of the removable stick I didn’t think about that- but the drawings show that the bottom tapers into a square section to fit into the retaining bracket as I mentioned but if you haven’t got the bottom bit… yep could be!
By: Arabella-Cox - 25th July 2024 at 15:53
Actually, TT2, now I’m back home and having had a chance to search through old hdds, I’ve come across this illustration from Schedule A for the 504K…
The longer of my two sticks seems to have the same proportions as the rear stick in the Schedule A illustration, whereas the other one is shorter, from another variant maybe?
By: TEXANTOMCAT2 - 25th July 2024 at 13:46
Hi Alan,
I don’t think either are 504 as the column appears to be too short and also I believe they had a squared end to slot into the torque tube – in any event they’re not like mine!
TT
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October 25, 2015 at 7:25 pm