Mystery cradle

Thanks Ross. That certainly sounds possible. It would be great to see a photo of a tank in one of these cradles – does anyone have such an image or can point me in the direction of one just to get some visual evidence?

Back in the distant past of BoB at home displays at Leuchars.

I remember a Phantom in the static display lined up with stores arranged in front. The Sargent Fuel Tank was in a similar looking cradle.

So possibly Pressurized Tank Fuel, Outer.

Regards
Ross

Some joker has added the O on the end I reckon. The PTF is stencilled and the O appears written on.

PTF is probably either the section or less possibly the inventory code.

Looks like a Stores or Drop tank cradle to me.

Any data plate or numbers on it?

Need to ask an armourer (if he can drag himself away from his game of freckles)

I’ll need to check, but I don’t think it can be that. The internal diameter of this cradle is more like a foot. It’s certainly way more than 5 inches.

Adaptor?

It looks like an adaptor designed to fit into a roller stand designed for a bigger diameter object.

I’ve seen assembly rigs for missiles, which have sets of rollers in allowing the weapon to be rotated about its longitudinal axis. This looks like it has been designed to fit within two sets of these rollers but with angle brackets to prevent the new assembly rotating.

A sort of adaptor to allow an old stand to be used for something different and in a different way (if that makes sense:confused:). Perhaps to allow a Sidewinder to be sat in a Firestreak stand? What are the inner and outer diameters? Sidewinder is 5ins diameter and the Firestreak, at a guess, is around 8ins.

As for PTF”O” – no idea. My guess – P(?) Training Flight “Outboard”

Anon.

The punctuation is likely a clue to meaning. It’s not PTFO, it’s P.T.F. “O”.

I was thinking a nose randome cradle…P1ss The F##k Off I saw it as..To stop other Erks from moving it…

Is it wood clad in metal, with rubber anti-skid strips glued to the metal cladding?

It is indeed.

Is it wood clad in metal, with rubber anti-skid strips glued to the metal cladding?

Thanks for the suggestions. I might be wrong, but I doubt that this is from a PT boat. I’m certain it is a piece of aviation-related equipment.

The only thing I can think of is the PT boats that were built in the 1960s and used by the U.S., most of them in Vietnam. They were designated PTF (Patrol Torpedo Fast) and each boat would have been numbered PTF-1, PTF-2, etc. There are lots of racks and cradles on PT boats.

I don’t know what P.T.F.”O” could stand for though.

Please turn the F.. over?

That’s used when the “Petrol Tank Fell Off” 🙂