Well its a sad day for me, but one day I knew it would have to happen. I am lucky enough to have my gorgeous little L4H restoration going on, but being a fairly young chap, funds are just not easily there to progress the project along.
When I was a little lad, my fascination in old aeroplanes was brought out by collecting all wierd and wonderful items and this collection grew to cover WW1/WW2/Germna/British/American/Homefront/Army/Navy/Airforce etc. It grew so much so that it indeed filled nearly two rooms in my parents house.
I knew it was an investment at the time but at some point, I would need that money for other things. I sold a load to Duxford whilst a student which broke my heart, but i did need to eat, but I’ve managed to keep hold of large numbers of bits….until now.
My little cottage I’m afraid is not the biggest of places, nor does girlie particularly want large bits of engine sat in the kitchen. The biggest deciding factor is now that mum and dad are retired, they would like to move, so my collection has to be sorted. With this in mind, and a need to finance the cub more, I’ve taken the decision to sort out and sell most of my collection. This will probably be an ongoing thing for the next few months, as I don’t get home that often, however i will fill a car load every visit and all items will be sold through ebay. Don’t get me wrong, there are some lovelly itmes that I am going to keep, but for those who have similar collections, I’m sure you realise that there are many personal memories attached to each item, and indeed i can remember where i bought pretty much each item.
So with this in mind I have the first 40 odd items sat on the kitchen table, which will start going on ebay today. Some I know exactly what they are, others i’m not too sure on.
Therefore, can anyone help with the possible aircraft use of the following items:
Altimeter XIII 6A/137
Fuel Gallons 6A/1430
Flap Indicator 0-80 degrees – Electrical 12V patent no 332314, serial 15731
door strike and catch with markings
23-2
1-1-5
5/15065/c
By: N.Wotherspoon - 26th October 2012 at 09:10
It is alloy, not brass.
Here is an identical piece from a Defiant site
I have also found similar at a Beaufighter site
regards
Chris
Lead surely, not “alloy” – weight alone should be obvious – as Rocketeer says they certainly appear to be battery terminals – the wider end being where the terminal post attached to the plates inside the battery.
By: Rocketeer - 25th October 2012 at 22:01
that looks like battery terminal
By: Chris D - 25th October 2012 at 21:06
It is alloy, not brass.
Here is an identical piece from a Defiant site
I have also found similar at a Beaufighter site
regards
Chris
By: Rocketeer - 25th October 2012 at 20:07
looks more like my old water stop c o c k ….sorry but i don’t recognise it as hurricane
By: Bruce - 4th March 2008 at 13:52
£15-20 seems to be the average for these – and I have sold a few on Ebay.
That one on EBay has the face installed upside down!
Bruce
By: Ross_McNeill - 4th March 2008 at 13:30
Mk XIIIC – Luminous on EBay now (not connected to me)
This will give an indication of current market value or EBay insanity price (delete as applicable).
Regards
Ross
By: bri - 3rd March 2008 at 12:16
I particularly like the way that the scale goes below zero:D
cheers baz
Altimeters did – and still do – go below zero, by 1000ft.
That is provided for landings in the ‘Low Countries’ of the Netherlands, etc.
Bri
By: Mondariz - 3rd March 2008 at 06:16
For airfield use, they must have gotten the airfield “hight difference” (for lack of a better word, my english do not stretch far into the field of math), much in the same way they get local pressure today. Then adjusted their instrument accordingly.
For a torpedo/bomb run they would have known their starting “Height” above sea level. Lets say 200′ for the home airfield. Thats an absolute “Height” above sea level and would not change (well its changing now due to global warming, but i think we can ignore that). If they deduct 200′ from their starting “Height”, they would have sea level.
It actually seems slightly easier than getting the target pressure for the day. As long as you know the absolute “Height” of your target.
By: JDK - 3rd March 2008 at 05:53
Well, we know, unfortunatly, that a few AC has ended up below 0.
Looks like a rather dangerous instrument to use!
However it seems to me you could set the ‘ground’ at your take off airfield, and if flying to an airfield 200ft lower, and assuming to weather pressure changes, arrive at a -200 ft. Not something to count on though…
I wonder, in the case of the Swordfish, if the instrument would be re-set to match the pilot’s altimeter at the start of the torpedo / bomb run, thus giving a reliable indication of variance from the altitude from that moment?
By: Arabella-Cox - 3rd March 2008 at 04:29
Hi Aarkrage, Many altimeters did not have the makers name on the instrument but had a number such as 6/1234 which described the type. I’m going to be a damp sqib,wss the instrument a recent purchase, if so has it been tested for Radiation?. Last year there was a large exercise fundedd by the Government for Museums etc. to dispose of Radioactive instruments in their possession,if they wished to retain any instrument it must kept in an enviroment where it cannot be in contact with the Public. In future it will be both difficult and expensive to legally dispose of Radioactive Instruments. (Please do not shoot the messenger).
By: Arabella-Cox - 3rd March 2008 at 04:15
Hi Aarkrage, Many altimeters did not have the makers name on the instrument but had a number such as 6/1234 which described the type. I’m going to be a damp sqib,wss the instrument a recent purchase, if so has it been tested for Radiation?. Last year there was a large exercise fundedd by the Government for Museums etc. to dispose of Radioactive instruments in their possession,if they wished to retain any instrument it must kept in an enviroment where it cannot be in contact with the Public. In future it will be both difficult and expensive to legally dispose of Radioactive Instruments. (Please do not shoot the messenger).
By: bazv - 2nd March 2008 at 21:54
Hi All
This type of altimeter was here last november… I did not recall seeing it… Doh !!
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=76186&highlight=mk+X111D
cheers baz
By: bazv - 2nd March 2008 at 21:27
Hi all
As I said in an earlier post,the sect/ref identifies the type of instrument but not the a/c it was fitted to.
Perhaps a better way to explain my previous comment about being fitted to an operational type would be that I would guess this type of altimeter would have been specified for an operational type (but not on pilots panel,he would have a sensitive alt).
It may well have become a normal fitment to 2nd line a/c because it exceeded the specification for them and production of one single type of instrument would have been easier.
cheers baz
By: MarkG - 2nd March 2008 at 20:52
MkXIII was set to zero before take off and indicates height above home aerodrome in flight. For landing at any other aerodrome height difference between both aerdromes needed to be known.
Hence HEIGHT not ALT on dial.
This is the important difference, i.e. to remember that ‘height’ and ‘altitude’ are not the same thing.
Strictly speaking, and put very simply, ‘height’ = distance above airfield (i.e. using QFE) whereas ‘altitude’ = distance above mean sea level (i.e. using QNH).
(QFE being the pressure setting an altimeter needs to be set to so that the instrument will read zero when on the ground at the airfield. QNH being the pressure setting to set in order for the altimeter to show the airfields elevation above sea level when on the ground.)
Whether the markings on the instrument face do/did strictly mean ‘height’ or ‘altitude’ though I’m not sure. For example, as I understand it the RAF generally use QFE to this day, yet their altimeters are marked with “Alt” not “Height”.
:confused:
By: Ross_McNeill - 2nd March 2008 at 20:06
Hi,
Application during early/mid war years was a MkXIV on the BFP and a MkXIII on the starboard side as an auxiliary.
This arrangement can be seen on the period Oxford piccy at the top of this thread on PPRuNe
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=240849
The early Sunderland fas fitted out with this arrangement also.
Avro Anson MkI/II had a MkXIV on the BFP and a MkXIII on the nav panel behind the pilot.
None of these aircraft can be called a high altitude bomber by any stretch of the imagination.
MkXIIIB was 0 to 20,000 ft (as per the Swordfish example in JDK’s post)
MkXIIIC was 0 to 30,000 ft
MkXIIID was 0 to 40,000 ft
The versions shown on Milrecs are dated 1943/44
I have a flurosecent ICAN 0 to 35,000 ft version with ALT on the dial which is the next production Mk, the Mk.XVIA.
The Millrecs piccy of this type is
http://www.milrecs.com/images/493.jpg
So in production late to post war.
Regards
Ross
By: Mondariz - 2nd March 2008 at 19:30
I would still guess that this instrument was from/for an operational a/c with a decent climb performance purely because it is calibrated up to 40,000ft, which is why I suggested a bomber/strike navs altimeter.
I particularly like the way that the scale goes below zero:Dcheers baz
The 40,000ft argument makes a lot of sense.
When did they get rid of the “Height” type gauge (converted 100% to modern style altimeters), and what aircraft would need such a 40,000ft gauge?
Is this “Height” gauge a purely British thing?
By: Mondariz - 2nd March 2008 at 19:24
Well, we know, unfortunatly, that a few AC has ended up below 0.
By: bazv - 2nd March 2008 at 17:59
I would still guess that this instrument was from/for an operational a/c with a decent climb performance purely because it is calibrated up to 40,000ft, which is why I suggested a bomber/strike navs altimeter.
I particularly like the way that the scale goes below zero:D
cheers baz
By: Mondariz - 2nd March 2008 at 16:43
I’m perpetually amazed by the knowledge of people here 😎
By: Ross_McNeill - 2nd March 2008 at 16:24
Confirmed it’s a Mk XIII altimeter.
The dial has been repainted at some point.
You can just make out
MARK XIIID No. XXX/XX below the HEIGHT lettering.
Above FEET is usually
SHORT & MASON
THOUSANDS OF
As a previous poster has said 6A/437 for Luminous and 6A/438 for Non-luminous.
Main difference to Mk XIV series is that this one has no millibar sub setting scale.
MkXIII was set to zero before take off and indicates height above home aerodrome in flight. For landing at any other aerodrome height difference between both aerdromes needed to be known.
Hence HEIGHT not ALT on dial.
Also these Height indications needed to be corrected for temperature and pressure.
MkXIV could be reset to local pressure giving Altitude above sea level.
Mk XIII usually seen in pre war aircraft and early war training aircraft.
Regards
Ross
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