Questions, questions….

James.

Funnily enough we do have public libraries. It’s not well known yet but we even have electricity. The inter-library loan service is wonderful, and relatively inexpensive (only 75p in Walsall) but is notoriously slow in coming up with the goods. They also tell you they will buy in books for you but when you thell them the retail price is over £20 there’s this sharp intake of breath followed by a few minutes of muttering and tutting before asking if you really need that title. I can understand them, Walsall could probably find a better use for their £20 than a book on armaments or some such.

I shall give the library a try, thanks for the tip.

Regards,

kev35

Hi Kev,
Glad to help. I do believe you can avoid the bank ballance problem by resorting to something called a ‘public library’ (I understand they have them round you? :)) and asking them to get you the (or any) book on an ‘inter library loan’. Costs about a pound (may be less in Walsall :p) and then yours is the book for two weeks – or forever if you fail to take it back. (Kids, don’t try this at home!)
Cheers
James

Thanks to everyone for replying. As usual with this forum, if people can’t give the information you need someone always comes up with a reference. The list of books I need to add to my collaction grows ever longer in proportion to the speed with which my bank balance shrinks.

Thanks again for the help.

Regards,

kev35

Don’t have the Wellington books to hand.

The other is:
British Aircraft Armament Vol1, RAF Gun turrets from 1914 to the present day, R Wallace Clarke, 1852602336 PSL. It does have a section on the Frazer-Nash FN25, the Wellington under turret, derrived from the FN17 Whitley under turret. There is one surviving example, though the carcase was used for he Leigh Light, an example of which is at Hendon. There are a couple of pics of the turret and one of a wellington with the turret lowered.

ZZ Landing is a blind landing system using radio transmitted
instructions from the ground. Talking pilots down.

Here is a dustbin turret of a Ju52/3m (couldn’t find a good picture from a Wellington):

Wasn’t the retractable turret mounting & appature later used for the ASR Wellington’s retractable Leigh Light?

In that case, I’d try Hendon re an explanation of ‘ZZ landings.

Geoff.

Kev, The “Dustbin” turret you are referring to is in fact the retractable ventral Frazer Nash turret fitted to the Mk.1A. These turrets proved to be unsatisfactory and had an adverse effect upon the aircrafts C of G. As a result this turret was delected from the Mk.1C onwards and was replaced by a pair of .303 Browings in the beam positions. For more info have a look at Vickers Aircraft since 1918 by Putnams.

KeithMac

Tony and Geoff.

Thanks for that, I’ll check out the book tomorrow. Geoff’s link is no longer valid as I read on RAF Commands recently that Mister Sadler has passed away.

Thanks anyway.

I’ll keep digging.

regards,

kev35

Kev,

I did have the answer re ‘ZZ landings’ once, but I can’t remember what book it was in now. It might come to me later, but from memory, it was a way of homing an a/c onto an airfield. Can’t remember the actual method though. How about emailing Hendon??

Follow this link for a partial explanation & the email address of someone who knows the answer

http://www.rafcommands.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=1792&forum=DCForumID6&archive=yes

Geoff.

Hi Kev,
I bought my copy of the 4+ book from LSA Models, who I believe are the importers.

Details are ….

Shop:
151 Sackville Road, Hove,
East Sussex, BN3 3HD, United Kingdom
Tel: 01273 705420
Open: 09:30-17:30 Mon-Sat

Mail Order & Enquiries:
Unit 4, Wellington House, Camden Street, Portslade, East Sussex, BN41 1DU, UK
Tel / Fax : 01273 423523

Hope that this helps,

Tony

Thank you James.

The Crowood book is out of print but I will endeavour to get a copy. The other two references mean nothing to me but I shall try to get hold of them.

The references to Type “B” and Type “C” bombs are taken directly from a Squadron ORB. Just wondered what they were and how they differed.

I would be interested to know how many Wellingtons were equipped with the dustbin turret. I have numerous references from aircrew correspondence to the dustbin turret. In 37 Squadron’s case there seems to be a great deal of difference of opinion as to how many aircraft of the Squadron were so equipped.

Hope that clarifies the question for you.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Regards,

kev35

Get hold of the Crowood or 4+ books on the Wellington, or the two vol ‘British a/c Armament’. If you are v. specific, I may look at one or two of those to answer your Wellington Q!
Cheers

With regards to ‘ZZ’ landing and ‘dustbin’ turrets on Wellingtons, I can only find reference to these on various sites found on Google, no explanations (yet)…hope someone out there has got something on these up their sleeve for you Kev 🙂

Becka