Reevers acquires bomber gun turret – possibly from WW2 veteran RAAF bomber

Spitfire jigs in the country are pretty limited and parts are getting ridiculously rare at the moment..

I should’ve said, “curious about the current state” of them but I have no doubt Brenden can educate me fairly quickly!

I think Brendan had a pretty good list of Spitfires surviving in Australia…

Well, whoever’s got it have their work cut out. The Ulster Aviation Society one was more or less complete though corroded, a lot of man hours needed.

The remains of the FN4 found in Aus ended up back in the UK I believe, cant remember who and where though, is/was displayed in these pics last that I’m aware of. I followed this closely as would of made a good matching pair with my early Sunderland nose turret. There was a FN4 control column showed up not that long ago here in Aus also, so parts still out there.

Be interested to know what’s happening with it?

Out of interest I have just gone to the Reevers Warbirds – Australia Facebook page. No activity since October last year with the advice they were selling their B-17 and A-26 inventory and changing the public FB page to a private group…which as of today has 103 members. I’ve applied to join as I’m curious about the various Spitfire projects registered to them and their principal. as well as the B-25.

A couple of mistakes in this thread as a poster claims the S 23 was never fitted with turrets , when in fact The Empire class and the S 26 were fitted with turrets, and in the case of  the Australian Empire class this  had 50 cal mounts added.

However no FN turrets, my bet would be Sunderland.

Ok, so I’m about 5years late in seeing this! Only reading it because someone asked me about the fn4a I restored for the UAS some 10plus years ago.

Anyways, sad to see an argument breaking out over the article, I can’t actually see photos of the turret in question, but all I can say is that an fn4 can’t really be confused with any other, it was quite unique, and I spent 1400 enjoyable hours restoring it. I agree with all the comments from Walter and others, there’s no way it was fitted to a Lancaster.

Be interested to know what’s happening with it?

Cheers

John

OK, enough please people. Please take your discussion to PM. I fail to see how a commercial decision made by the owner of an item should be the subject of such contentious debate.

Bruce

Elliott, you offered me, separately, not together, a few crusty old windscreen parts, some crusty old access panels and a crusty carry through spar that was drilled in the wrong section, nothing even close to airworthy. an airworthy spit leg is worth about 2k aus on average, they pop up every so often. i told you i would take engine mounts, gear leg or airacobra parts, but if you think im just going to give something away because you think it “belongs” with your project then you need to get on the meds again. i help out plenty of museums with things, i gift, trade, sell to support my projects and others, but i dont help anyone with attitudes like you.

i did not ignore everyone, there were many conflicting opinions, you just believe that your opinion and only yours is the correct one, it was passed on as an FN4 turret, not a lancaster one.

Just to put the record straight I offered you a number of Spitfire parts some of which were airworthy, not just the leg. There was also a carry through spar and some windscreen parts. If you think the turret is worth an airworthy Spitfire leg you are deluded. I would have gladly offered more but it was a bit like dealing with a meerkat.

Not a surprise when you initiate a post asking what the FN4 was used on, then ignoring everyone who took the trouble to respond – still insisting it came from a Lancaster. All the while, a child could have googled FN4 and found the answer in under 30 seconds.

Yet again, the facts seem to be a stranger to you Tristan.

Just out of curiosity and to level the field a little.

1, what is the Spit leg worth

2, What is the turret worth

I do gather that in auction it can be as long as a bit of string but they must have value to both sides in this and maybe other forum members could help out in securing for the Whitley project as I take it the turret is up for sale/swap?

…..wave the olive branch and get a whack in the face with it for your efforts………JUST UNBELIEVABLE !!!

…with respect to all contributors to this thread, and hopefully not upsetting the mods any further…. we all know there is a very worthy, viable restoration project being embarked upon to see an otherwise extinct Whitley bomber come back to life and in need of an FN4A or B to help see the job through.

…i have absolutely no connection with the Whitley project people, and although I feel collecting a very rare item just for the sake of a bit of capitalising later on is OK, it can also appear a bit mean spirited to the “family” here that makes up the forum/restoration crew to have something obviously not needed where it is, but otherwise quite needed elsewhere to see a worthwhile project out to a completion.

…I extend my apologies to all for the heavy handed first post of mine earlier in the thread….sometimes a bad day or a frustrating niggle can lead to a somewhat ill considered outburst……Cheers to All

From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs Comrade! down with capitalism!

Forgive me Commissar i think that this:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]245818[/ATTACH]

was a very equitable trade for a very rare turret, i shall send myself to the gulag.

if Elliot wanted/needed it so badly he should have offered a better trade, and reevers was probably still willing to trade it, except i think that some people here may have burnt those bridges now with these attitudes.

Just you tube FN4 and you’ll find a good mix of restored turrets in collections. As for this particular Turret it will be added to the others we have in storage for restoration to go on flying aircraft such as our A-26, B-25 and hopefully a good start on a B-17
and potentially another 2 or 3 types of medium bombers. As stated – it wasn’t purchased because it was thought to be from a Lanc, it was purchased to supplement what Reevers already has.

As mentioned, to us, there seems to be enough FN4’s around – perhaps a call for help could provide results? – just a suggestion.

Peter

…with respect to all contributors to this thread, and hopefully not upsetting the mods any further…. we all know there is a very worthy, viable restoration project being embarked upon to see an otherwise extinct Whitley bomber come back to life and in need of an FN4A or B to help see the job through.

…i have absolutely no connection with the Whitley project people, and although I feel collecting a very rare item just for the sake of a bit of capitalising later on is OK, it can also appear a bit mean spirited to the “family” here that makes up the forum/restoration crew to have something obviously not needed where it is, but otherwise quite needed elsewhere to see a worthwhile project out to a completion.

…I extend my apologies to all for the heavy handed first post of mine earlier in the thread….sometimes a bad day or a frustrating niggle can lead to a somewhat ill considered outburst……Cheers to All

Many thanks Walter for the explanation.
I can follow the discussion and comparisons a bit better now.

Sabrejet – dont think it needs renaming as the body of the first post does say “if Confimed” and

Whitley-Project – I think it very unfair to assume that Tristan sold it as a Lancaster Turret, we’ve said several times we’ve had input from others who claimed it to be from a Lancaster and we have always remained open to discussion and learning
about the turret. As for the FN4 being rare, perhaps in the UK but Reevers does hold some other FN4 parts and we know of at least 4 other complete turrets here in Australia – perhaps a reflection of the EATS and just how many Australians served
in the RAF.

Despite the for and against, time will tell and we are glad we secured it and it is now safely stored away for future work. Finally I’d like to thank those who have been supportive in helping us to get to know this turret better – Lancaster, Manchester, Whitley, or Sunderland we don’t mind one bit. We have it and thats what counts.

Peter Smythe

Ok last warning . if you can’t keep this civil and keep the potshots to the PM system then this thread be removed.

A good time to revise the thread title perhaps?

[QUOTE=tomahawk21;2310916]i sold it as an FN4 turret, reevers was aware that it was an FN4 turret, there is no need to get cut Elliott because i had a better offer than your rusted out spitfire gear leg, if you want something make a fair offer next time[/QUOTE

I’m surprised you turned the rusty Spit leg down Tristan – it would have gone well with your other projects