The Bombay Duck project

I have been working on a drawing for the autopilot control panel mock up, the only info that I haven’t put on it yet are the hole positions for the steering lever as I don’t have this info yet, and the mounting holes for the labels. I did a rather silly thing and took the drawing with the labels on, to an engraving company who then went out of business and apparently threw it out DOH !. So now I need to get another copy before I can add this info.

With any luck I will have this mock up panel finished by early June.

Does any one by any chance have some spare AGS 259 alloy rivets or 2BA/4BA Simmonds double anchor nuts ?, as I could do with some for the various panels.

Bob T.

The contact I have for Bristol Aero Collection Archive is Duncan Greenman, always very helpful when I have asked for information for modelling projects, his email is
DUNCAN GREENMAN [duncan.greenman@btinternet.com] . There’s a Dive School in Gibralter that advertises trips to a Bombay wreck that ditched soon after take off, never seen any photos but it would be great to think there is still one out there,
Neil

Hi Sabrejet

Many thanks for your reply.

I contacted the BAC some time ago and they told me to email the person dealing with their archives. I sent several emails to him asking if they had any photo’s or drawings, but never received a reply. I will try again soon, but expect I will probably get the same response.

Bob T.

Some months ago I decided to have a go at building a panel/cockpit section of an extinct WW2 type & have finally made a start.

The aircraft type had to meet certain criteria, these were-

1. Must have served with at least one of the British forces during WW2.
2. There shouldn’t be any known survivors.
3. No one else is working on the same type “to save duplication of effort”.
4. Must be of interest to me.
5. Enough drawings should exist “& be obtainable” to allow the building of at least a cockpit section.

I had several in mind- Blackburn Botha, Shark. Handley Page Heyford, Harrow/Sparrow. Hawker Henley. Vickers Wellesley. DeHavilland Albatross. Fairey IIIF, Hendon, Gordon, Seal. Bristol Bombay etc. In the end I chose to have a go at the Bristol Bombay, mainly due to the lack of drawings for most of the other types.

So far I have had the main instrument panel & the pyrometer panel cut out. The Main instrument panel proved somewhat troublesome as the manufacturing drawing for it is missing at this time, I got passed this hurdle by using a copy of the full sized label positioning GA, there were no actual dimensions drawn on it but every hole for the instruments, switches & mounting screws was drawn on the GA, so I had to measure the possition of every hole etc with a rule, I then used the measurements taken from a book on instruments as well as from some of the instruments & switches that I already had, to work out the approximate sizes & shapes of the main holes & the locations of the mounting screw holes.

I had a prototype cut out of steel & fitted some of the instruments etc into it “see photo”, to make sure everything fitted OK, & luckily there was only one screw hole out of possition, & a couple of the main holes were slightly undersize. The CAD drawing I made has now been modified as required, & I am having the main panel etc cut out of of 22g Aluminium, I hope that this will be with me in the next week or so.

I am looking for the following instruments etc & would be pleased to hear from anyone who may have some spare to their own needs.

MK XIIIB ALTIMETER 6A/443.
MK IIIC BOOST GAUGES (-4 +8) 6A/701 OR 6A/699.
ADAPTOR PLATES FOR ABOVE “EARLY TYPE”.
SMITHS FUEL CONTENTS GAUGES TYPES 96-FG 6A/796 & 98-FG 6A/797 “OR ANY OTHER TYPE”.
FUEL CONTENTS SWITCHES 6A/647.
MK I OR IA ARTIFICIAL HORIZON 6A/599, 6A/1289 OR 6A/1059.
MK IXC AIRSPEED INDICATOR 6A/282 (60-240MPH).
MK I DIRECTION INDICATOR 6A/602 OR 6A/1297.
MK IIC ELECTRIC ENGINE SPEED INDICATOR 6A/442 OR 6A/476 (1600-3200RPM).
MK IA OIL TEMPERATURE GAUGES (TRASMITTING TYPE) ANY LENGTH OF CAPILLARY TUBE.
ROTAX TYPE N5CD PUSHBUTTON SWITCHES 5C/857 OR 5CW/857.
ANY MK IV AUTOPILOT CONTROL PARTS.
4 WAY C0CK (AIRCRAFT FITTINGS Ltd B2670).

I am also looking for photo’s etc which show the internals of the Bombay, especially the front fuselage, cockpit, bomb aimers & radio stations, as well as those showing the aircraft being built at Shorts.

I hope to make the panel etc for the autopilot controls next, & maybe the pilots seat after that.
Not sure exactly how far I will go with this project, guess only time etc will tell.

Bob T.

Ps. Should anyone have or know the locations of drawings for any of the other types, please drop me a line :eagerness:.

Just a thought – have you tried the Bristol Aero Collection at Filton? I was there a few weeks ago and they seemed to have a great deal of drawing sets for their Bolingbroke. Can’t guarantee the same goes for the Bombay, but the origin would likely be the same, should they still exist.

I do know that several years ago the original GA drawings for types going as far back as pre-WW2 were being scanned, and among these were a lot of projects which never reached the hardware stage. Of course, no guarantees that production drawings exist among that particular cache, but worth a look?

Attached is a scan of the automatic pilot control panel GA “drawn 1/2 scale”.

I have most of the drawings for the labels and other parts that are attached to it, and most of the controls and switches, so if I can’t find the actual drawing for the panel, I should be able make something that is fairly accurate from the available info.

If anyone has a spare steering and speed lever I would be very pleased to hear from you.

Bob T.

Just a quick update on the project.

Nothing much to report other than I have acquired a MKIV attitude control for the automatic control panel, and now only need the speed and steering levers (6H/602 and 6H/603) to complete the set for the Automatic control panel.

I’m still waiting for the other drawings I ordered “it’s only been about a year since I ordered them LOL”.

I have not found the drawing for the Automatic control/ID light panel as yet, but I have a reasonable GA from which to draw one up in the event that I can’t find the actual drawing.

Bob T.

Still after photo’s showing the cockpit & radio/navigator’s stations for the Bombay, & any showing the Bombay under construction.

As well as a couple of MK Ia oil temp gauges, & MK IIIc boost gauges etc “any condition”.

Cheer’s.

Bob T.

A little bit of an update.

I picked up another 20 sheets of drawings last Friday, these are mostly all relating to parts for the various instrument/control panels.

Upon looking through them I have realised that I am going to need a heck of a lot more sheets, just to make the panels etc that I have so far chosen to do. This is partly due to how other parts interact with/affect the panels, one example of this is the mounting for the autopilot clutch lever, whilst the majority of the info/dimensions are on the drawing, 2 are missing, these relate to the radii of the flanges where it attaches to the fuselage skin, so I will have to try & dig out the drawings for the 2 fuselage side frames that it fits between, & any associated lofting/skin drawings as well.
I could just make the mounting bracket by taking measurements of the drawing, but don’t want to end up having to make it all over again if I end up making a full cockpit section rather than just the panels etc.

I thought I might be able to get away with only needing about 30 sheets in order to make all the panels, it now look like it will be more in the region of 50+, at £7 per sheet I think I’ll need a 2nd mortgage LOL.

Bob T.

MK IV AUTOPILOT CONTROL LEVERS

Does anyone have any MK IV autopilot control levers etc spare to their needs, or have the dimensions for the mounting screw holes sizes & centre locations ?, as I am going to start redrawing the Bombays autopilot control panel & the original drawing seems to be missing.

I have a couple of GA’s & other relevant drawings for the panel + the ID/formation light switchboxes to go on, but need either the original control levers or the relevant dimensions.

The parts I require “or relevant info for same” are-

CONTROL C0CK 6H/301.
STEERING LEVER 6H/603.
SPEED LEVER 6H/602.
ATTITUDE CONTROL 6H/356.

Thanks in advance.

Bob T.

Hi Neil

That is the prototypes panel.

Bob T.

Apologies, don’t know why the pages I cut and pasted from the Bombay thread I started are not available, the whole thread can be found here
http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?128497-Bristol-Bombay-Information&highlight=bombay

Hi Neil

I can’t access these files. Is the flightdeck photo the one for the prototype or the one for the production version ?, as they differ significantly.

Bob T.

Not sure if you have seen these pages from Flight in 1939, one good photo of a Bombay flightdeck
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchi…0-%200361.html
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchi…0-%200362.html
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchi…0-%200363.html
http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchi…0-%200364.html

They were posted in response to Bombay Information I was seeking for a modelling project, now nearly finished. The thread title is Bristol Bombay Information

Hi Nicko

Whilst I would love to do a Spitfire “it would definately get far more interest etc than the poor old Bombay ever will LOL”, I have always wanted to try & recreate a type that is no longer with us, even if it is only a small part of one, & tend to think that more of us should try to bring back some of the extinct types in what ever way we can.

Despite only 50 being built, the Bombay did sterling service & was used in several roles throughout the war, Bomber, Ambulance, Transport, Parachute dropping etc.

I hope that the project will expand a bit over the next few years, but exactly how far it will go depends on various things, the cost of the drawings being the main one at the moment “about £7 per sheet”, I am buying a few at a time so things will take a while to progress “I believe I will need somewhere between 20 to 35 sheets just for the pilots seat”. My next lot of drawings should be with me soon, these ones relate mainly to the Autopilot control panels, labels, & pyrometer panel mounting etc.

Cheer’s.
Bob

SWITCH HOLDER 5D/535

Does anyone have a spare switch holder ref 5D/535 ? “see photo below”, I need one for the main instrument panel “it holds the bomb release push switch”.

Bob T.

Hi Bob.

Nice to see some effort being put into the Bombay, a type I have long lamented the lack of.

Hi Ross

Many thanks for the info. I spoke Peter in the archives at the RAF museum a couple of weeks ago, but they have very little in the way of drawings for the Heyford or Harrow, the drawings for these & the HP42 seem to have dissappeared from the Handley page drawing office sometime before they could be saved with the rest.

Bob T.

Hi Bob,

For other HP types give the IWM contact to see what they have on catalogue.

I took the following photos at RAFM Stafford store recently of the three stillages of drawings loaned from the IWM for the Hampden project.

Included drawing tubes for quite a few more types than the Hampden eg HP 50 Heyford, HP 32 Hamlet, HP 21 Shipboard fighter, Design for Spec G4/31 (HP.47) etc.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]230392[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]230393[/ATTACH]

The names on the tubes were tantalising.

RAFM Stafford stressed that they were not the owners just present location so IWM is your contact.

Regards
Ross