Wheel identification

Hendon told me that the tyre is from a Percival Proctor – other than that I’m waiting for Cosford to contact me with possible more info – the plot deepens……

this also but listed as german:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/WW2-German-Glider-part-of-Structure-DFS-in-relic-condition-rare-NEW-SALE-PRICE-/322415554248?hash=item4b1176eec8:g:ekoAAOSwu1VW5z85

Ive seen 2 of the same bits you have there on ebay, they were advertised to have come from a glider.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]251344[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]251345[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]251346[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]251347[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]251348[/ATTACH]

Yes there are more than one out there.
Purchased this recently, been in touch with Hendon/Cosford who don’t seem to be able to put a previous adaptation to this wheel, altho i have asked about the possibility of it belonging to a glider. Apparently it came out of a farmers field in France years back. The alloy strut has remnants of green paint still attached and serial numbers stamped on it, and ive managed to free up the wheel. Also a picture from a Cheffins auction from March 2016 who were selling these wheels from the Bill Richards Collection – advertised as 3 small aircraft wheels that sold for £150.

New to the forum so hello to you all….

I think its a glider mainwheel circa mid 1960’s . I have a SZD Pirat wheel here and that is certainly steel -its not unknown.

Where it was found would be a help!

No way there would be a steel or iron wheel rim on an aircraft – and certainly not a tail wheel! It’s definitely an aircraft tyre but it must have been used for ground equipment.

Having a re-think of the original pic: is the frame it is mounted on part of a raising/lowering mechanism or suspension system, I wonder? Centre position fixed and the screw jack or shock absorber connected to the LH end?

Anon

Thank you all for your input

Chris

Our wheel is steel as well…..

I Have got the owner to clean the wheel.
It is of identical design to the clean one provided by Mike.
However, it is of steel and not alloy construction. Would/could it have still been used on a glider?

regards

Chris

Tyre size was used on:- Audax—Demon–Fury–Gauntlet–Gladiator–Hart—Hector–Hind—Hurricane–and Slingsby Prefect Glider. But all of these used Dunlop Hub AH 5000 and Dunlop Tyres.

Have seen Firestone on Prefect.

Same wheel/tyre is also on the Slingsby Sky, EoN 460, and a lot more of the 1950s sailplanes.

Could it be that the wheel in question has been re-used on (say) ground equipment, or a wheel barrow etc.? These wheels were available in whopping numbers post-war, and I have seen them re-used for about everything on old farm equipment…

Mikw,

Well that is a close as a match as you could get.

So now to ID what possible type,

Regards

Chris

Just to further muddy the water, I mentioned this to a mate, who then said “like this one?”
I gave it a touch with the blaster but no markings on the rim.
Cheers Mike

It’s an aircraft tail wheel assembly. Something Rapide-sized but it’s not Rapide or Anson. Oxford perhaps?

Anon.

Tyre size was used on:- Audax—Demon–Fury–Gauntlet–Gladiator–Hart—Hector–Hind—Hurricane–and Slingsby Prefect Glider. But all of these used Dunlop Hub AH 5000 and Dunlop Tyres.

So gives you an idea, but no nearer ID’ing. 😮 The weight of that unit must be quite substantial, pressed steel hub certainly looks Ground equipment type, but the Firestone tyre looks distinctly ,smooth -Aircraft use of. My gut feeling is its ground equipment,as all nuts bolts distance pieces and hub seem very agricultural. That leg facing you seems to have alloy corrosion on it though. If it came off a glider it had to have been attached to some type of suspension unit. So only guestimating , but hope there might be a clue in here for you. Keep looking, asking and best of luck.

Bill T. (pensioned off Wheels/Tyres Freak no:- 5 lol !!! )

I found a tyre not dissimilar to that weighing down a tarpaulin on a silage heap. When I contacted Hendon many years ago to help ID it I was told it was an outrigger tyre from a Harrier!

4.00 -3 1/2 is often used on older gliders -it looks quite like a glider mainwheel unit.

3-1/2 inch hub, its on the tyre, is that not harvard IIB size?, but its not a Harvard leg

Piece of ground equipment?

This is one for the experts, which isn’t me, but Z87 seems to be a modern car size (but it doesn’t look like a car tyre). Are Firestones still available outside the US???? What are the other markings? How big is it? That looks like a draining board so 18″ diameter?

Sorry, no real help I know.

Yes according to Scorpion 163…the smaller canberra wheels were 19inchers…his quote from an old thread

Maxaret units were introduced with the 21 inch wheels not the 19 inch fitted to the “light weight” B2,PR3,T4 and derivitaves, ie T17,TT18etc. Heavy weight B6,PR7, B(I)8,PR9 all had 21 inch wheels. My 231 OCU course notes, dated October 1963 state that “ALL 231 OCU Canberra are without Maxaret units”.