powerandpassionMerlin exhaust stub
Here is a Merlin exhaust stub from a Mosquito. I have always wondered about the makeup of the mounting flange in comparison to the body. The mounting flange will rust away while the body remains intact, implying two different metal types welded together. When you are flying your Spitfire, and the stub comes off and smashes into the tail plane, this may become important! I assume the machined flange has high strength and low creep, while the sheet metal body is designed to cope with corrosion.
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I have to check my books at home, but no doubt the body is Inconel.
powerandpassionDifficile
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Thanks for your email and for the identifications and the photos. This will allow me to despatch these parts to the members of the families upon a commemoration to be organized in June.
Could you please help me again by identifying these 2 photos of the same part that I am sending you attached.
Thanks in advance.
Jean François
Jean François,
Very difficult for me to identify. It looks like an inspection stamp, but deHavilland inspection stamps often have a DH. I cannot identify a likely part by the shape. It may be a camera part or telecommunications part, perhaps somebody will recognize the inspection stamp.
If you have any other parts with numbers please show the photos.
Kind regards,
Ed
powerandpassionBreeze plug
Here is an example of a Breeze plug used in the electrical system. Your example is a male plug, typical of the radio system.
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Again, anything with part numbers will give you a more accurate identification.
Ed
powerandpassionParts ID
Jean Francois,
Thank you for the detail of the mission, you have obviously put a lot of research in and I congratulate you on making history come alive. Tres Bien !
Below are some parts which may relate to your finds :
This is the thermostat for the Merlin engine, it sat in the wings with the radiator. The small section with thread looks like part of the thermostat housing. On the thread gauge, this is 14 TPI BSW thread, which may help confirm the piece if you can get a BSW thread gauge.
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This is the magneto switch which shows some braided cable similar to your example
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This shows a hydraulic ram which shows some hydraulic piping and fitting similar to your part 10
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This is a drawing of the sliding cockpit window, your part 5 may be part 32 in the drawing.
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powerandpassionWhat colour underpants was he wearing on the flight ! 🙂
powerandpassionAccording to the superb history of the German rocket program, “The Rocket Team” by Ordway and Sharpe, ” pg 78, the Peenemund establishment was first photographed on May 15th 1942, when Flt Lt D.W Stevenson was on his way to cover Swinemunde following a photographic mission over Kiel.”
It does not describe the aircraft, so perhaps somebody can trace the pilot and squadron and make the deduction. I would have thought it was a PR Mosquito that far in.
powerandpassionFew guesses
PR16, welcome.
ID is difficult, pieces are very small with not much other context around them. The soil looks like fine clay, so may explain why everything is shattered into tiny pieces, or perhaps the main wreckage was taken away and only these micro pieces remain.
1. looks like a male Breeze plug, shielded, part of the radio system, Breeze plugs are generic, but certainly used in Mosquito.
2. may be part of the oil sump pan from a Merlin engine
5. is a guess, but may be a fitting on the bottom of the opening/sliding window of the canopy, tecalemit greaser facing inboard.
Immediately under 8 is a coarse threaded section which has the look of an Avimo threaded collar on the cooling system, maybe part of the thermostat.
In the bottom left hand corner is braided cable from the ignition leads between the magneto and sparkplugs
Above this is a length of hydraulic fluid pipe with coupling nut.
A lot of this is generic, except for 5. If you find any part numbers with 98 in them then you have a definite Mosquito part. List any part numbers you have and I may be able to provide a definite identification.
Thank you for posting, share the story of the mission and pilots of NS 504 when you can.
Ed
powerandpassionNeeds some coordination
Happy to help with a cash donation from a great distance if somebody coordinates repair and provides bank/paypal deposit details.
Maybe laser etch information on a stainless steel sheet that is fixed to some concrete.
Thank you
powerandpassionI think in the UK we have more naysayers than the other countries put together.
The naysayers of the United Kingdom stood alone in 1940 and refused practical accomodation with Hitler. The eccentrics of the United Kingdom laboured in spite of discouragement and setback to produce the Britain First, the sleeve valve engine, the Mosquito and the Merlin to restore parliamentary democracy, rule of law and justice to Europe. The United Kingdom is never greater than when its naysayers and eccentrics find a way of working together. Often it takes an external threat. Try being kinder to each other. Start building the thing. Start with a bolt.
powerandpassionI am more of a Vickers Wellesley type guy, but I wonder if anybody could educate me on the makeup of the geodesic construction method used in it and the Wellington. Is it based on cast aluminium cross pieces which are joined by roll formed aluminium straights ? Are the lengths or curvature of the straights the method by which the geometry altered to allow you to construct wings and fuselage out of common elements. Are the straights L3 duralumin ? What DTD or BS material are the cross pieces made out of ?
Maybe a single engine, smaller Wellesley would be a good trial run for a Wellington……. 🙂
powerandpassionTake no notice of me, I’m an idiot.
I am surprised that you could presume to be a greater idiot than me ! :p I find that the idiot questions often lead to the most rewarding knowledge. So idiot away !! When the forum resembles the crucifixion scene in the Life of Brian, with everybody saying, “I am an idiot….No, I’m an idiot… ” then true knowledge will flow !
Stupid questions most welcome ! It might save my life one day.
powerandpassionMagnesium
These large wheels are not heavy, considering their size. I did not know if they were cast aluminium or magnesium, but by the appearance of the corrosion, white oxide and light weight, they had to be magnesium. So a small piece was cut off and met with the oxy acetylene torch, and soon gave off the brilliant white glare of magnesium in confirmation.
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So apart from being corroded and utterly unsafe, they were now made of a metal whose ageing characteristics under cyclical loading made them very utterly unsafe. Magnesium under the microscope has a uniquely square grain structure. So when a microscopic crack sets in, it propagates far more easily than in a metal with an irregular grain structure. Under the shock loads of repeated landings it is likely that small cracks will develop, then express themselves in a sudden failure, which is not what you want under an expensive aircraft. Folks with expensive race cars from the 1950’s like to change cast magnesium components after a certain ‘time in use’, rather than plunge their superannuation into a wall when a magnesium suspension component suddenly fails. This was not really an issue in warplanes that had service lives counted in hours. It does become an issue in preserving historical aircraft for decades. It may be prudent to attach basic meters to the undercarriages of warbirds to record shock loads and combine this with a dataset of time in use to structure a schedule of replacement for magnesium components. I think my mind is shifting to the casting of new magnesium wheels as an appropriate move forward. I do not think I will ever find a wheel in a paddock that, after seventy years, is free from corrosion and I do not have confidence in seventy year old magnesium with an unknown service history.
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Both wheels were found in separate parts of the country at separate times, but both were cast by Kelsey of Canada in 1943 and 1944. Kelsey I understand were providers of wheels to the prewar US automotive industry. In this sense it appears that Australian Mosquito production relied on imported wheels, and it would not be difficult to agree that all Canadian Mosquito production relied on Kelsey. I wonder where UK wheels were cast. I have never put much thought into the excessive fluting around the rim of the Mosquito wheel, a Dunlop design shared by the Beaufort and Beaufighter, albeit in a smaller size. In thinking it through I think it was a device to discourage water entering the brake chambers. With a fixed volume of water, the surface distance of ~~~~~ is greater than the surface length of ——-, thereby creating greater dispersion. Each flute would act as a ridge stopping the flow of water and directing it, with centrifugal force, away from the brake chamber. So it required extra machining, compromised in a small way the strength of the rim, but made for more effective braking on sodden, grass fields.
Now for some casting patterns….
powerandpassionBlasting and visual inspection
Two wheels were sent to be grit blasted and returned with serious tooth decay. The heavily corroded retaining ring revealed a large crack that would cause a catastrophic failure of an inflated assembly. A further crack was revealed in the axle retaining cap, previously covered by paint. Electrolytic corrosion between the brass inflation valve and wheel created a worm hole of oxide. On one of the main wheels corrosion had eaten through to the other side, rendering the wheel usable only for static display. In this respect I would not feel too confident putting any air pressure in, but would explore the use of rigid polyurethane foam as a tyre filling, and leave it at that. There is no point doing any other further inspection on these wheels, “for you, ze war ist over!”
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powerandpassionThank you for your positive feedback, it is appreciated. I may dissemble some more…
powerandpassionSounds like a fantastic person and I think the most appropriate thing for me to do is knock the top off a beer in his memory.
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