I am sure i have similar

I am sure i have seen it happen on the upkeep tests as it comes back to me I belive it was the plume of water caused by the bomb not the bomb itself that did the fatal damage, perhaps we are talking about two seperate events? has to be a search on the net, I bet theres a video clip out there somewhere.

More upkeeps??

Does anyone have any info on the smaller versions of the upkeep?/ I believe a smaller version was used against shipping? I think the Germans also had their own version , though its just a dim memory from watching the History channels.:confused:

Customs

Its going flat packed, it will be assembled and covered when it gets to Nanton, we are just trial fitted the covering and assembling to show the customer how to do it. We save several hundred £s by shipping it flat. I have never had any trouble with customs but i never send anything like deactivated armanents overseas. A mate of mine sent a deactivated hand grenade by international post. Customs had a severe word with him, promising to prosecute if there was a repeat.:eek: Not sure what the rules are when it comes to sending deactivated stuff. I do send within UK mainland but always attach a copy of the deact certificate with the package and send the original seperately buy registered mail.

Upkeep

Are there any unused originals that still exist?

There a few originals around, Duxford has one. The upkeep was made in different sizes. It really should be classified as a depth charge rather than a mine as it was designed to detonate at a pre set depth. Sir Barnes Wallis discovered that water would have the effect of directing the majority of force against the wall, the upkeep had to be right up against the dam for it to be effective. The Dams were protected by torpedo nets and so the “Bouncing Bomb” had to skim over the surface hit the Dam and sink to the prescribed depth before detonating. The spinning action of the upkeep held it tight against the wall as it sank.
I think it’s interesting to follow the thought process of this genius. First he studied the best ways to damage the German war effort; he concluded that destroying the dams in the Ruhr would be an effective way of doing this. He then set out to find a way of doing this. A conventional bomb would have too many times larger than the upkeep to bust the dam and dropped right on the money, no aircraft could carry or deliver a bomb this size. After his extensive research he found that a charge right against the wall as a certain depth could do the job. The charge required could just be carried by a Lancaster; he set out about working out the delivery system that was the Upkeep. He then had to convince the Airministry and despite the fact he had designed the Wellington Bomber and other aircraft had a heck of a job getting anyone to take him seriously.

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maybe you should give Peter Jackson a ring, thanks for sharing.

Peter Jackson?:confused:

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372 is the supermarrine number for Mk23 spit

Graham,

I missed out on all the hoopla, but after reading all the comments I’m to assume a few people were upset about your prices and/or selling on ebay?

Whatever the isssue…my hat goes off to you and others like you that have enough courage to run a business like “spitfire Spares”. You did an excellent job mentioning some of the many problems and costs involved with selling such rare artifacts and as you mentioned…it’s definately a niche market. People should be happy these parts are even available (yeah I know they’re expensive) and not sitting on some collector’s mantle piece collecting dust instead of being used in an actual restored aircraft.

I’ve run into these types of issues while trying to obtain parts for my ball turret restoration project. There are very few dealers out there…period. And the few that are out there know how rare this stuff is and will naturally charge you an arm and a leg for it. Yeah…I don’t like it but it comes down to “supply & demand”.

Best of luck to you!

John

Thankyou: 🙂