At least it is fairly modestly sized if you do decide to keep it!

Whenever I come into contact with larger gas-cylinders I’m always struck by how ‘bomb-like’ some of them are and how (relatively) little cutting and welding would be required to produce a very convincing (high-capacity) bomb; maybe somebody else had the same idea?

I think I will keep it as it only cost the price of a round of drinks. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to make it. They have used 4mm plate very expertly measured and laser cut, just making the rear cone section would be quite an achievement, the welding is good quality also. Perhaps it was made by some bored apprentice. Then there’s the paint job, stenciling is not easy and the fake aging is quite convincing. It can go in my man cave with all the other strange things I have collected over the years. Just a shame that is not a copy of an actual bomb.
Best Wishes Trev

Looks like a Gas-Bomb to me…..probably Calor Gas mark 6? 😉

You know, you could possibly be right, the inside is orange like a gas bottle. I will have to look at the center coupling.

You may be interested to know that these pictures are to be auctioned by Bonhams in October 2015.

Obviously I am going to be a little bias, however let’s look at the facts. This panel was removed from a much larger wing section, one of the picks shows some of it, unfortunately someone is standing in the center and I don’t have his permission to publish his image. The rest of the wing had no holes or battle damage at all. Now who is going to drag such a large piece to a range and only run across it once. I am led to understand that the Schrage Musik did not use traces so very little could be seen in a night attack. And the first thing the Lanc crew about the attack was when the wings folded up.
Could it be damage from one of the Tirpitz,s 58X20mm guns or from the AA guns on Haakoy. The speculation just goes on and on. As for the grouping issue would you not need to know the type of gun, aircraft speed and height, if the gun was mounted on a moving aircraft or a ship or on the ground. Perhaps someone that worked at Lossiemouth could read this one day.

Thanks Peter, I had it as Stbd. The riggers at The Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Center RAF East Kirkby insisted it was Port.

The rivet pattern and the one remaining stringer on it in the picture is a dead give away. Any chance of posting the pictures of the large panel it was removed from?

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This is at Lossiemouth, for transport reasons the damaged section had to be removed. I am told it was from one of the Lancasters that were dismantled there in 1945.

Unless they were all duds 10 hits from a 20mm cannon would have blown the wing off with such a tight grouping.
Your ‘ballistic experts’ need to give their head a shake!

The authenticity of the holes is indisputable, this wing part came directly from the RAF. I have recently collected it from the local heritage center, it has been on display for the last 3 months as part of a Dambusters exhibition.
I think we have wandered off the original question (has anyone had any connection with quality inspectors stamps please)?

I have received this reply Keith. I think it pretty much answers my initial question:

I can only give you a partial reply.
I don’t know how to establish date. The American Dalton company patented the ‘wind arc slide’ on an endless cloth belt inside a square box in 1936 and this formed the RAF MkIII computer. This was certainly used right through the war and I have not seen a date quoted for the end of manufacture.

I do know that models A,B,C and D were made to strap on the leg. A&B was for slow speeds, C&D for higher speeds. In each case the first (A & C) were based on an isothermal model of atmosphere and the second (B & D) on an ICAN atmosphere.

Model F was made without a strap but with some scales on the reverse and made to stand alone on the chart table.

Models G & H do not appear in my 1944 RAF manual of navigation so there is a slight pointer to date. H appears to be stand alone on chart table for ICAN atmosphere – I presume G is for Isothermal Atmosphere.

The * indicates that the circular scale is rotated by grasping it. In the original Mk III the scale was rotated by a knob at the side but this probably proved too complicated.

The calculations based on altitude use standard atmospheres. The Isothermal atmosphere assumes that there is no change in temperature with altitude (not sure why, because it clearly does change). The ICAN atmosphere specifies a standard drop in temperature per 1000ft. ICAN is International Commission for Aerial Navigation and dates back to 1924.

Hope this helps,

Keith Hope-Lang.

Thank You Keith