Hello, Planehunters – welcome to the thread. Glad to have been of help – those pieces were a mystery for a long time until Derbyhaven and the Manx Aviation and Military Museum came to our aid!!

I have had a quick look at your website – there is a lot to digest. I reciprocate your message about keeping up the good work!

There is a private message waiting for you regarding our piece numbered 3/F.4537 which I sent a little while ago (see the dialogue with Air Ministry in posts #309 to #314 on page 11). If you can help, please let me know or post a reply on this thread. The RAF Museum’s records have not provided any more information than has already been posted on here. However, it is now clear that we have located the port wing and that Air Ministry’s initial response was correct.

It would solve the mystery if we could establish that there was a later version of the spares list showing our number.

If you have any thoughts on any of our unidentified pieces, it would be good to hear. Those which might be capable of identification include:

Item 15 (post #1 and #67);
Item 12 (the ‘butterfly valve’ in post #380);
Item 48 (post #452); and
Item 45 (post #513).

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I see from the pictures on your website that you have also found some pieces like the one along the bottom of our item 49 (now attached below for ease of reference). Did you ever discover what these were?

Thanks, Peter – even better!!

Peter,

I think you have hit the jackpot with your pictures of our item 58 – this seems to be exactly what is described in AP2062A&C. Very many thanks. Is there any chance that you could post (or send) another picture of the close-up (the third picture) without the red arrow superimposed, please?

The landing lights are from NX611. I attach a diagram which shows the shape. I can only assume that the Canadian-built Lancasters had different suppliers for the electrical components and were therefore sometimes differently configured from their British-built counterparts?

As a by-product of my research for pictures of the wartime landing lights, I found a few on e-bay showing Type J lights (5C/1515), but these didn’t really help much in trying to work out the shape of the internal framework which would have supported the lamps and the motor. However, what one picture did show was an electrical connector configuration (the male as opposed to the female) which exactly matched our item no.65 (post #614). I wonder whether what we have may be the other end of the circuit at the pilot’s instrument panel switch, or maybe at a junction box? This might explain the ‘+’ and ‘-‘ marks on our piece. Does anyone have any further information which might help regarding this?

Items 31 and 58

Item 58

I had hoped that over the weekend somebody might have been able to confirm the nature of the ‘operating fork’ on the trailing edge of the outer wing, of which our washer 7R2060 with about a 1½ inch diameter (item 58) was a part. As far as I can make out it is connected with the flap operating tube and there are four of these, with a further two referenced 8R2060. There seem to be six ‘arms’ controlling the movement of the flap in the outer wing section. Are these what are being called “operating forks” by AP2062A? Is there anyone able to help, please?

Item 31

After the frenetic activity of the first two months of the year, the pace may be expected to slow down as Laurent takes a well-deserved rest! He has been attempting to cover an area of around 25 acres (10 hectares) of the forest, and he has been remarkably successful. We now know for sure that he has found remnants of the port wing. While other items may still come to light, it is the area around location 12 that may yet prove to hold something significant.

The recent identification of items from the port wing has triggered my having another look at our mysterious item no.31. When this was first found, it was so far from everything else that there was considerable uncertainty as to whether it was even part of the aircraft. However it is in this location that pieces, now confirmed as being from the port wing, were discovered.

I believe I may have a solution.

The original pictures (post #196) are reproduced here again for ease of reference. The piece has traces of black paint on its under-surface, and the rivets protrude like studs on one side. There was also what was thought possibly to be a snap fastener attachment (post #211) which is best seen in the bottom left picture. The rivet patterns do not seem to be the same as those used for the frames for access panels on the underside of the wing, but there does seem to be a good match for those around the retractable landing lights, as shown in the detailed picture with the rivets highlighted in red. Our piece looks very similar to the segment shown in the yellow rectangle (mirrored on the opposite side), but it seems not to be from the aircraft skin as there is no fuselage attached. It may however be part of the internal frame housing the ‘lamps’, and the ‘snap fastener’ may be associated with the mechanism controlling the extension/retraction of the lights. It will almost certainly be too much to hope that somebody might have a picture or diagram of the internal fitting with which this might be corroborated?

This feels right to me – the piece was found where it might have been expected to have been in relation to other parts.

As ever, all thoughts welcome!

Many thanks for your comments Peter and WV-903. My initial thoughts were like yours, that item 65 was radio/radar related. But try as I might, I cannot identify anything that has the same characteristics as our piece amongst the photos and diagrams I have for: Radio transmitter T1154/receiver R1155: Gee; H2S (probably replaced by Oboe); Oboe; Beam Approach; IFF; Rebecca; or Monica.

So what else, could it be: Camera; Bomb aimer computor; Turret; or as you suggest, Peter, something more power supply related? I think that we are unlikely to be looking at a piece from the wing – it is much more likely to be from the main fuselage, thrown forward on impact.

The knurled pieces on opposite sides of the component are interesting – it looks a bit like a finger and thumb holding point, as if it were a turning switch. I have asked Laurent to confirm whether it moves!

If there are any electronics experts reading this, help would be much appreciated in understanding the lettering “EC” and “BL” and the significance of “+300”, “+6, 5” and “-6, 5”. Do the latter suggest some change in polarity as a switch is turned? The configuration of the socket positions is symmetrical and such that each is directly opposite a blank space on the imagined ‘dial’.

Any thoughts anyone?

Many thanks, Peter. Having been pointed in the right direction I have now found a similar port-side picture of NX665. This certainly looks like the oil reservoir. On the assumption that there was only one of these fitted (as per the diagram), it seems as if we may finally have found something that definitely comes from the port wing!! A great result!

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Although I am now pretty well convinced we have identified our piece, for the record Laurent has confirmed the diameter of the smaller end of it as 17mm and the larger end as 40.25mm.