Yes, I have just been having a look. Unfortunately there is (inevitably) nothing which gives a close look at the spar end of the strut – or at least I can’t find it if there is one. Looking again at the diagram in AP 2062A, I can see the ridged appearance of our piece in the enlarged view of the retracting strut locking mechanism, so maybe this is what we have (at the knuckle) – or would both pieces be the same?

Hi there,
I also have a ‘AHO’ coded pneumatic pipe from a Lancaster but this one is cotton braided rubber. About 1″ in diameter. Peter thinks it’s from the main brake system. Would you have anything to add to that ?
Cheers

Hennie, good to hear from you. I have been following your thread with interest as we are obviously following the same path!

As you will gather, I am not the expert, but others such as Air Ministry might be able to add something. I would suggest he posts any reply on your thread rather than confuse the two threads.

World War 1 grenade and latest finds

Laurent has just e-mailed to say that our pronged piece No.44 is a WW1 French Tromblon lance grenade!!! I have now seen a picture on the internet and can confirm that this is exactly what it is – but what was it doing in the forest?? Another era of history unfolds!

In the meantime another two objects have been found – pictures attached. Laurent describes 51A as an iron spindle – is this another relic from WW1 I wonder? This is going to confuse the research!! The second, 51B, he thinks is a grease nipple.

So, from the recent finds, this leaves us with the following items unidentified:

M6A: a roller bearing not identified to a particular part of the engine;
44: R3 226 AGS 770 H connector, the function of which has not yet been determined;
44A: the curious circular item with what look like vent slits;
47: the rectangular frame with bolt attached;
48: our mystery object numbered 602975 J which has, so far, defeated everyone;
49: the piece at the bottom of the picture with an elongated semi-circular attachment;
49A/B: the AGS 711H connector and angled part: could this be a fuel system air vent pipe?
49C: the item at the bottom of the picture numbered 15V 2068 – might somebody be able to identify this one?

Hopefully there may be a few more comments yet to come – I would be interested particularly to hear anything about 49C.

Peter,

I have noticed that occasionally when I post a single picture, the enlarge facility disappears. It seems to be fine with multiple pictures. There is adequate resolution on my screen, but the cleaned up version reveals no identification numbers. I think we will just have to rely on the overall shape and the existence of the ‘prongs’ to help.

It is curious that the T-fitting to the outer wing fuel tanks appears to have a flexible hose type of attachment rather than metal? Would this be expected? Thanks also for the additional pictures and the update on SS3704 – I will look for pictures.

Item 44

Laurent has been working very hard and has now cleaned item 44 – thank you Laurent. It has a stippled pattern near its neck and a central hole. The ‘prongs’ are two arcs of a circle.

I am certainly none the wiser, but maybe it now strikes a chord with somebody?

Peter, I’m not sure which item you mean by ‘549’ in post #466. I agree that 44 and 46 in your post #467 could well be hydraulic – they seem to have what could be flexible hose attached, but they were found in what would be a strange place for anything from the bomb bay. It would seem more likely that they were either close to the engine or were in the leading edge of the wing if what we are looking at is remnants of the port wing at this spot. I am not sure what hydraulic joints would look like in the engine area – presumably similar to those in the bomb bay? AP 2062A suggests that there could be both simple two-way joints and three-way joints in the main wheel and air intake systems. Maybe Air Ministry can come to our rescue? I will keep thinking!

It seems as if we may have some potentially significant finds. With Peter’s help the pieces from the step on the undercarriage have been identified, but whether we have two halves of one step or two separate halves is not readily determinable. But in any event, it is clear we have two pieces from what would appear to be the port undercarriage which Laurent had been seeking near location 12. These are pictured below marked “gauche” and “droit”, but I am not sure how Laurent has decided which one is left and which one is right!

The new finds are a little distance away from location 12, but in the same general area. On his latest map Laurent has moved location 11 to be closer to location 40 now that he is able to position it more accurately in relation to the new discoveries. It must be a bit difficult to get precise bearings amongst all the trees. Unfortunately his scanner “ne marche plus”, so I am waiting to find out exactly where the latest location 50 is situated.

I mentioned in post #458 that one of the pieces in picture 45 could be part of the engine controls. I attach a diagram extracted from AP 2062A which looks fairly convincing, assuming the port side fitting is a mirror image of the starboard as shown in the red box. If I am right, this is further evidence that these latest discoveries are from the port wing which detached from the aircraft.

I am still hoping someone may be able to identify item 48 and the bottom numbered piece in 49C. But for the diamond-shaped flange, item 48 almost looks like the end of the undercarriage strut.

Peter, many thanks for that – we seem to have both halves! You don’t by any chance have a picture or diagram of it in situ?