20mm link hoard

[mad_ideas]

Hi Guys,

I was recently lucky enough to find what can only be described as a hoard of 20mm cannon links some of which are relic condition and some that only have light surface rust I have a couple of question that I would appreciate help on.
Firstly there was a small amount of link that as you can see in the pictures was painted green, and I was wondering what was the reason for this? Was it to demark a specific length of shells? Also some are clearly marked WB8 H1 does this stand for anything in particular?
Secondly was where the links painted or blued when they where first manufactured?
I have attached some photos of 5 of the good one I quickly cleaned
Any addition info would be great
Regards Mad.ideas

[Gunny Hartmann]

I should imaging when new the links would be painted, i don't think a disposable item like links would be blued.

[hangarman]

Hi yes the green colour denotes special use links , think they were for vampire aircraft but will check my docs. Most links were painted black. How many have you found?
Hangarman

[mad_ideas]

Hi,
Hangarman thanks for the info, any more you can find out would be great, i've still got a hundered or so that need recovering, as for the total im not sure but a few hundered would be a very conservative guess
Regards mad.ideas