Plenty of finds from a new site on a British Airfield.

**m3bobby** · 05-07-2011, 12:12 AM

145 and 146 is definatly somthing to do with the weapons system as the same idea is in use today. The pilot can turn his weapon system to safe or not have all the required safety conditions met, yet still have the ability to jettison all stores immediatly in an emergency. For example, the pilot will not want to drop bombs untill hes over the target so the weapon system is safe untill he is on target at which point he goes live and releases the weapons in live mode. However if he had engine trouble or damge, and he felt he needed to dump some weight, he can hit the jettison button which will dump the bombs (Using the same release method as live) in a safe condition.

**LUCKYSTRIKE** · 05-07-2011, 12:38 AM

Although often found these 5c/432 (electrical junctions) this is the first Ive found mounted on the top of a small metal stand.

Plenty of finds from a new site on a British Airfield.

This small metal warning tag is only 1 inch across. Could it be for air crew oxygen supply tubing?

Recently Ive found a lot of these chunky 5c Aircraft electrical switches, the first picture shows one as found, lying just below the leaf mould.

A small alloy control wheel painted red, no idea on its use?

A mixed batch of unmarked electrical light fittings. I like the alloy one exhibiting the remains of yellow paint.

The next two pictures show two different 5c marked aircraft electrical lighting fittings. Ive not seen one before like the second one shown which is about 6 inches tall and streamlined.

A little (6 inch long) chrome plated copper box. Sadly its unmarked.

Finally this item is made of a ceramic type material and the flex on the wire could be made of woven asbestos. Not wanting to take any chances I've given it two coats of matt varnish for safety. It appears to be made of materials to withstand heat perhaps an engine component. But looking at it, to me it appears to be a 4 socket junction box for W/T pin connector plugs?.

I hope you enjoyed looking at these finds and thanks you for any help you can provide.
LUCKYSTRIKE

**LUCKYSTRIKE** · 05-07-2011, 01:19 AM

10H Aircraft Radio Connectors, Discs Indictaing, Fuses, Leads, Plugs, Sockets and Ancillary parts, Holders and Terminals. This has a textured surface for grip like you'd expect to find on a tuning knob but perhaps its a holder. Its marked Aerial?

Im unsure what this is because it's sadly unmarked, but could it be the front cover of a microphone that fitted to the front of an aircrew oxy mask?

A tube of War Time Macleans toothpaste and found near by a toothbrush. It's well marked and the bristles still survive. Another one to add to Whitehunters to get list

.

And finally a great condition WW2 Nivea tin.

Have you ever thought that today the press make such big stories on the so called new confident men of today. Who preen themselves and put on face cream etc. Well this obviously isn't anything new because 60 to 70 years ago men from both hostile sides seemed to be slapping the stuff on. This particular Nivea tin was recovered from a former British WW2 Airfield but I suppose it could have been a WAAF's but I've also found the tins on British Army WW2 rubbish dumps and even on the front lines in Normandy and the Ardennes and thats not only in the Allied positions the Germans were also at it! All I can think is this company must have been very successful at marketing during WW2 they produced and sold the face cream to both the allied and German forces

Thank you for looking.
LUCKYSTRIKE

**LUCKYSTRIKE** · 05-07-2011, 01:26 AM

Wow thanks m3bobby it seems so obvious now you've pointed it out, thank you for explaning the use so clearly.
All the Best.
LUCKYSTRIKE

**NickW** · 05-07-2011, 09:26 AM

146 is the indicator bar out of a bomb release control panel - it rotates behind the long narrow window to indicate how the bomb aimer has slected to release the ordnance. 148-150 looks like a possible mounting bracket for a machine gun?

**Elliott1940** · 05-07-2011, 09:32 AM

Hi LS - yes, the item with 'container' and jettison' etc is from the bomb distributer panel - you have found a few of these by the looks of things.

I wonder if your name plates came off tools boxes or lockers? Might explain why one has duplicate details if a serviceman moved on to another posting...

Have you considered contacting the Fleet Air Arm Museum?

**Elliott1940** · 05-07-2011, 09:35 AM

Item 153 is a tag from an instrument with a capillary - often oil, temperature or fuel pressure gauges.

The item on the left in 158 is the remains of an idntification switchbox

Great finds - the aluminum is in really good condition

**sebfrench76** · 05-07-2011, 10:03 PM

As a French member,this kind of topic is a great lesson of "professionalism".I 'm still amazed by the quality of your historical researches,and also by the respect you are sharing to everybody here..
Believe me,here in the Frogs land,we really need to copy this kind of relationships in our forums..Bravo,gentlemen!

**LUCKYSTRIKE** · 05-07-2011, 11:47 PM

Thank you guys once again for the extensive information provided in helping to identify some of my recent relic finds.

Nick W,
Thanks for both your recent posts, it now seems so obvious that the ink stamp marking number 35 is not a year but the Quality Control Assessors personal number, but why I didn't think of that I don't know?

Im always learning!
Its great you confirmed the indicator bar is from a bomb release panel, as you probably saw I found one the same day although they weren't together. (I'll post pictures of it when Ive finished its clean up). And a possible mounting bracket for a MG thats exciting news hopefully I can find a picture of one like it in use.
Great Help Mate.

Elliot1940
Yes you're right, I have found two of the Bomb Distributor panels at this site, Im in the process of cleaning the one I found the other day which nicely still retains its switches. Hopefully I can return the indicator bar to its correct position in the latest find.
Well spotted on the lighting identification switch box which Id hidden amongst the lighting relics. I'd realised it was some sort of switch box but not the type so thats great news for me.
And another id on the capillary Instrument Tag too, it makes sense looking at the wording on the tag that it was affixed to important warning capillary systems.
With all of my recent finds Ive decided Im going to treat myself this summer with a visit to the Fleet Air Arm Museum. Its been a few years since I was last there, I guess there wont be any Harriers flying to watch these days

Finally although a lot of the aluminium coming up is in remarkable condition, a fair amount is also coming out corroded covered in the dreaded white powder.
Thanks again mate for all your help.

Hi Sebfrench76
Its nice to hear from you again, thank you for your very kind post. I've personally benefited from the superb help and information provided by the members of the War Relics (World wide) Forum. Its heart warming the amount of time and no doubt trouble it can cause for some who provide their extensive knowledge to try and help to identify other members items, often providing photographs's or links to other websites. I can also say that Ive made some very good friends through this site. As far as Im concerned this forum is a world wide community of like minded Ladies and Gentlemen.
Best Regards.
LUCKYSTRIKE

**LUCKYSTRIKE** · 05-25-2011, 03:23 PM

I haven't posted on this thread for a little while so thought it was time to up date it showing some of the latest finds.

First up are a couple of photographs taken whilst at the site.

I discovered an area of perhaps 10m x 10m where just below the surface the sommerfeld matting still exists and in places even the wire mesh. To see it there just below all the weeds, broken tree trunks and even trees growing through it. It's so very hard to imagine what it must have looked like when it was in use

.

All over the site I seem to discover these, they are what I'd call portable aircraft tie downs rather than the concreted in type. They were used to secure parked aircraft in windy weather. As you can see they used the same sort of design type as the barbed wire piquet posts but are shorter having only one loop hole. I have recovered a couple of slightly different designed ones but the others are left where they are.

Now for the finds, I've found four of these lead discs with a hole in the middle perhaps for holding them on a peg. Each weighs between 8 to 10kg so I wasn't able to carry them all back with my gear on the same day. I was wondering could they be ballast weights for aircraft?
Two of them are marked AGS670 and seem to have a trade mark stamped of a horse. If you have any ideas please let me know.

This relic did well to survive, it is a mild steel thin walled tin, it survived because it still contains it's original contents a silver metalic type of engine grease. Picture 172still shows the grease in place but does not do justice to just how silver shiney it really is. You can also see the wooden board in the bottom of the tin that the grease sits on. But for me perhaps the most remarkably thing about this tin is shown in picture 171. The remains of the tins label to its top can still be descerned.

As you can see from the ruler in the photograph this tubing is quite large, could it perhaps be for exhaust gases from an aero engine. You can see that the centre section has the remains of green paint on it so must have stuck outside of the airframe?

A small alloy hatch, I wouldn't have normally kept this, but this one has a hand engraved label 'GNOL', I cant think what that stands for?

I have already found a couple of these and thought it was some sort of hydraulic ram perhaps for an aileron etc. But this one exhbits its AM ref number as 10B which denotes a use for Radio, Radar or Wireless aerial, mast and insulator equipment.