Relic Battle Of Britain Spitfire .303 Browning.

**Falschirmjager** · 06-01-2010, 06:10 PM

Heres the relic Battle of Britain .303 inch Browning machine gun i have in the collection. Now this was amongst a few items of wreckage originally caught up in fishing nets north of the Isle Of Wight by a local fisherman back in 1958. The only other piece of wreckage that was retained with this Browning was the wing tip section later positively identified as belonging to an RAF Supermarine Spitfire fighter. Sadly the wing tip was given away soon after so havent a clue to the whereabouts of this now. The gun was taken to a registered firearms and antique gun restoration expert in Cornwall a few weeks later where the ocean verdigris was removed. It was found that some of the internal parts were either missing or broken and the barrell completely blocked, though a weld plug was put inside the barrell. The son of the fisherman who found this gun only rediscovered it in his fathers garage after his death from a stroke in 1997 and not being interested in these things decided to sell it to a dealer in January 2010. He did say that numerous people did offer his father money for it but each offer was declined. All it needs now is a wire brush over it and some WD40 and it will clean up beautifully which i intend to do on my week off next week! The metal work is nice and solid though it needs the pin in the top to hold the two parts of casing together. It only cost me £175 and once mounted etc will look super. Heres the pics.

**shadowwolf** · 06-01-2010, 06:20 PM

Tim,

Regards, Simon.

**LUCKYSTRIKE** · 06-01-2010, 06:30 PM

Tim,
What a wonderful and unique relic you have there I love it. It should clean up a treat.
It shouldn't be too difficult to research the aircraft that this came from, I doubt too many Spits ended up in the Solent between the Isle of Wight, Southampton Water and Portsmouth?.
I look forward to seeing how your resto comes along, please take a few pics along the way.
All the Best.
LUCKYSTRIKE

**GasMasksUK** · 06-01-2010, 06:31 PM

This is a truely awesome relic, I can't wait to see it all cleaned up

pity about the history of it being pretty vague though...then again we can't have everything

Thanks for showing

Danny

**Walkwolf** · 06-01-2010, 06:32 PM

Wonderful find........

It will clean up nicely !

**381st digger** · 06-01-2010, 06:35 PM

Well done Tim

Keep us up to date on the cleaning job. How are you going to attack it? And allso are you going to try and strip it right down and get the rust off the inside or just leave it How it is (out of site out of mind)
Andy

**Falschirmjager** · 06-01-2010, 06:39 PM

by shadowwolf

Tim,

Regards, Simon.

Cheers Simon! Love this item!

**Falschirmjager** · 06-01-2010, 06:44 PM

by LUCKYSTRIKE

Tim,
What a wonderful and unique relic you have there I love it. It should clean up a treat.
It shouldn't be too difficult to research the aircraft that this came from, I doubt too many Spits ended up in the Solent between the Isle of Wight, Southampton Water and Portsmouth?.
I look forward to seeing how your resto comes along, please take a few pics along the way.
All the Best.
LUCKYSTRIKE

Reading up on things i found that Flt.Lt John Dundas's Spitfire went down into the sea in this area seconds after he shot down the Luftwaffe 'Ace' Helmut Wick!!! Wicks wingman swept in behind Dundas and just as he shouted "Ive got a 109" he was shot down the wingman sent him into the sea too. So there is one big possible and if only it could be proved to be from that action wow!! I will certainly take some pics as its cleaned up as it will look so much better once its been given a good clean up and treated etc. Cheers loads, Tim.

**Falschirmjager** · 06-01-2010, 06:57 PM

by GasMasksUK

This is a truely awesome relic, I can't wait to see it all cleaned up

pity about the history of it being pretty vague though...then again we can't have everything

Thanks for showing

Danny

Having gone into the sea is allways a bit sad though having said that i have read that Flt.Lt John Dundas went into the sea north of the isle of Wight after shooting down the Luftwaffe Ace Helmut Wick. Sadly for Dundas Wicks wingman put paid to him almost instantly afterwards and so followed Wick into the sea. This is only guesswork but imagine it it was from Dundas's Spitfire!!! It will look great cleaned up and at £175 was a bargain. The guy i bought it off just wanted it gone as he wasnt interested in it at all and it had been in his fathers garage/workshop in a sack. I will certainly do this item justice as it deserves and once cleaned up properly next week will look superb. Thanks Danny and best regards, Tim.

**Falschirmjager** · 06-01-2010, 07:00 PM

by 381st digger

Well done Tim

Keep us up to date on the cleaning job. How are you going to attack it? And allso are you going to try and strip it right down and get the rust off the inside or just leave it How it is (out of site out of mind)
Andy

Hi Andy, It will only need light cleaning with a soft wire brush and some WD40. I might treat the metal with Kurust afterwards to protect it further. I will do it inside and out and make proper job of it. Some of the internal parts are seperated but can be mounted on a big display along with the gun where it should look great. Will post pics when the jobs done mate. Cheers Loads, Tim.