Historical Renovation

[Paul G]

A customer / mate of mine is into wartime aeroplanes, in particular the USAF.
He lives close to what used to be a WW2 airfield where B17's were stationed,
and has has a wealth of knowledge, not only of the airfield but of the Flying Fortress itself.

He has traced crash sites and retrieved parts of planes, which if possible he restores to their former glory.
(This is done with the full knowledge and permission of the relevant authorities)

The present project to which he has asked me to help with are nose gun mounts.
These were from a B17 that ditched into an estuary, but apparently water is solid when hit at speed
and the metal was torn and twisted almost beyond recognition.
We have saved the original castings and I have made the box sections and tapered bushes,
and as far as I know it's back to how it was.

I would guess that these were gas welded, but I cheated and used the TIG.


If these could talk I wonder what tales they could tell of the hero's that gave all.

Cheers,
Paul G

 

[penfold]

Neat bit of work; well done.

 

[Welderpaul]

Nice. Things like that are very tactile i find, like you say, if only they could talk.

What does he do with them when they have been restored?

 

[Paul G]

Nice. Things like that are very tactile i find, like you say, if only they could talk.

What does he do with them when they have been restored?

Well a blade broken from the prop hub and bent double in the impact
hangs on his sitting room wall.
It's an impressive conversation piece.

The rear "pumpkin" complete with guns will eventually be mounted on a trailer and be taken to air shows.


Cheers,
Paul G

 

[MattF]

Hope you don't mind me going off on a slight tangent, but with you mentioning you know someone who's into WWII aircraft... Any chance you could ask your mate if he has any idea what these were used in or for?

It's a Homelite generator, which I think is WWII era, but never been able to get much info on it, bar hints that it was airfield related.

 

[brightspark]

Hope you don't mind me going off on a slight tangent, but with you mentioning you know someone who's into WWII aircraft... Any chance you could ask your mate if he has any idea what these were used in or for?

It's a Homelite generator, which I think is WWII era, but never been able to get much info on it, bar hints that it was airfield related.

is it flatbelt drive and what voltage ?? ac or dc

 

[madkayaker]

Nice. Things like that are very tactile i find, like you say, if only they could talk.

What does he do with them when they have been restored?

When he gets enough bits he is going for a fly!

 

[MattF]

is it flatbelt drive and what voltage ?? ac or dc

If I recall correctly, the output is 48V DC. It's a 2 stroke petrol. Bit of a weird design, with the cylinder head being at the bottom. Rope or battery start, I seem to think, if memory serves me well. One of the switches allows it to start from the battery bank it's charging.

 

[Robotstar5]

Might be an APU (auxilliary power unit) keeps the batteries charged if the aircraft is away from the ground power units.

 

[the snooper]

just been looking on google and a page came up suggesting they are aircraft auxilliary units and are 110v at 400Hz it also suggests they would run on avgas with an octane rating of 90 to 100

 

[MattF]

just been looking on google and a page came up suggesting they are aircraft auxilliary units and are 110v at 400Hz it also suggests they would run on avgas with an octane rating of 90 to 100

They're of similar design on the engine side, (the cylinder is at the top on those rather than at the bottom as with this one), but a have a completely different backend generator section. Did have one of those sat here until recently too. Had to get rid of that one though as I seriously needed the space. They also have a 48V DC output too.

Might be an APU (auxilliary power unit) keeps the batteries charged if the aircraft is away from the ground power units.

That's what I'm thinking it is, but the last few times I've looked, I've never been able to find any info other than really vague reference to this specific unit.

 

[FranV8]

Paul looks great compared to the mangled and corroded pieces that work originated from.

As for the Homelite, homelite apu generator yielded some good hits on the most popular search engine. Seems they were used for all sorts, the example I found was as an APU for a B17.

 

[penfold]

B29s had an APU. It was the APU that set fire to that B29 that was being rescued from the Greenland icecap; the rubber mounts on the fuel tank failed(understandable for 50yr old rubber) and the tank emptied itself over the running engine.

 

[wookie]

Rope or battery start, I seem to think, if memory serves me well. One of the switches allows it to start from the battery bank it's charging.

Sounds right, I have a WWII single cylinder 12volt battery charging set with this feature, as long as the battery to be charged isn't completely flat, you press the button that allows the power from the battery though the dynamo and it acts as a motor and starts the engine.

very simple and rather clever

 

[MattF]

Were the ones seen mentioned of the same type? The ones for the B class bombers which I've seen always look to be of a completely different style. Unless there were several different units onboard?

Sounds right, I have a WWII single cylinder 12volt battery charging set with this feature, as long as the battery to be charged isn't completely flat, you press the button that allows the power from the battery though the dynamo and it acts as a motor and starts the engine.

very simple and rather clever

Never actually fired it up yet, but wouldn't mind trying the battery start option when I eventually do. Probably be in another ten years or so.