Found on Northumberland (UK) beach. Can you help identify please.

[special ed]

The cotter pin did seem to stainless and the pulley appeared to be non metallic (phenolic ?) with a piece of cable still in it.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

The cotter pin did seem to stainless and the pulley appeared to be non metallic (phenolic ?) with a piece of cable still in it.

Most pulleys are phenollic. Sometimes you will see them made out of metal, and even wood.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

I agree with FlyboyJ, that is definitely for an aircraft. You can even see where the rivet tails were imprinted around the holes where they pulled through.

The oval stamp also looks like a British QC stamp. The ink might have been corrosive, but looks stamped. Metal stamping on aluminum sheetmetal primary structure was a no-no in the US because of fatigue but you see it a lot in the British warbirds. Bristol & Hawker QC stamps were oval. DeHavilland, Supermarine seem to have round. Hawker had both. Often the first two letters designated the make or system.

If US made, another clue could be found on the bolt heads. Are there any symbols/bumps legible on them?

Both the US and Britain used black primer in places as well, particularly in areas where glare might be an issue. There's a few pics of the Hudson with black primer, but hard to say if it was original in those cases.

I enjoy donning my tin hat!

There were inks (and still are) that were/ are non corrosive. The stamp its typical with several manufactures

 

[FLYBOYJ]

For a shear nut like that, it is common to see either way on US planes (Fig 7-7). I guess it depends on who you work for as a mechanic.

View attachment 526135

I've seen the AN320's used a lot as well and in those cases I would use the alternate (as in Fig7-7). Did the British use stainless steel on their cotter pins?
View attachment 526136

There were a lot of Douglas C-47s (DC-3s) used during the invasion as well. Still leaning with the gurus above towards British though.

Not sure if I helped much but I sure enjoyed it. Good fun.

Excellent - AC 43-13 is a standard in US. When you'e becoming an A&P you'll become very familiar with this publication.

 

[Dave Welch]

On closer inspection of the oval stamp I can make out a W with what appears to be part of an A before it followed be 3 other digits.. Its probably an Armstrong Whitworth inspection stamp. See attached. This would coincide with a crash of an AW Whitley V which crashed just a few miles down the coast.

From a UK forum;

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk V night bomber; one of a batch of 157 delivered between February and July 1942] Crashed in sea on navex near Holy Island, Northumberland, 19.8.42. (1)

`Friday 19th August 1942, 1546hrs. Whitley Mk V BD233 of 3 OTU RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire, was carrying out a navigational exercise when it approached Low Newton from the sea. It then turned north towards Beadnell beach, passing low over Links House, crashing just south of the Long Nanny burn...As it careered over the dunes and sand it cut a pathway through the rough grass, totally breaking up in the progress [sic].

`Crew: 1186862 Sgt Stanley John Collett, pilot; 1190114 Sgt Bernard Richard Ridett, 2nd pilot. All 6 crew were killed.

`Note: A lady residing locally at the time of the crash recalled the following facts:- "The aircraft had a large section of ship's mast and chain entangled in one undercarriage leg, which was seen to be hanging down before the crash. The pilot had also been wounded in one eye by a bullet."

`I [the author] think a possible explanation of the crash could be, the Whitley had been fired on by friendly naval vessels, as it flew too close to them.

The area is now a reserve for a breeding colony of Little Terns. A very peaceful place. RIP.

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff, and a beautiful area.
From childhood (in the 1950's) until around 20 years ago, I used to spend summer and / or whatever spare time I had, at Warkworth, and often visited the Beadnell area. I must be getting old, as I can remember the Hunters, out of Acklington, live firing over the sea !

 

[FluxCapacitance]

Nice work Dave. There's a handful of images online showing large portions of the interior fuselage in black primer.

Behind the interest there's always the sobering fact that airmen died.

Would love to visit there someday.

 

[Dave Welch]

Good stuff, and a beautiful area.
From childhood (in the 1950's) until around 20 years ago, I used to spend summer and / or whatever spare time I had, at Warkworth, and often visited the Beadnell area. I must be getting old, as I can remember the Hunters, out of Acklington, live firing over the sea !

Nice work Dave. There's a handful of images online showing large portions of the interior fuselage in black primer.

Behind the interest there's always the sobering fact that airmen died.

Would love to visit there someday.

The Northumberland coast is spectacular and is probably the least visited of our National Parks. Plenty of places to visit including Bamburgh Castle which actually has an aviation artefacts museum dedicated to Lord Armstrong. In 1997 a wheel was found in the dunes and was donated. Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Thanks for the link to the Whitley which shows plenty of control cables!

Hope to see you sometime.

Dave

 

[Airframes]

One endearing and lasting memory of Bamburgh castle was back in the 1980s, whilst walking up the approach to the main gate.
It was a nice, sunny day, but with a typical sea fret, and the noise of jet engines could be heard, approaching from the sea. Out of the mist, at around 800 to 1,000 feet, suddenly popped a German F-4 Phantom, followed closely by a RAF Phantom, intent on a mock 'kill', directly over the castle ramparts.
Seconds later, they were both lost from view, back up in the sea mist.

 

[Dave Welch]

One endearing and lasting memory of Bamburgh castle was back in the 1980s, whilst walking up the approach to the main gate.
It was a nice, sunny day, but with a typical sea fret, and the noise of jet engines could be heard, approaching from the sea. Out of the mist, at around 800 to 1,000 feet, suddenly popped a German F-4 Phantom, followed closely by a RAF Phantom, intent on a mock 'kill', directly over the castle ramparts.
Seconds later, they were both lost from view, back up in the sea mist.

Why is it that those fleeting glimpses are always the ones that last.
I do miss the variety of aircraft we had then.
Dave

 

[Airframes]

Yep, me too - Buccaneers, Jaguars, Phantoms, plus lots of NATO stuff, low over the sea and beaches, and one other memory, of two USAF F-111s, splitting to avoid Warkworth castle !

 

[T-dog]

Hi All
It would be great if all marine and beach finds could be recorded here: Welcome to the MAS There's an online portal or an app to help do this.
The idea is to create a database of all marine artefacts - including aircraft material - for public and academic study and interest.
Thanks for your consideration.
Toby

 

[elliott1940]

Hello - I was interested to see this. I run a project to rebuild a WW2 RAF Whitley bomber. Dave your pulley is from a WW2 British aircraft - It does look like it may even be from a Whitley. Some someone mentioned, the black paint does hint at a British bomber.

Can I recommend something? Get some wire wool or some intermediate grade sand paper (230 grit) and gently rub any numbers and stamps you can see. Once you have a better idea of what they are I can probably ID which aircraft it came from for you.

 

[MiTasol]

Hello - I was interested to see this. I run a project to rebuild a WW2 RAF Whitley bomber. Dave your pulley is from a WW2 British aircraft - It does look like it may even be from a Whitley. Some someone mentioned, the black paint does hint at a British bomber.

Can I recommend something? Get some wire wool or some intermediate grade sand paper (230 grit) and gently rub any numbers and stamps you can see. Once you have a better idea of what they are I can probably ID which aircraft it came from for you.

Scotchbrite pads or the kitchen equivalent work well also

 

[MiTasol]

On closer inspection of the oval stamp I can make out a W with what appears to be part of an A before it followed be 3 other digits.. Its probably an Armstrong Whitworth inspection stamp. See attached. This would coincide with a crash of an AW Whitley V which crashed just a few miles down the coast.

From a UK forum;

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley Mk V night bomber; one of a batch of 157 delivered between February and July 1942] Crashed in sea on navex near Holy Island, Northumberland, 19.8.42. (1)

`Friday 19th August 1942, 1546hrs. Whitley Mk V BD233 of 3 OTU RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire, was carrying out a navigational exercise when it approached Low Newton from the sea. It then turned north towards Beadnell beach, passing low over Links House, crashing just south of the Long Nanny burn...As it careered over the dunes and sand it cut a pathway through the rough grass, totally breaking up in the progress [sic].

`Crew: 1186862 Sgt Stanley John Collett, pilot; 1190114 Sgt Bernard Richard Ridett, 2nd pilot. All 6 crew were killed.

`Note: A lady residing locally at the time of the crash recalled the following facts:- "The aircraft had a large section of ship's mast and chain entangled in one undercarriage leg, which was seen to be hanging down before the crash. The pilot had also been wounded in one eye by a bullet."

`I [the author] think a possible explanation of the crash could be, the Whitley had been fired on by friendly naval vessels, as it flew too close to them.

The area is now a reserve for a breeding colony of Little Terns. A very peaceful place. RIP.
View attachment 526198

I just opened the attachment with the inspection stamps and there is one glaring error in it. The stamp labelled Curtiss is a standard Heat Treated stamp used by many manufacturers.

One lesser error is the stamp labelled Lockheed is actually the Vega aircraft stamp - they mainly built Lockheed aircraft but also B-17s. If I can find a Lockheed one I will post it later

 

[MiTasol]

Hello - I was interested to see this. I run a project to rebuild a WW2 RAF Whitley bomber. Dave your pulley is from a WW2 British aircraft - It does look like it may even be from a Whitley. Some someone mentioned, the black paint does hint at a British bomber.

Sounds like a great project - how about some more info or a link to a web page on the project

Can I recommend something? Get some wire wool or some intermediate grade sand paper (230 grit) and gently rub any numbers and stamps you can see. Once you have a better idea of what they are I can probably ID which aircraft it came from for you.

In post 17 there is the number 536586 which may be the part number you are seeking.

Post 11 says Metal stamping on aluminum sheetmetal primary structure was a no-no in the US because of fatigue This is NOT correct. All US manufacturers of the day stamped part and serial numbers into the majority of sheet metal parts.

 

[s1chris]

Hello - I was interested to see this. I run a project to rebuild a WW2 RAF Whitley bomber. Dave your pulley is from a WW2 British aircraft - It does look like it may even be from a Whitley. Some someone mentioned, the black paint does hint at a British bomber.

Can I recommend something? Get some wire wool or some intermediate grade sand paper (230 grit) and gently rub any numbers and stamps you can see. Once you have a better idea of what they are I can probably ID which aircraft it came from for you.

Randomly this morning I was looking for an update on your Whitley rebuild project.
I do hope that one day you can get It finished.

Living in Coventry and spending time in and out of one of the current occupiers of sites at Whitley and Baggington always gets me thinking about the Whitley and the lack of one in existence.
Would be nice to think that the tail section on display at the Midlands air museum could be put to good use on your build.

 

[pbehn]

One endearing and lasting memory of Bamburgh castle was back in the 1980s, whilst walking up the approach to the main gate.
It was a nice, sunny day, but with a typical sea fret, and the noise of jet engines could be heard, approaching from the sea. Out of the mist, at around 800 to 1,000 feet, suddenly popped a German F-4 Phantom, followed closely by a RAF Phantom, intent on a mock 'kill', directly over the castle ramparts.
Seconds later, they were both lost from view, back up in the sea mist.

I attended a summer garden party at the house of Brigadier Wilson of Middleton, North Yorkshire in the late sixties/early seventies. A Phantom went over the garden party, this was before the 200ft limit, I remember the whistling sound which I was familiar with and then the ear slitting roar as it passed over completely filling the sky above. Most of all I remember that no one took any notice, they just waited for the sound to subside before carrying on with their Yorkshire village life conversations. He was a real gent, more proud of his goldfish pond than any war memories from what I saw he loved showing us kids around his garden. Brigadier William Branfoot Wilson, OBE (1907-1980)...

 

[cvairwerks]

Re: the Vega stamp...Vega was wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed from the time it was set up.

 

[MiTasol]

Re: the Vega stamp...Vega was wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed from the time it was set up.

Yes but they had their own stamps as did all other manufacturers - which is why Curtiss built P-47s had Curtiss stamps etc - and each plant had its own stamps
Curtiss stamps were