Help wanted for aircraft door identification.

[Amsterdam]

I have an airplane door, but I can't find out what type of airplane it belongs to.
It's from a crashed plane. The plane came down in Belgium, around the town of "Geel" around 1942.
The door says, "danger when installation incomplete".
The material is aluminum.
Hopefully someone here on the forum can help me out.
I've been looking for the plane that belongs to this door for a long time.
I live in the Netherlands but can't get any further here.

 

[SaparotRob]

Welcome to Thew Forum. I'm looking forward to the replies for your question.

 

[Amsterdam]

Thank you.
Hopefully someone has relevant information for me. I would be very grateful to that person.

 

[MiTasol]

I would put my money on a liferaft compartment door from some aircraft. Give some dimensions and members may be able to help as it is a distinctive shape with that one rounded corner. Look for a part number - that really helps - or inspection stamps which only help if it was not made by a subcontractor

The hole in the one corner is to check the CO2 bottle pressure, and it would have had a clear plastic window fitted.

The saddle is to keep the bottle steady.

The rivets holding the washers are to retain the fabric covering over the pads that stop the frame chaffing the raft.

 

[Amsterdam]

Thank you very much for your contribution!
I think you are absolutely right with your comment that it is a liferaft compartment door.

I looked with a magnifying glass for a part number or an inspection stamp but couldn't find anything.
Maybe it's under the paint somewhere.
I made a drawing, of the door, with the dimensions. However, it is in centimeters.
The hatch is square with no round corners.
One corner looks round, but that's because of the fall that dented it.
Hopefully this will contribute a little bit to get closer to the identification.

 

[Snautzer01]

Crashes allied axis around Gheel.

crashes | battleforthelocks.be

battleforthelocks.be

 

[Airframes]

It's about the right size and design as a Lancaster dinghy hatch cover.

 

[SaparotRob]

This place is amazing.

 

[Amsterdam]

Thank you very much for your input.
I think I found a picture with the hatch on it.
Can you confirm that?

 

[MiTasol]

The full manual is here at Avro Lancaster and Lincoln manuals

 

[fubar57]

Nicely done Terry

 

[Amsterdam]

Thank you very much for helping to identify the hatch.
It says on the hatch that it came down in 1943, written with a marker.
The hatch will most likely belong to the "RAF AVRO Lancaster I W4171 (EM-J)".
It came down on 27-04-1943 on the Volmolenbaan in Mol (courtesy of Snautzer01).
It is known that the population, given the chance, took as many parts as possible from each crashed plane.
The hatch comes from a scrap dealer from the area.
Fortunately, every item that came from the second world war was not destroyed but stored by the scrap dealer. His son, now 87 years old, sold a large part of this to me.
As a 12-year-old boy, the son saw a B-24 come down in his own municipality.
I still have a few aircraft parts that I would like to know which aircraft it came from.
Is it better to create a new topic for this?

 

[Wurger]

The thread seems to come to the end. So please create a new thread for the another parts.

 

[MiTasol]

You are a lucky person getting that collection

I agree that you should post separate threads - there are many here who are very knowledgeable and more than willing to help.

Parts designed for the B-24 are easy to identify if you can find the part number as it will start with the prefix 32 and I think there are B-24 manuals on this forum though I am not positive - most will be linked to Manual Index. Some threads are marked as picture threads and should contain no manuals but this is not always correct as people sometimes post a mix or to the wrong subthread.

 

[MiTasol]

I am just scanning the illustrations for the Lanc parts book and here is your panel

 

[Wurger]

 

[Amsterdam]

Thank you very much for the beautiful illustration.
And for taking the time to upload it.
It is clearly shown in the illustration.

 

[MiTasol]

No problems

We nearly ALL come here to learn and many share some knowledge in return.