landing gear of what type of aircraft

[MiTasol]

Good work - that certainly looks like a Wellington gear though the size still bothers me. Unfortunately the dimensions you provided did not help as the critical dimensions are those I marked and the diameter of the two oleo pistons. Based on the photo with your finger this is way too small but maybe that is just the angle the photo was taken from. Based on the 42 inch dimension you provided this is a much larger aircraft than I expected. Many members of this forum are bilingual in measurements so metric or inferial is fine.

If by On the drawing inside the circled area you mean items 3 and 5 in this drawing then items 3 are the compressed air hoses that supply air to the brakes and items 5 are the brakes.

The drawing below is of a typical Dunlop pnuematic brake from a smaller aircraft. The Wellington used the same system except larger (with more pads).

 

[spijkerfestijn]

I've measured the gear again. I'll hope this is the information you've asked for.

 

[MiTasol]

Thanks spijkerfestijn.
From those numbers we can conclude that the tyres on that undercarriage will have a maximum diameter of about 1 metre/40 inches and a maximum width around 40 cm/16 inches which seems about right for the Wellington going by photos. Crimea River appears to have some good tech on the Wellington so he will be able to confirm that.

I had hoped my 1938 Janes might have the wheel/tyre size but unfortunately not.

 

[Crimea_River]

Sorry, I have no info on the tire size.

 

[dick56]

Thanks for the reaction nuuumannn. We only know it was found somewhere on the Northsea. There it was picked up by a Fishingtrawler. They knew about our museum in they decide to keep it on board so they could hand it over. Perhaps they have a record of the place were they were fishing at that moment. I already did a quickscan in the aircraft losses but without coordinates I thinks it's impossible to do. Instead of display the name of the aircraft and the aircrew we will show a short article about the Vickers Wellington aircraft in general and their function within Bomber and Coastal Command.

Didn,t the DC-3 have a similar landing gear?

 

[spijkerfestijn]

Yesterday we did some more cleaning and research. The gear was found before the coast of Oostende.
There are a number of crashes reported over there. Perhaps we can narrow that down if we can get the precise location

 

[T-dog]

Hi, Great find. It would be helpful if you could report this find through the Marine Antiquities Scheme (Welcome to the MAS).

 

[MiTasol]

Yesterday we did some more cleaning and research. The gear was found before the coast of Oostende.
There are a number of crashes reported over there. Perhaps we can narrow that down if we can get the precise location
View attachment 579511

Congratulations on an excellent clean up.
That looks in remarkably good condition considering its age and being in the sea all that time.

 

[ThomasP]

Hey spijkerfestijn,

I am pretty sure the part numbers 28516, 28550 indicate the gear is from the Wellington Mk I/IA/IC or Mk II series. The part number 40650 indicates it is from a Mk II airframe. If I am correct then I can only find one Mk II that went down in that area off shore.

RAF 158 Sqdn Wellington Mk II W5482 was lost off Oostende on the night of 10/11 April 1942 during a Nickels mission to Lille. It went down about 8 km off shore. There were no survivors.

 

[spijkerfestijn]

Thanks for this information. A friend of mine already found in the book Aircraft Wrecks that the number 285 in a partnumber reflects to Wellington. (Aircraft Wrecks). We were still seaching for other partnumber information found on the gear
I had several other possible crashes in that area. If your information about the versions is correct it seems there is only one left.
* Vickers Wellington MK IC L7793 - May 26 -1940 (37 Sqdn) (this one crashed near Ostend but on land
* Vickers Wellington Mk II W5482 - April 11 - 1942 (158 Sqdn)
* Vickers Wellington MK IC Z1379 - April 15 - 1942 (301 Sqdn)

 

[ThomasP]

Hey spijkerfestijn,

If it is any help, the part number 29850 on the last picture you posted also indicates a Mk II airframe.

 

[spijkerfestijn]

If it is any help, the part number 29850 on the last picture you posted also indicates a Mk II airframe.

Thomas, Were do you find the information about these partnumbers and related airframes? We searched for days en only found a remark in a book about the 285 prefix

 

[MiTasol]

Hey spijkerfestijn,

If it is any help, the part number 29850 on the last picture you posted also indicates a Mk II airframe.

Fantastic information. Does this mean you have a parts catalogue/listing or interchangeable parts list? If so can you post it for others to use when they find Wellington parts

 

[spijkerfestijn]

Mitasol
Some weeks ago you posted a drawing of the landinggear with a lot of number around it. I'm making a report of where we found partnumbers. It would help if I could use this drawing and give some explanation on the parts I discribe. Could you post or sent me the partnames that match these numbers or give me an indication were to search?

 

[Crimea_River]

If you mean the drawing that you reposted in post #22, then I did that one.

1. Front transverse frame
2. Undercarriage hinge
3. Brake piping
4. Oleo cylinder
5. Brake drums
6. Towing eye
7. Safety rod
8. Backstay hinge
9. Door stop
10. Lower backstay
11. Upper backstay
12. Backstay yoke
13. Rear transverse frame
14. Operating jack

 

[spijkerfestijn]

Sorry for asking the wrong person. I give you all a quick update we have retrieved some information from the national archives (there is a free download period at the moment) in which we found some information. We discovered the pilot was buried in Amsterdam on the 8th of June 1942. (We are now investigating were his body was found. Sadly the information we have is very incomplete. We found also information about some of the crew members. Because the navigator joined the crew just a few days before the crash we assume the nickelling mission was flown as a practice for missions in Germany. The ORB are in very bad shape so we can't read all the info. It seems they were the last plane that left for Lille and were not heard after takeoff. We still looking for the source that states the plane crashed 8 km out off Ostend. I'll hope to find the AC lost card soon perhaps there is some useful information on that.

 

[MiTasol]

Thank you for the update and the additional information you are providing and I wish you well with completing the puzzle.
You say we have retrieved some information from the national archives (there is a free download period at the moment). Can you advise which archives and the web address as others may like to take advantage of the free period as well.

 

[ThomasP]

Hey spijkerfestijn,

Hope this helps:

"search T/R number"

IMO the website "SGLO crash database" (on which the above is located) is one of the best sources in existence for this type of information.

Also "http://www.harringtonmuseum.org.uk/...-on-Allied-Forces-Special-Duty-Operations.pdf"

The .pdf document is searchable.

 

[spijkerfestijn]

You say we have retrieved some information from the national archives (there is a free download period at the moment). Can you advise which archives and the web address as others may like to take advantage of the free period as well.

You can download ORB's and other information from the site of the National Archive in KEW. you only have to register and you can request up to 50 scanned documents without costs
Discovery | The National Archives Not al information is available but it's enough to make a start. I have been in KEW earlier whilst doing research for a Lancaster Bomber that crashed near our village. We had to find out the flightroute. Sadly these information is not available for download at the moment.

 

[MiTasol]

Thank you