Window WW2 bomber Normandy

[Chrysler73]

Hi,
I am new to the forum, and this is my first post There seems to be a lot of very knowledgeable members here, and I hope you can help me with a rather tricky question.
Last summer, when we visited Normandy on a family vacation, we bought a WW2 bomber (maybe?) window from a farmer that had found it while plowing.
It's a really heavy and contact piece, 27kg (!), 55x48cm and 4cm thick and its made up of several layers of some sort of very hard "plastic"...? Unfortuenatly I can not find any markings.
So, I am aware of that this is a diffucult question, but it would be very interesting to know it's origin/type of aircraft and it's former location on the aircraft. Any theories...?

Thanks in advance
JJ

 

[MIflyer]

Layers of plastic? Is that what I presume the end-on pictures show?

I don't know of any WWII aircraft that would have had layers like that.

 

[Chrysler73]

Well, maybe "plastic" is not an entierly correct description (sorry...) as the material is harder and very very heavy, but it doesen't feel like ordinary glas either...?
Yes, that is what the end on pictures tries to show.

 

[stona]

That looks like a piece of 'armoured glass' and from what I can see it could date from WW2.

It doesn't look familiar to me, so I can't suggest what it might have come from.

 

[MIflyer]

Well, if it is not plastic but armored glass, which is what I would expect, it would be the right size for the center armored windshield of a fighter plane, like the later P-47's and P-51's. The P-47's armored glass windshield was reported as being 1.5 inches thick and that looks about right for that part.

Can you put a ruler next to it to give us some dimensions? I am pretty sure it is a fighter plane armored windshield but we might be able to narrow it down a bit more

 

[gumbyk]

Well, if it is not plastic but armored glass, which is what I would expect, it would be the right size for the center armored windshield of a fighter plane, like the later P-47's and P-51's. The P-47's armored glass windshield was reported as being 1.5 inches thick and that looks about right for that part.

Can you put a ruler next to it to give us some dimensions? I am pretty sure it is a fighter plane armored windshield but we might be able to narrow it down a bit more

At 55 x 48 cm isn't it a bit big for a fighter armoured windshield?

 

[Airframes]

If it's P-47, then it would have to be the internal armoured screen on a 'razorback', as it's the wrong shape for the 'bubble top' screen. The curvature suggests it's not from a 'razorback', and the estimated size, just going of the hand / fingers seen in a couple of the pics, seems to indicate that it's larger than a fighter windscreen.
Looks like fairly hefty laminated glass or Perspex, and could possibly be later than WW2.

 

[gumbyk]

If it's P-47, then it would have to be the internal armoured screen on a 'razorback', as it's the wrong shape for the 'bubble top' screen. The curvature suggests it's not from a 'razorback', and the estimated size, just going of the hand / fingers seen in a couple of the pics, seems to indicate that it's larger than a fighter windscreen.
Looks like fairly hefty laminated glass or Perspex, and could possibly be later than WW2.

The OP gave the size as 55cm x 48cm x 4cm thick.

 

[Airframes]

Yep, since saw that. Thought maybe a B-17 nose side window, but doubt it, especially as, AFAIK, they were just plain Perspex.

 

[fubar57]

B-17G...

 

[Airframes]

Now there's a possible !

 

[Chrysler73]

Yes, agree, very interesting pictures! Thanks for all the replys so far

 

[MiTasol]

I was thinking more like a ball turret but could easily be wrong

 

[Chrysler73]

I was thinking more like a ball turret but could easily be wrong

Yes, that was my initial thought to...

 

[MiTasol]

I was thinking more like a ball turret but could easily be wrong

Damn - looked at a ball turret photo yesterday and none of the windows in that looked big enough

 

[mjfur]

Is the part actually 55.00cm x 48.00 cm exactly? The reason I ask is that the US and Britain did not build items using Metric measurements during WWII.
55cm x 48cm converted to inches is 21.653" x 18.897" which would be a very odd measurement size for the US or Britain to use for production purposes.
Can you measure the part as accurately as possible in inches?

If the part is actually 55cm x 48cm, perhaps it has a German origin?

 

[Chrysler73]

Is the part actually 55.00cm x 48.00 cm exactly? The reason I ask is that the US and Britain did not build items using Metric measurements during WWII.
55cm x 48cm converted to inches is 21.653" x 18.897" which would be a very odd measurement size for the US or Britain to use for production purposes.
Can you measure the part as accurately as possible in inches?

If the part is actually 55cm x 48cm, perhaps it has a German origin?

Interesting theory! Yes, the measurement are correct and exact. The thickness are also correct in the present state, but here it might be a missing "layer"? The piece is really "bruised and battered" and the original thickness might (?) have been slightly thicker.

 

[ODonovan]

I wonder if it isn't from an HE-111. Those things were COVERED with window panels, both on the nose and on the fuselage, a number of which were about that size and slightly curved. In this image, I'm looking at the center panel in the center row, the row that matches up with the green fuselage and has a blue (or partly blue) frame piece below it. It might not be that one, but there are quite a few other candidates to choose from.

-Irish

 

[Chrysler73]

I wonder if it isn't from an HE-111. Those things were COVERED with window panels, both on the nose and on the fuselage, a number of which were about that size and slightly curved. In this image, I'm looking at the center panel in the center row, the row that matches up with the green fuselage and has a blue (or partly blue) frame piece below it. It might not be that one, but there are quite a few other candidates to choose from.-Irish

View attachment 570636
Yes, I agree! But the window is "extremely" heavy and massive, "bulletproof".... Were cockpit and frontal windows, on bombers for example, usually this massive and thick? Quite a heavy construction?