Window WW2 bomber Normandy

Chrysler73 · Feb 13, 2020

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 · Feb 13, 2020

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 · Feb 13, 2020

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 · Feb 13, 2020

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 · Feb 13, 2020

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 · Feb 13, 2020

MIflyer said:
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 · Feb 13, 2020

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 · Feb 13, 2020

Airframes said:
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 · Feb 13, 2020

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

fubar57 · Feb 13, 2020

B-17G...

Airframes · Feb 13, 2020

Now there's a possible !

Chrysler73 · Feb 14, 2020

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

MiTasol · Feb 14, 2020

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

Chrysler73 · Feb 15, 2020

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

Yes, that was my initial thought to...

MiTasol · Feb 15, 2020

MiTasol said:
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 · Feb 20, 2020

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 · Feb 20, 2020

mjfur said:
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 · Feb 20, 2020

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 · Feb 21, 2020

ODonovan said:
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?

Window WW2 bomber Normandy

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