While I am taking photographs of aircraft and military vehicles, there are also photo`s to be had of the equipment the armed forces use. Here are some of those photo`s.
1 TON WORKS TRUCK ( LISTER ).
Used throughout maintenance depots, this vehicle is powered by a single cylinder J.A.P petrol engine. Other versions are powered by a Lister diesel engine. An unusual feature of this vehicle is that it uses a drip feed oil system from a separate oil tank over the engine.
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AIRFIELD DEFENCE.
This Armstrong Whitworth turret fitted with a 0.303 browning machine gun was positioned at the top of a narrow building at RAF Tollerton,, adjacent to their main hanger. The turret was reached from inside the tall building by a series of ladders. The gunner sat on a cycle seat and could rotate the turret by the use of cycle pedals and a gear assembly. How effective this was in use we have never found out.
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RAPIER - Ground to air missile optical tracker unit.
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SEARCHLIGHT.
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THE ANDERSON AIR RAID SHELTER.
Designed in 1938 and named after Sir John Anderson who was the man responsible for preparing Britain to withstand German air raids. They were designed for six people and formed from six curved corrugated steel panels to form the roof with flat panels for the ends. They were buried over one metre in the ground and covered with soil. They were free to those with an annual income of less than £250, for those who did not fall into this category, the price was £7. Approximately 3.5 million Anderson shelters were built either before the war had started or during the conflict.
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RFC MOBILE WORKSHOP. ( first world war ).
During the first world war the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) which in 1918 became the Royal Air Force (RAF) often operated out of simple temporary airfields. These did not have permanent buildings and facilities like the ones you see at major airfields. The squadrons therefore relied on vehicle mounted equipment that could be moved from one location to another. Each squadron had twelve three ton Leyland lorries, including four with workshops for repair and maintenance work which could be based at the airfield or go out to crashed aircraft. This workshop was equipped with power tools, a lathe, drills and a grinder, as well as a wide selection of hand tools. Power was provided by a small Austin engine.
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EJECTION SEAT.
Martin - Baker ejection seat MK9B.
Ejection seats allow aircrew to escape quickly in an emergency. British company Martin Baker are world leaders in ejection seat technology. Martin Baker ejection seats haved saved over 7,100 lives. An ejection seat is propelled out of an aircraft by an explosive charge or rocket motor. Once clear of the aircraft, a parachute opens and the seat and crew person descend to the ground.
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THE WATCH OFFICE.
This is a reconstruction of part of a building known as the watch office in the 1930`s and early 1940`s. The room would be manned by a duty pilot and his assistant. The duty pilot recorded the aeroplanes that arrived and departed in a log. He kept in contact by telephone with other airfields, so that he knew when aircraft would be arriving. He had a list of duties which needed to be carried out each day to ensure that the airfield could remain open. The job of duty pilot was normally shared between the pilots on the station. This reconstruction is of Duxford watch office before the control tower was built.
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CHRYSLER A57 MULTIBANK ENGINE.
This engine powered the Sherman M4A4 Tank during the second world war. Five 6 - cylinder car engines were meshed to a central drive gear, producing an output of 445 horsepower.
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DROP CONTAINER TYPE C.
USAAF and RAF bombers did not only drop bombs on German occupied Europe. They also dropped weapons and other supplies to Resistance fighters, in parachute drop containers. As a single section drop container, the type C was typically packed with submachine guns or rifles, ammunition, grenades, explosives, radios, other small equipment, clothing and footwear. Between January and September 1944, the 801st/492nd ( special operations ) bomb group based at Harrington, Northamptonshire, nicknamed the `The Carpetbaggers` delivered 18,535 containers of supplies to resistance groups in France. The group operated B - 24 Liberators and C - 47 Skytrains for both supply and agent dropping.
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FRAZER NASH TYPE FN - 120 TAIL TURRET.
A lightweight version of the FN-20, typical of the four gun tail turrets fitted to many British bombers and flying boats during the second world war. This particular turret was installed in a Vickers Wellington MK X Bomber. This particular turret had four Browning 0.303 inch machine guns.
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RECONNAISSANCE CAMERA TYPE B.
This advanced camera is one of only 25 ever built. It was designed by a team led by Edwin Land, inventor of the Polaroid camera. The `B` camera was designed in secret for the U - 2 project in 1954-5. It was capable of photographing details smaller than a metre wide from over 11.8 miles high. Especially thin film was used; over a mile of it could be carried on each flight. Two strips of film were fed across the lens simultaneously from two drums on opposite sides of the camera. This preserved the aircrafts centre of gravity, ensuring it could fly smoothly. Four thousand images were produced on each flight, each image covering an area over 3.7 miles square.
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RELIANCE BOAC TRACTOR.
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HEAVY DROP.
This item of military equipment were all parachuted or carried by gliders into combat.
JEEP
This vehicle is a jeep made ready to be dropped by parachute from a Halifax, and later Hastings aircraft. The system shown here was used by the Special Air Service in the last year of the war and also used in action in Suez in 1956. Fitted in the rear of the vehicle are four 12.8 metres ( 42 feet ) diameter parachutes forming a cluster. The jeep is supported by a cable from a position between the two front seats, which is the centre of gravity, allowing the vehicle to remain in a level position during descent.
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MACHINE GUN / FOX HOLE.
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ARGENTINIAN FIELD KITCHEN.
The field kitchen is a far more important piece of military equipment than is appreciated. Troops fed hot food are far more efficient than those who are not. They are built simply and ruggedly but serve their purpose.
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Interesting items here. Of all the shows I have watched on the History Channel and others I have never seen anything on the Anderson Air Raid Shelter. Learn something new everyday! The Argentine Field Kitchen is neat. That first Air Defense setup seems like it might have been fairly awkward to work with being pedal operated and so on. I think I would have preferred the electric operated ones. That Type B camera is something else. A lot bigger than I would ever have imagined. Some of the pieces here I am familiar with such as the way Jeeps were parachuted. This is neat stuff. And of course the photographer did a good job! Love this stuff, Les!
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