Originally Posted by
megan
If I were to hazard a guess I'd say your first image in post #187 is a piece of spar with the partial remains of two ribs attached, the holes in the ribs being lightening holes. Anyone is just shooting in the dark trying to assess what such an object may be, and mine is similarly nothing but a wild ass guess on which I would not place money.
That was my initial thought. The ribs are 7.5" OC, and that looks about right to be the distance between those uprights. The only place in the ribs that has holes of any kind appears to be the leading edge, with holes for the de-icing piping. The remainder of the ribs have diagonal bracing all the way back. But the cutout for de-icing is much larger and not at all circular. It's really up for grabs, which is why I put it out for opinions.
Here's a drawing of the leading edge.
https://ibb.co/b1k1f6
Re the object on the tracks that you suggest is an engine - I'm in complete agreement with G0ULI that it definitely is not an engine, but a piece of wing skinning.
I understand that finding engine four there seems pretty unlikely; I don't fault anyone for thinking it's something else. Paraphrasing Sherlock, if you rule out the impossible you're left with the truth even though it seems improbable.
Looking at the impact scar (page 41) and the scar across the railway tracks could you please explain what it means in terms of angle of bank. The video supplied by cordwainer is illustrative in this regard as well.
Nothing on page 41 says anything to me about the bank angle. Proving the bank angle from the railroad track comes from solving the riddle of engine four. The speed was judged from prop strikes on the track. If engine four was lost at the track, the prop must have been number three. Since the right wing was intact nearly to engine four, prop three can't touch the ground at anything more than about 35 degrees.