Bristol Blenheim Part

[JW411]

A Belgian friend has been involved with researching the demise of a Blenheim. Small parts of wreckage have been found including this part which bears the stamp of a Bristol inspector (B472). Does anyone out there have any idea what part of a Blenheim this is? I have tried the Bristol Collection at Filton but they sadly do not have a Blenheim parts catalogue. Could it be an aerodynamic balance weight from a control surface or perhaps a part from a Bristol Mercury aero engine?

[DaveReidUK]

Some idea of scale would be helpful.

[spekesoftly]

Perhaps John Romain and his team at ARCo Duxford could help?

[JW411]

DaveReidUK:

I shall make enquiries.

Spekesoftly:

I tried ARCo at Duxford with no result. In any case, their Blenheim is a Canadian-built Bolingbroke and unlikely to have a Bristol inspector's stamp on it? The only Bristol-built Blenheim that I can think of is in a Military museum in Finland. They did not respond but then my knowledge of the Suomi language is pretty well non-existent.

[Heathrow Harry]

http://www.modelengineeringwebsite.com/Bristol_Mercury_VIII.html

try and contact these guys - they build models so must have original plans for the engine

[JW411]

Thank you HH; an excellent suggestion.

[JW411]

DaveReidUK:

"Some idea of scale would be helpful".

I am told that the part is about 3 cms tall and 7 cms long.

Heathrow Harry:

Once again, I thank you for your useful lead. I have already had a response from the chap who made the models and he assures me that the Mercury engine did not contain any parts that look anything like my mystery object. He did also tell me that all Bristol Mercury engine parts had the part number cast or stamped with the letters FB representing Feddon (the designer) and Butler (who was his number one man).

So I am back to thinking along the lines of an aerodynamic balance weight or something similar.

[Heathrow Harry]

no problem - all human knowledge is on PPrune ...somewhere

;);)

[megan]

You could try contacting the "Blenheim Society" here.

Contact page for The Blenheim Society (http://blenheimsociety.com/contact-us)

[India Four Two]

I am told that the part is about 3 cms tall and 7 cms long.

That looks roughly consistent with what appears to be an inch ruler on the left side of the photo.

[JW411]

The racing pigeon from Belgium has just arrived. The part is smaller than I had estimated. It is 4.5 cms long, 2 cms tall and 1.5 cms thick. It appears to be made of aluminium and is quite badly distorted.

[finncapt]

My wife is Finnish and she could, possibly, ask the question, in Finnish, to the "air force museum" if you want.

[JW411]

finncapt:

I would be very grateful if you could do that.