amazing hardly covers it - a 70 year old picture of an unidentified aircraft somewhere in Asia and in 4 days we had the Squadron, the type, the fact it was fitted for target towing and now the names and ranks of the crew and the location


if we all spent the same amount of effort & intellect on business we'd be rich, RICH, RICH ;););)

Photo of Mk.III of 100 Squadron

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi.../HU_059796.jpg

The RNZAF Museum in Christchurch are currently undergoing a restoration of a Vildebeest. They might have some information.

Vildebeest | Air Force Museum | Christchurch New Zealand

Amazing is right. As I mentioned in Post #4, boards such as this seem to be able to unearth just about anything on any subject.

A little more info on the pilot has come to light, again thanks to Paul Mc. See his post #23 here:

German bomber parts for sale in NZ - Key Publishing Ltd Aviation Forums

I have also obtained some more gen on the aeroplane via another members only forum.

K2929 Vildebeest Mk II
D'lved to 100 Sqn 2.10.33
Packing Depot 11.10.33
Far East 4.1.34 for 36 Sqn
Fitted as TT. Engine lost power after dropping target; crashlanded, Seletar, 28.9.37; SoC as BER (834.55 FH).

There is also another photo of the aircraft on the last mentioned forum. As it is members only, I cannot link to it. However, if anyone has a copy of the book,'Hornet's Nest, A History of 100 Squadron', the photo is included in that and shows a view of the crash site from behind the aircraft this time.

As L T says above, all that is left now is to discover why the non-standard prop was fitted. Still working on that one.

Many, many thanks to all who have helped unearth the story behind the photo.

lauriebe, the following link notes serial allocations were:

Mk II K2916 to K4130
Mk III K4156 to K6407

http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/sho...0-1937&p=81818

So seems to confirm your aircraft is a Mk.II, and I would assume since both the II and III had the same engine, the three blade was fitted to the II as well as the III, as in the photo of the III in my previous post. As to why? Easier on stores stocking one type? Trouble with the two blade in the tropical climate?

Photo of K2918 a Mk.II

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...st_Mark_ll.jpg

Brian, thanks.

The propellor fitted to the aircraft in the photo that I posted is certainly a non-standard item. All photos of the type that I have seen show a wooden two-bladed prop, even as late as Jan/Feb 1942 with aircraft withdrawn to the Netherlands East Indies. This is the first photo, so far, that I have seen of a Vildebeest MkII/III with a three-bladed prop.

My background is non-technical (pen pusher), so I am not aware of the possible advantages/disadvantages of that type of setup. Both the chap that sent me the photo and I were wondering if it had to do with the target-towing duties that this aircraft was engaged upon; possibly offering better performance?

It certainly appears the Vilderbeest has one of these.....

http://spitfirespares.co.uk/Website%...ng%20Winch.jpg

What on earth is it?

What is the vehicle limited to 16 MPH?

T W,

It is part of the winching mechanism for deploying air to air gunnery drogues. Can be seen in action in this short Pathe clip:

TRAILER TARGET... DROGUE - DUBLIN - British Pathé

Sorry, not sure what your reference to 16 MPH is.

The photo I posted at post #22 seems to me to be a three blade. You don't agree lauriebe?

Brian,

Have just had a closer look at the photo in post #22.

At first I thought that only one blade was visible but looking again it seems that there are possibly two. If that is so, the angle between them would certainly indicate a three-bladed propellor on that aircraft as well.

Do you know where and when the photo was taken?

Laurie


Collections Search for "MAGER ROY" | Imperial War Museums

I believe the photo was taken around 1936

Paul

The caption on the photo says "Vickers Vildebeest Mark III torpedo bombers of 100 Squadron approaching Tavoy, Burma. 11 February 1939", and came from

No. 100 Squadron RAF - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Have tracked that photo down as part of the Roy Mager collection held at IWM.

Have spent quite a bit of time studying it and am not convinced that the aircraft in it has a three-bladed prop fitted. The area around the centre more closely resembles that of a two-bladed wooden prop.

It's a speed limit on the side of the lorry in your photo. I wondered why it was 16 mph instead of rounded to 15 mph.

I think it is a 3 blade propeller.

http://i301.photobucket.com/albums/n...14at063635.jpg

The top/vertical blade is almost invisible even in a static prop.

India Four Two,

Thanks for the clarification. Understood now.

The vehicle is another interesting feature of that, and another, photo. It has a double front axle with caterpillar tracks at the rear. Why the speed limit should be set at precisely 16 MPH I cannot answer.

Possibly because of the tracked arrangement at the back end of the vehicle?

aviate1138,

I take your point re the top/vertical blade.

However, based on the hub arrangement, which more closely resembles that of the two-bladed propellors originally fitted to the Vildebeest, I still think it is a two-bladed propellor. It is very difficult to define an accurate edge to the blur of any blade in that photo .

I was also looking at the two-tier exhaust shown on the aircraft in the photo posted by Brian A. Not a normal feature of the Vildebeest. In Aviate 1138's enlarged version of that same photo, there appears to be a gap between the front end of the top exhaust and the engine itself. Not connected?

Is it possibly a case of carrying a spare in case of need during the deployment? The top exhaust seems longer but if the front end were moved forward and attached to the collector ring, the length would be much the same as the bottom exhaust.

I guess out there in the boonies and maybe a downed Vilde to extract the exhaust is for another machine?

When Spitfires changed prop types 2/3 they still bolted them onto the same hubs didn't they?

I have had 2/3/4/5 blades on my Rotax 911 - same hub, different blade numbers.

lauriebe, contact the site here. They have a New Zealander (Don MacKenzie) who flew the Vildebeest as a pilot with 100 Squadron before being posted to Ceylon in July 1941 to the Detached Flight that had six Vildebeests and four Fairey Seals.

Vildebeests in Singapore and Ceylon

Brian,

Thanks. I have already been through that site and have been in contact with Dave Homewood, the chap that runs it. No further forward unfortunately.

Have also downloaded the 100 Sqn ORBs and annexes which cover the period 1934 - 1941, from the TNA site. No details recorded in those documents either.

Have looked through pretty much all the material on the 'Beest that I can find on the 'Net.

Aviate1138,

Sorry, cannot answer the question re Spit props/hubs.