AIRCRAFT COMPONENT

Aluminium aircraft section, heavily corroded and damaged. No identifying marks or plates visible, though two cross member plate remnants present. 870 x 45mm.

The lack of identifying marks means that the type and origin of the aircraft cannot be definitively identified from this recovered section. Initially thought to be part of a piston engine support frame from something like a Spitfire fighter, a Dakota transport aircraft, or perhaps one of the multi-engined bombers,this theory was discarded as these are generally circular in section. The double row of rivet holes down one side (presumably where it attached to the skin) suggest it is more likely a stringer of some description. A stringer is a Longitudinal member (i.e. in the fuselage aligned with the longitudinal axis and in wings and tail surfaces perpendicular to this axis) which gives the airframe its shape and provides the support for the skin. In fuselages, they link frames and in aerofoils they link ribs. The consensus therefore, is that it is from the outer wing rib of a single engine aeroplane or the fin/tail plane rib of a larger multi engine aircraft from the Second World War; and has characteristics that suggest it is from a Royal Air Force or British aircraft. However, due to the corrosion and the very close variations in measurement between both metric and imperial measurements, i.e. millimetres (mm), standard wire gauge (swg) or thousands of an inch (thou), used by aircraft designers during this period, the use of the spacing and diameter of rivets, bolt holes and other spacings combined with any drilling/stamping errors means that these do not help in identifying the piece. The damage to the piece also means that the use of rivet pitch, which might identify the manufacturer, rather than the country of origin, would be open to a wide degree of error.