39Fordson

33 minutes ago, BOBC1940 said:

Hi,

Hope you can get hold of me via your PM I sent.

Great to see this coming along., if only more had cared for Bomb Trolleys over the years, and not blinkered on aircraft.

I can't ID this as the Type C Mk 1 had no trough type cross members and it had tubular front and rear members with the two discs for attaching the trunking for the small hoist. The trough type cross members are Type C Mk ll and Mk lll, the Mk ll also having tubular cross members but solid arms out to axles, I wonder if there is a Type C Mk ll late version then ? have you or anyone got photos of this trolley with its 'crossbreed' spec in action ?

  

BOBC

I was thinking more along the lines of a Type C MK 1 1/2 (or a later MK1 version part way to a MKII) due to the fact it had suspension and was originally fitted with W frames, the trough type bearers are a defiantly later modification.

Could it be this came between the MK1 and MKII but was not found to be suitable for loading via the loading ramp, hence the change to rigid frames, it has wheel bearings so that makes it early as later wheels were fitted with bushes.

Its a bit of an enigma as I have not found any photo evidence of one yet, either way it makes it rare.

Regards

Mark

My 39 Fordson during filming of the upcoming BBC Drama "World on Fire", hopefully later this year I will be able to take her out towing the bomb trolley.

Hubs fitted and trial fit of the rims

Rear wheel hubs about to be rebuilt with new bearings after much work to strip and rebuild them.

Rear axle and springs now back in place.

Rear axle rebuild about to start.

One thing I am missing and need to find is the rear towing hook if anyone can help locating one.

Framework now completed and primed.

Springs back from rebuild along with new clamps, they were all loose in a box and it turned out 3 were missing.

Evidence of original paint, was looking to put it into Blue Grey but not sure after finding this, green was on the front, brown/red on the rear cross members, but have also found Blue Grey on the rear hubs.

The remains of the bearers once all the extra bits have been removed. Note the evidence of the U brackets for the W supports.

Starting to put the framework back together including a new centre brace and plates.

Hi BOBC

Things are progressing at a slow pace but getting there slowly, the amount of corrosion has been an issue along with rebuilding the springs.

Yes the W supports have been removed but there is evidence of the U brackets being fitted remaining, I have left this evidence as part of its history but 3 of its adjustable bearers survived (though one is in two pieces), non of the wedges survived. so will have to make these from scratch along with a extra bearer.

The other odd thing is that is square box section and not round tube with the disc hoist attachments, which leads me to think there must have been 2 versions of a MK1, sadly the data plate is missing but you can see were it was fitted.

Replacement wheels have been an issue in the hunt for an original matched set of Dunlop tyres I came across many variants of wheels, some with 6 holes, some with 5 and with varying spacings, plus different centre diameters, I've had to make some adaptors to get a matching set to fit.

I will post some photos of how things have progressed.

Regards

Mark

Are these still available

Many thanks

Mark

Good evening,

I am in the process of starting to restore what I believe to be a Type C MK1 Bomb Trolley and am looking for some assistance as I am unaware of any other examples to use as a reference because the RAF Museum has no info available, I have the manual for MK2 and MK3 models which have helped to some degree but I am struggling to confirm the precise arrangement of the leaf springs especially the rear ones as I think I am a few leafs missing.

I understand that the MK1's where converted into the rigid MK2 version.

Would anyone have a manual for the MK1 and or any photos or even know the whereabouts of one, I have had a good search of the web and have found very little to assist.

I am also on the look out for some tyres and the rear towing hitch

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards

Mark