Richard Farrant

This thing has been bugging me as well. I seem to get sidetracked over the German WW2 experiments, but since Clive mentioned this thing is dated the same year as Orange William, that has sent me Googling again and Eureka !!!!! I think I have cracked it. Cannonball D-40 An anti tank guided missile, developed by Applied Physics Laboratory under a US Navy contract. It was spherical, about 24 inches diam., disadvantaged by weight at 300 pounds, also its radio control system was vulnerable to enemy countermeasures. Later versions were lightened and control altered.

Ah the brakeshoes, that was the deliberate mistake to see if you knew :whistle: I have attached a photo of my QL, not recent, but taken on Asnelles beach on D-Day 2004

Maybe these spheres are not actually weapons, but an experiment on the mechanics of guided missiles, using gyroscopes and steerable thrust vanes. With the style of illustrations and typeface, I would suggest we are talking about 50-60 years ago.

Alien, You are right, but I was not aware of it having the same name, evidently Kugelblitz means "ball lightning" or similar, which could well describe Clive's mystery object. The first reference I found to Kugelblitz was a fiery sphere that could be remote controled by direction, when I did another search, the tracked AA system came up.

Lee, That is what I was describing, sounds remarkably like Clive's sphere, espcially when he hinted that it was remote controlled.

Foo Fighters, remote control jet powered spheres developed by Germany, possibly also used by Japan during WW2, used to ram or disorient aircraft, often mistaken as UFO's.

Dave, I think it is Golden Yellow, no doubt Clive will confirm, and give you the BS number.

Would it be a Kugelblitz ("round lightning") ? An explosive gas weapon using a 50:50 mix of butane and propane, with gyroscopic stabilisation, I believe designed to intercept bombers. Possibly with remote control and was being developed at late part of WW2 by the Germans, in Italy.

Mick, Just checked, it is an 1/8"

Mick, It is not easy to see quite how the front tyre is wearing, but with the cracks as wel, I have a feeling it may have been run underinflated. With out looking at the EMER, I think toe in is 1/8" , + or - 1/16", will have to check.

Clive, give us a clue. Did this thing ever exist or is it someones fantasy idea?

Michael, Slacken the fuel pipe on the carb, to see if fuel is up to there, if it is, then it may well be a stuck needle valve in the float chamber.

Smoke canister, possibly launched from a mortar?

An early method of delivering chemical weapons, possibly by firing from a mortar?

John, Handy bloke, when you have a Saladin

Does that mean something, Tim :whistle:

and did you remove it in under 40 mins, Lee?

Good job you blokes were'nt in the Dover tunnels on Saturday morning :shake:

Look like you are ready for Op. Bolero as well, it would be star of the show.

Clive, Obviously nothing to do with Malkara or Humbers :-D It looks like a form of airship with various orifices emitting thrust. Although it is difficult to know how they would achieve thrust, as it looks to originate well before the jet engine was invented. Date, well, at a guess, 1919?

Fred, If you were to look straight at the backplate and adjusters, they adjust up by turning clockwise and release anticlock. The idea is to have two spanners, 3/4" AF, hold one and tighten the other until wheel is just gripped, release about 2 notches (feel them), or until wheel is just free. Then hold that adjuster and do same with the other. One does the front shoe, other the rear. It is sometimes best to release both of them first, in case one is dragging making it difficult to sense when the wheel is free. Don't forget to jack up both wheels on that side when you do it and also be aware of the transmission drag.

Mick, I think it is important for you to check the flywheel oil first, to eliminate this.

Clive, Here goes, item "A" is the missile tray pulled out of the supply truck. Unit was the Royal Armoured Corps, Parachute Sqn, year, well another guess here 1965

Clive, I thought that I would let it spin out a bit before giving the correct answer :whistle:

Right then, the first photo shows a glimpse of the rear of a Humber, to be precise, FV1622 Truck, 1 ton, Missile test, 4x4, Humber, then under the tent I believe, is its companion trailer, ie. FV2308® Trailer, 1/2 ton, Functional Test Unit. The truck had a HP air compressor and alternator driven from the PTO, this suppled power to the trailer, for its role in missile testing. The photo with item marked "B" is I think, the rear doors to FV1621, Truck, 1 ton, Missile Supply, 4x4, Humber