BasicDiscuss Plane part identification in the Current forums; Hi all,
I have been left this part of an aircraft and would be really
gratefull for any help to ...
Need more information like where you found it, in what context (planecrash, battlefield, etc), and size.
Not sure, but here's a guess.
BSA was involved in turret manufacturing for tanks and howitzers. Not sure if they worked the airplane aspects, but perhaps so. It looks like the foot stirrup and pedals (left and right) for a gunners station. The stirrup is stippled with a rubber non-slip coating to keep the gunners feet from inadvertently sliding off. The pedals likely were used to translate the turret or gun mount. You can see that the pedals are slotted to accept cable rigging that likely connected to a solenoid initiating motor assist for the gun mount translation. While there is some wear on the foot stirrup, whatever this is the stirrup does not appear to have received years and years of use under the gunners boot.
The metal is in relatively good shape. Any more information?
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if
they made a difference in the world. But, the [U.S.]
Marines don't have that problem."
-- Ronald Reagan
Thanks for the reply Matt.
Sorry not much history with it, my brother and I played with it as kids
[50 yrs +] it only came to light again recently when my mum passed away and it was found in an old box.
My father was a medic during WW2 Italy and Middle East but did not talk
much of the war.
The coating is a type of stiff plastic.
The dimensions are 6 inch wide, 8 inch high and a depth of 1 inch.
The levers are a half inch wide and 3 inches in lengh.
Maybe too small for feet so possibly it is for a tank.
I had thought it was from a plane as I have seen pictures of similar looking parts in plane cockpits.
Thanks for your time and sorry for the double post last time.
Much to small then. I'm stumped. The stirrup is only 6 inches wide? Thus the pedals are only about a 1x1.5in?
Perhaps others have some idea. Unless you know you can tie it to aviation, I doubt that is its origin. It could be that it is a single foot stirrup whose pedal operation was supposed to activate two actions via separate mechanical cable assemblies. Can't think of an aviation application and BSA was more involved with ground armaments to the best of my knowledge.
As I said, I'm stumped. I'll see what else I can dig up.
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if
they made a difference in the world. But, the [U.S.]
Marines don't have that problem."
-- Ronald Reagan
Too crude don't ya think. I thought that initially too, like a P-47 control column. But why the pedals and not levers or buttons for soleniods? And cable rigging running to the top of the control column to connect the pedals? Seems excessively "robust" for a high tech airplane.
But then, I'm out of ideas. I'm beginning to think it might not be related to aviation at all.
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if
they made a difference in the world. But, the [U.S.]
Marines don't have that problem."
-- Ronald Reagan
To Lanc's point. Below is a Spitfire column with loop handle.
But ours has crude pedals, slots for cable rigging and the pedals seem to far apart to be manipulated with one hand. Do we know of any WWII fighters that had cable rigging on the control column that initiated the firing solenoids of the cannon/MGs?
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if
they made a difference in the world. But, the [U.S.]
Marines don't have that problem."
-- Ronald Reagan
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if
they made a difference in the world. But, the [U.S.]
Marines don't have that problem."
-- Ronald Reagan
It looks very similar to them, the only thing the paddles make me think of is replacements for the rudder pedals (for example for someone like Bader with no legs) but I think that is unlikely, possible but unlikely.
"Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal, it is the Courage to Continue that Counts"
Sir Winston Churchill
"To him the People of the World Largely owe the Freedom and Liberties they Enjoy Today"
Enscription on Hugh Dowding's (AOC Fighter Command 1936-40) statue in London
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if
they made a difference in the world. But, the [U.S.]
Marines don't have that problem."
-- Ronald Reagan
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return. Leonardo Da Vinci
Plane part identification 
Originally Posted by mkloby
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