Identification Required.
 

Last weekend we had the Humber at the Broadford Classic Truck Display and whilst chatting a fellow asked about the strange lugs on the roof. After i explained what they are for he said that his father sometime between 1959 and 1961 bought two stands home from Puckapunyal and the family has used them on the farm in the workshop as stands and he thought they may fit the Humber.

Now i am sure that they are not Humber (wish they had been) although i have only seen one picture of the gun mount on a vehicle in the UK. He thinks that they came from a Bren carrier????.

Can anyone out there in MLU land identify them and their use?

Cheers,

Dave.

Aircraft engine mount???

Looks like a Jacobs engine mount for a Cessna Crane or the like.

That would have been my guess too.

or radial engine mount for a tank engine (same as aircraft I guess)

Radial engine mounts for tanks are completely different.

Radial engine mounts
 

They are aircraft radial engine mounts, They look very similar to a set that I used to have out of a Beaufort bomber.

Thank you for the info lads, much appreciated.

I will nail down which location they came from as this may help the identification, the current owners son believes from puckapunyal between 1959 to 1961. His 82 year old mother believes out of a scrap yard in Brunswick at around the same time.

If out of Pucka i would say a Tank engine stand and if out of a Brunswick wreckers yard i would say an Aircraft engine stand.

Great to get so much input.

Dave.

Dave,
I sent your photos to a friend of mine and he agrees with me that they are Beaufort/Beaufighter engine mounts as in what holds the engine to the wing.
The mounts that hold the radial engines in tanks/LVTs are completely different.

Just to give an idea, here's a picture of the engine mount of a Lockheed Electra. Not saying your mount came off an Electra, but it shows the general layout and construction of a radial engine mount. Its function is to carry the weight of the engine and transfer the forces to the engine bulkhead which itself is fitted to the engine nacelle (part of the main wing structure). The engine and its mount are covered in fairings to improve aerodynamics.

With your restoration skills, I would not be surprised if one day you would rebuild the rest of the airframe around this mount ;)

Attachment 88876

I tend to agree that it looks more like an aircraft engine mount than an AFV piece. The lugs and small mounting plates INSIDE the circular perimeter were the first clues. Why make a circular track for a travelling fitting, but leave obstacles?

Which aircraft is another question, but there are active warbird restorers who might need something like that for a project. Look at the tremendous investments in DH Mosquito builds over the last decade. One in New Zealand and another in British Columbia. The youtube of the pilot describing how to handle their 'Mossie' is fascinating.

As the frame in question was supposed to have come from Puckapunyal, a large army tank base, my thought was it was used in connection with tank engines, either as a transit frame or for working on the engine. It may be an aircraft engine mounting, but it could have been utilised in conjunction with tank engines while out of the vehicle.

The tank radial frame stays on the engine and the aircraft mount would not be much use for normal servicing.

Thanks Adrian, it was just a thought.

It looks a lot like a Stuart turret stand.