Steve N Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 (edited) Greetings from the U S A! The wife and I stopped into the Kruse Museum in Auburn, Indiana, over the weekend. It's mainly a collection of cars and military vehicles..I'm mostly interested in aircraft, and what caught my eye were these unidentified bits of wreckage used as "set dressing" in a WWII military diorama. There's a relatively complete outer wing section, and what appears to be a chunk of the inboard part of the same wing. There's no signage about them, but they've got British markings. The roundel is visible on the outer panel, along with the yellow leading edge IFF stripe. Camo appears to be Gray and Green. Of course, the bits could have been painted and "weathered" specifically for the display, which means they may not even be military aircraft bits (or even parts of the same aircraft.) I do know that the bulk of the museum's vehicles and artifacts came from a now-defunct museum in Belgium. I tried to get shots of all the visible structural details..does anybody have any ideas what they might be? I have my suspicions, but don't want to jump to conclusions or lead anyone in potentially false directions. Here's the outerboard panel... And what I presume is a chunk of the inboard section of the same wing... Thanks! Steve N Edited September 19, 2016 by Steve N 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickers McFunbus Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 (edited) My guess, particularly given the camouflage, the apparent kink in the spar (just inboard of what look like two cannon sized hole in the leading edge) and the one above the other holes in the spar webs is that it's the outer wing section of a Typhoon. The yellow stripe often continued inboard to the cannon ports. Interestingly the darker patch on the leading edge in photo one is where the landing light would have been. Edited September 19, 2016 by Vickers McFunbus 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtchllro Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 Going just by the colour scheme Typoon would have been my guess I not long finished one so it's fresh in my mind (but then what do I know lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Class377fcc12 Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 I'd say Typhoon as well, there does seem to be that kink in the spar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickers McFunbus Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 What on earth it is doing there, or which airframe it is, is another matter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve N Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 You gents are echoing what I was thinking..and like you, I wondered what in the world something as ultra-rare as a relatively complete Typhoon outer wing would be doing in a small museum in the American midwest. As I mentioned, the bulk of the museum's military collection came from a now-closed museum in Belgium, so I suppose it's possible that the Tiffie bits could be the remains of a crashed or scrapped aircraft. I must say I'm rather baffled that they seem to have escaped notice, as pretty much ever other bit of Typhoon wreckage (even small bits) is well known and the subject of much interest. SN 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 My first thought was a Hawker wing. I know up the the Hurricane, the main spar had an octagonal tubular web top and bottom, and that is not present in the photos. Quite possible it was not a feature of the Typhoon though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vickers McFunbus Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 (edited) Here's an upside down full spar for comparison. Turn it the right way up (and remove the open centre section) and it bears a remarkable resemblance, in particular if you look at the join of the outer and inboard section (shape of bracket). There's a slight difference in that this photo just has single holes in between the two cannon ports in the spar webs, but that would have been a fairly minor mod during the production run. Typhoon spar. Edited September 19, 2016 by Vickers McFunbus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve N Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 (edited) Wow..that bracket where the outer wing attaches to the inner web spar is absolutely identical to the chunk in my photo. I think you've pinned this one down. I wonder if the museum has any idea what they have there? SN Edited September 19, 2016 by Steve N Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 & I wonder if the Canadian (?) Typhoon restorers know the Museum has this too. They're reverse engineering a Typhoon airframe from artifacts from wrecks, something like this might be huge for them. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve N Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 (edited) I actually already posted the pics on the RB396 Project Facebook page, and they went completely nuts. Apparently they had heard rumors of a Typhoon wing existing in Belgium for years, but had never been able to confirm anything. As I mentioned, the majority of the Kruse museum's collection was acquired from a now-defunct Belgian museum, so the (metaphorical) peices fit. Hopefully the RB396 folks will be able to acquire the Tiffie parts. SN Edited September 20, 2016 by Steve N 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelh Posted September 20, 2016 Share Posted September 20, 2016 It's odd but I too instantly thought Typhoon when I saw the pictures. That thick wing is pretty unique. Hope it proves useful for the restorers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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