Jump to content

Mystery (British?) Aircraft Wreckage Spotted In Museum


Steve N

Recommended Posts

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...

 

IMG_0682.jpg

 

IMG_0688.jpg

 

IMG_0685_1.jpg

 


And what I presume is a chunk of the inboard section of the same wing...

 

IMG_0681.jpg

 

IMG_0687.jpg

 

IMG_0686.jpg

 

 

Thanks!

 

Steve N

Edited by Steve N
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 by Vickers McFunbus
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 by Vickers McFunbus
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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?

 

FrontSpar%2002.jpg

 

IMG_0686.jpg

 

SN

Edited by Steve N
Link to comment
Share on other sites

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 by Steve N
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...