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Vildebeest reference


593jones

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In the meantime, I've received some more Vildebeest material including two cut-aways (from Pilot press and Aeroplane Monthly) and a poorly scanned copy of the AP for the Vildebeest from 1934.

Also a couple of not very good scans from an older Aeroplane Monthly showing the bomb aimers position, and the radio operators position.

Pete,

Can you recall which Aeroplane Monthly the Vildebeeste article was in? Some of us may have it.

TIA.

Edit. And the answer is .... April 1995. Found on the other Vildebeeste thread.

Edited by Seahawk
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Pete,

Can you recall which Aeroplane Monthly the Vildebeeste article was in? Some of us may have it.

TIA.

Edit. And the answer is .... April 1995. Found on the other Vildebeeste thread.

Searching around the web for reference stuff, I've noted the following for supposed Vildebeest/Vincent material:

Flypast 122 Sept. 1991 (Not seen as yet)

Air Enthusiast Vol.29 November 1985 (Not seen as yet)

Aeroplane Monthly April and May issues 1995 (I've just scanned up the article from the May issue received from a mate in OZ this morning)

Aeroplane Monthly Vol.7 Issue 5 1979 (Not seen as yet)

Aeroplane Monthly Vol. 11, May 2004. (Not seen as yet)

There may be more, but that's all I've noted so far.

Cheers,

Pete M. :beer:

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Searching around the web for reference stuff, I've noted the following for supposed Vildebeest/Vincent material:

Flypast 122 Sept. 1991 (Not seen as yet)

Air Enthusiast Vol.29 November 1985 (Not seen as yet)

Aeroplane Monthly April and May issues 1995 (I've just scanned up the article from the May issue received from a mate in OZ this morning)

Aeroplane Monthly Vol.7 Issue 5 1979 (Not seen as yet)

Aeroplane Monthly Vol. 11, May 2004. (Not seen as yet)

There may be more, but that's all I've noted so far.

Cheers,

Pete M. :beer:

Hi,

Aeroplane Monthly Vildebeest/Vincent article from the "By Day and Night" series was published in three parts February - April 1995 - really excellent reference.

The article in Aeroplane Monthly May 1979 and another one in August-September 1993 are both more on the popular side and both address the Vincent service in RAF. However there are quite interesting photos in both of them.

And then there are the classical "Warpaint" scale drawings in Aviation News Vol. 7 iss. 14.

There is nothing about Vildebeest in Air Enthusiast Vol. 29 (there is a Vickers Vimy profile, so probably here the confusion?).

Patrik

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Wotcha Pete!

A 1/48th scale Vildebeest? And there was much rejoicing!!! :frantic::bounce::cheers: (at least until Mrs H finds out about it...that plus the upcoming 1/48th Oxford!).

Interesting that the test shots of the Azur 1/72nd scale kit don't seem to show any bomb aimer window in the lower forward fuselage. I hope this has been corrected (or, more importantly, will be corrected on the 1/48th version).

Did you have any joy with the Vincent restorers on the design and installation of the bomb aiming window?

Cheers,

Mark

Hi Mark. I managed another trip out to the Subritzky's today, and took about another 200 photos of the Vincent, Oxford, and for the 'vacuum cleaner' guys, some detail pics (including both cockpits) of the NF.11. I'm presently on holiday, so will be processing these as fast as possible so I can get on to my model bench for the last week!

Talking with both Don and Steve Subritzky, they have a bit of a problem with the bomb aimers hatch area, as they have no samples of the original, and as there are no factory drawings in existence, are having to 'wing-it' along with the technicians down at Wigram who are rebuilding the Vildebeest!

The rear section was a 'roller blind' affair (as shown in those two cut-aways) that runs on two tracks fixed to the fuselage skin, and tucks up and back through a slot between the floor and the fuselage lower formers. I'll process one of my latest pics and mark where it goes. Forward of this was another hatch similar to that behind the wing centre section. This is a major problem area for the guys! All they have to show this area is that poor Japanese one taken of the captured a/c!

One bonus was that amongst their photo collection, there were several copies of a Vickers 'works' drawing for the instrument panel, one showing the gauges etc. and one showing the bare panel with full dimensions given! At least it's one more piece of the jigsaw puzzle filled in.

Then the last item I found in their box of 'stuff' was two GA drawings, One for the Vildebeest II and one for the Vildebeest III. I've never seen it in writing before, but there is a MAJOR difference in the length of the ailerons between the two marks! More problems!!!!! I'll post both to the reference thread once I've scanned them.

More to come

Pete M. :mental:

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Looking forward to seeing the Vildebeest pics Pete, but there's at least one 'vacuum cleaner guy' here who would be especially grateful if you get a chance to post the NF11 cockpit pics (& any others !) - pretty please....!!

Keef

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Hi to all. Found the attached while processing my photos from yesterdays jaunt!

photos of photos, so not very clear, but two do give a better idea of that blasted underside panel area!

Vildebeest-bombsight-hatch.jpg

Vildebeest-bombsight-hatchB.jpg

An enlargement of the first picture, not the greatest, but at least it's something!

NZ103-prang.jpg

A good view of the undersides, just a pity it wasn't taken from a few feet over to the right!

Vildebeest-bombsight-hatchA.jpg

A view of the bomb sight mounting bracket, and showing how the 'roller blind' hatch works as explained to me.

Meteor NF.11, Oxford and more Vincent pics to come soon. I'll put them all into the reference files.

Cheers,

Pete M. :beer:

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Meteor NF.11, Oxford and more Vincent pics to come soon. I'll put them all into the reference files.

Cheers,

Pete M. :beer:

Excellent!! Many thanks for the time you're taking posting these Pete, much appreciated!! :cheers:

K

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Pete,

Thanks for sharing these pics. The first 2 shots seem to show the "mushroom cap" at the forward end of the bomb aimer's hatch but it has some form of cover which differs from the roller blind. Perhaps a section that slides forward or flips up?

These are all great pics, though.

Cheers,

Mark

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  • 2 weeks later...

I did buy the CD and felt that there was quite a lot of useful information on the type for the just over £5 I paid for it. One has to remember that a great many of the manuals for these British interwar types are poorly illustrated and perhaps this goes some of the way to explaining why kits of this era are reletively thin on the ground. Still, for anybody wishing to detail the new Azur kit I feell that is worh a punt.

Martin

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks Nico. This pic is interesting because it shows a cover over the forward section of the bomb aimer's position:

FA_11196s.jpg

Of course, it's just a prototype and hence may not be entirely representative of what was installed on the operational variants but it does seem to match the few other available photos of that section of the airframe.

Kind regards,

Mark

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