Jagan

Is that a Hurricane Construction Number painted on the bottom side of the elevator? Do not recall too many war time photos of Hurricanes showing this on the underside of the elevator... Any more samples? Lastly 41H/138801 ? or 41H/135801 ? So what aircraft is it? Some known C/Ns here https://www.rafcommands.com/database...&qcntry=&qt=FN with V7497 being 41H-136172

but they didnt. there was only one Wapiti V that was actually longer and it was a one-off. Most Mk V's were the same length as Mk IIs. https://www.key.aero/comment/1823913#comment-1823913 https://www.key.aero/comment/1823951#comment-1823951 https://www.key.aero/comment/1909264#comment-1909264 (JohnAero)

That number includes those commemorated on the Runnymede memorial, so many airmen lost over Europe or over the sea with no trace are included in this 'Home' Table.

The Wapiti engines are a Rabbit hole.. Jupiter VI, Jupiter VIII, differnent type of partial cowlings or now cowlings at all, different exhaust pipes, or none at all... you name it they are all out there..

So the photo that appears in the Chinese book at http://cwlam2000.epizy.com/book3.jpg?i=1 is the same as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vultee_A-31_Vengeance#/media/File:A-35B_in_Flight.jpg "If there are no pictures, it doesn't exist"

Cant see the image.. can you post it again?

@Geoffrey Sinclair Geoff.. I am the current webmaster of RafCommands and I built that Serial look up tool. Was there something you wanted to help correct?. Please do email me [email protected] ..or PM me here.. I can confirm that I haven't received any of your previous emails. They must have disappeared into the black hole of the internet. Cheers

The TOCH Forum is back up and running!

Slight Correction Jim. AX815 lost West of Delhi , not Lahore. The ac was being ferried by 21FC from Lahore to Karachi and was on the Delhi-Jodhpur leg.. details below. http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=AX815

Everyone is going through the withdrawal symptoms... No ETA/information on when it will be back up.. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?21131-TOCH-Forum-Problem

More of an inspection panel? J- --- http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Galleries/History/WW2/Imphal/21-BR-Rao-Ground-Crew.jpg.html (Hurricane IIB) or could be this https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Galleries/History/WW2/Agnihotri/Akyab45/Akyab-HurriCamFit.jpg.html (Hurricane IIC)

@Troy Smith Great Catch at connecting HV538 to the three elephants and Hurricane photo! I had seen this photo in Indian books in the mid 80s so to have its actual serial is a great find.. I have HV538 as having served with 6 Sqn IAF. as noted here : http://www.rafcommands.com/database/serials/details.php?uniq=HV538 EDIT: Here you go - its there in Feb and March of 1944 http://www.rafcommands.com/galleries/var/albums/members/HV538.PNG

@hendie My mind boggles at the skills required at doing this cad work and hours of work that had gone into this - kudos!. One observation,. the Oil Radiator positioning has its fair share of headaches. It appears that in the 30s the radiator has moved from the port side of the fuselage to the bottom of the fuselage Eg This classic photo has it on the port side of the fuselage on the side http://www.rafcommands.com/galleries/var/resizes/Aircraft-Database/Westland-Wapiti/MkIIA-J9835-J9871/J9842.jpg?m=1427860303 Moved to the bottom of the nose right before the struts. http://www.rafcommands.com/galleries/var/resizes/Aircraft-Database/Westland-Wapiti/Mk-IIA-K1316-1415/K1397.jpg?m=1454276289 The 1930s photos of Wops based in India show the radiator on the bottom .. PS: Note the wheel hub variations!

Photos showing the underside of the Wapiti are rather scanty, but did find two handily available. Here is a drawing from the manual http://www.rafcommands.com/galleries/members/Camera-P7-Wapiti A nice shot showing the camera panel and the observer / bottom bomb aimer's observation sliding panel in open position as well http://www.rafcommands.com/galleries/members/Wapiti-K1127 Another one http://www.rafcommands.com/galleries/members/Wapiti-IIA-K1300-C-60-sqn-ca-1934

@hendie The plans you are working from appear to the be UK Home based versions of the IIA that had a Jupiter VI I invite you to check out this gallery http://www.rafcommands.com/galleries/Aircraft-Database/Westland-Wapiti where I have been collecting 1 image of every Wapiti every built - and i am probably a third of the way there. The variants have never been properly documented in any book - especially the engine, cowling and exhaust differences. Here is a thread i have done on the Key Forum a few years ago. https://www.key.aero/forum/historic-aviation/140804-westland-wapiti-iia-engine-variant-question-see-attached-image I will look into the question of the camera port/door - i do have an illustration of it taken from the relevant AP manual