Hi, a few years ago a local guy found this metal plate near Thruxton airfield in Hampshire, I presume it is the registration number for a Horsa Glider with the modifications record stamped as appropriate? The grey letters TYPE are SERIAL No. Any ideas where I can find out what happened to the Glider.. possible accident? cheers, Rick
Rick, RAF Thruxton was used by the Glider Pilot Exercise unit who flew Horsa and Hotspur gliders from there from Sept. 1943 until Feb. 1944. At the end of the war, huge numbers of Horsa gliders were stored there and then broken up in 1945. So I would say that it's more likely that it came from a scrapped Horsa than a crash. As for the plate itself, based on the modifications and manufacturer ID's it appears to have come from an centre wing sub-assembly for a Horsa Mk.I Horsa gliders were made in sections by various contractors and sub-contractors and assembled as a kit of parts at RAF Maintenance units (except Airspeed who produced complete aircraft). Each sub-assembly had it's own data plate to identify it and log modifications. The EBBLTD/W&G/CB refers to the contractors and sub-contractors who build the sub-assembly in question. In this case Earnshaw Brothers & Booth Limited who were sub-contractors to Waring & Gallow. The third could be Craven Brothers but normally they made the outer wing sections so I'm not sure why they are listed as the main contractor with W&G and EBB sub-contracting to them. Then again, things moved around and sub-contractors came and went as manpower and capacity demands needed. The serial number on the plate is the manufacturers sub-assembly serial number and not related to the gliders RAF serial number. This was allocated to the centre fuselage section only and stayed with it throughout it's life, even if other parts such as the tail or wings were swapped. This was allocated when the aircraft was complete and stencilled inside on the bulkhead and copied to exterior of the tail unit once fitted. Hope that helps. P.S. I also found it's twin: Horsa Glider
