A beautiful piece of wing to identify

[gilles collaveri]

Salut Adriano,

thanks for your idea which looks good, but no German Latecoere 298 crash is recorded in the area.

I wonder if some one could make the marking "LU593 120" speak ?

it iscertainly referenced somewhere.

A très bientôt

Gilles

[Snautzer]

How big is the piece?. Kreuz covering most of it. If being it from a Ju88 part it must be quite big.
Doubt if it is a inspection hatch

[Adriano Baumgartner]

SNAUTZER (and there are other members here too at Toch) you were all real "aces" on your fields!

For me the metal piece seems to "clean" to have been from a wrecked machine (i.e.: na airplane shot down in combat). There would be most certainly fire, and probably ammunition too...so, the Balkenkreuz would not be so clean.

I do advocate this theory of a possible trainer or even a Latécoère 298 (whose Company built them at Toulouse, nearby).

However, I would say that this machine was captured almost intact and became after capture, the target for some soldiers (we can see some bullets on the piece). Perhaps a spare wing inside a Hangar, abandoned, waiting to be sent somewhere....maybe....

So, it may have stayed inside one Hangar at Toulouse, after Augsut 1944, until someone (maybe a French farmer) took it to his farm; or before the piece being melted nearby, someone may have cut it (the Balkenkreuz)....This is a theory. The LC do give me a probable idea of the manufacturer of the bolt.

Gilles, I have tried but got no joy in finding a Laté 298 manual...doubt if this exist. Then have tried to find on old Latés, if the bolts were indeed labelled LC, like your piece...got no joy either...but they are clues....

The theory of a possible spare wing for a Latécoère 298 stored inside a Hangar at Toulouse or waiting to be assembled is still over my mind....

Off course, I may be just imagining too much...and some real experts on this field can forward logistic and material evidence or clues about another type of aircraft!

Adriano

[taitbb]

The paint looks decent...if fake very well done.

It is the part itself...it really seems very well built and and appears quite heavy to be an aircraft part.

[gilles collaveri]

What puzzles me is that there is no paint on this aircraft. I can't remember seeing any German A/C in the south West of France with no camouflage. Even French A/C seized by Luftwaffe were painted (D520, Potez 63, Bloch 152).

Adriano : I look for Laté 298 documentation but I don't believe much in it. They were painted blue in factory.

I have asked for the actual size of the part and of the balkenkreuz, I revert to you when I have the numbers.

Another idea : could it be a part from a machine not being and aircraft : an armored vehicule ? a tank ? some kind of machine like that...

GC

[Snautzer]

Aluminium was a bit gold so no car etc. Absent of paint perhaps an atrappe/dummy. Seems well made, heavy hinges but the place of the cross bothers me for being part of a plane.

[ClinA-78]

adding a grain of salt but Balkenkreuz + bullet holes (puncturing at 90°) make a 'bankable' item... on a (perhaps) real aircraft part.

Just a thought

ClinA-78

[jschreiber]

Hi Gilles and everyone.

The bolts heads markings seems to be US. "BC" could identify the steel grade used for the bolt manufacturing (has to be in accordance with the intended bolt usage) and the third marking could be the manufacturer logo. For me, such markings are far from German standards, but I never found anything significant on RLM bolts normalization and identification.

Have a nice day in Toulouse

Bien amicalement

J Schreiber

[gilles collaveri]

I have some more data:

size of the part is 0.74 m X 0.44 m .

Balkenkreuz : 0,5 M X 0,5 m

I asked more precision and revert to you when I get them;

GC

[gilles collaveri]

I had an interesting comment I wanted to share with you :

"the cross may have been outlined in tape when painted. What appears to paint "bleeding" at the edges which occurs when tape is used. The paint runs slightly under the tape at the edges, leaving a rough edge. It is odd, because I thought that stencils were used with spraying to apply markings. If so then there would be fine traces of paint overspray but not heavy paint bleeding as seen".