anyone recognise this strange looking 'locking catch' ?

[butterfly]

Another piece from the lot I bought recently.
Most items related to WW2, so I have reason to believe that this is a period item too, but what it is from I have no idea. It clearly is screwed/bolted onto something and appears to have a locking mechanism on it. I suspect it could have spring tension on it, but it is ceased up and slightly distorted. The side which shows the attaching screw/bolt head and empty countersunk hole, has a large ciruclar 'bolt' this would appear to be ceased in the open position, when locked it would I assume protrude out and so lock into something. The two lugs at either side are stamped 'LOS' and 'FEST' - so it is obviously German in origin. It is also interesting to note that these marks are stamped facing toward what would be the 'handle' end (assuming it would have had a handle to operate it at one time)..........this I find strange only because of the way the 'bracket' fixes with the screw/bolts, if you see what I mean? I also wonder by the fact that the bolts are countersunk if whatever is to be closed moves over these before being fixed?

Dimensions are roughly 65mm length of 'locking bolt' (though this is missing the end/handle)
70mm top to bottom of bracket and 60mm wide
circular locking bolt 15mm diameter.

Included in the lot was also a piece of German aircraft and reference to a U-boat, however no labels attached to this piece to indicate its origin.

So over to you guys, has anyone seen anything like this before?

any help/thoughts appreciated as this one has me stumped. Kev

 

[beihan62]

Hi Kev,Could this be part of a cockpit window lock,to lock a sliding canopy/window open or closed,
Regards,
Don,

 

[butterfly]

Hi Kev,Could this be part of a cockpit window lock,to lock a sliding canopy/window open or closed,
Regards,
Don,

Hi Don, many thanks for your reply.
I really have no idea what it is from and your suggestion is certainly feasible. I will have to look at photos of Luftwaffe aircraft.
Below are some photos of other items that came with it (as well as a sticky bomb safety pin and label, and a cartridge from a 29mm flying dustbin round)

the first is a piece of aircraft, this has an attached label, and although I dont buy items simply for the label or what they are reputed to be, sometimes I think you have to 'take a chance.' I am not certain what type of aircraft was the first to be shot down in the South of England, but possibly a Heinkel or Donier? What would be nice would be to prove that this is indeed from a German aircraft, this ought to be possible and if it proves to be the case then maybe the label is correct. What I can say is that the other labels attached to items in the group were indeed correct so that holds good.

The second item in the photo is again another 'unknown', it could perhaps come from just about anything, made of alloy and would clearly would be affixed to something at the three points.

Unfortunately these were being sold by a person who appears to have bought a small collection belonging to one person. There were interesting items in all the lots, I managed to win just one of them. Unfortunately it would appear that items without labels are unidentified, and its not possible to find out what they were reputed to be.
I would like to think that the piece of aircraft is indeed off the first German aircraft shot down in the South of the UK, but I am also not influenced solely by the attachment of a written label. I do however hold a little hope in that all the other labels have proven correct, and also not all items had labels.

any further help with any of the itmes would be appreciated.

regards Kev

 

[beihan62]

Hi Kev,many years ago I was involved in aviation archeology,and to me it does indeed look like a piece from an aircraft,with longerons and stiffeners,the outer side is flush riveted which would point to it being outer skin,notice though that it is precision cut right through the rivets,could this be a "sample"removed from a crashed aircraft for examination and evaluation purposes,it look too neat to be a normal"souvenier",the "handle"in the last two pics could be a handle for sliding a cockpit open/closed,Miles Master and Martinet had similar handles (without centre leg)made of tubular steel for just that purpose,it does not look robust enough to be a normal cockpit "grab"handle,
Hope this helps,You have an interesting collection there,well done,it just goes to show that there is some good stuff still "out there"
Regards,
Don,