Nash & Thomson was a British engineering firm that specialised in the production of hydraulically-operated gun turrets for aircraft. The company was also an important manufacturer of hydraulic powered radar scanners, used on radar systems such as H2S and AI Mark VIII.
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History
Nash & Thomson was established in 1929 at Kingston upon Thames by business partners Archibald Frazer-Nash and Henry Ronald Godfrey. The company was formed to develop the turrets that Frazer Nash had originated, and their designs were consequently numbered in a series prefixed "FN".
Their major competition in the UK was from Boulton Paul who had licensed the designs of the French SAMM company. While the FN designs used a remotely powered hydraulic system the BP designs used individual pumps for each turret supplied from a 24 volt electrical system.
In 1996, the remnants were bought by M L Aviation who were themselves subsequently bought by Cobham plc.[1]
Products
Nash & Thomson built a wide range of turrets for aircraft. All were powered hydraulically and carried 0.303 inch (7.7 mm) Vickers K or Browning machine guns, except where noted. Many were built by Parnall Aircraft.
- FN-1 - "lobster back" partially enclosed turret for Hawker Demon
- FN-4A - four gun rear turret
- FN-5 - two gun nose turret on Avro Lancaster, Avro Manchester, Short Stirling and Vickers Wellington
- FN-7 - two gun dorsal turret on Blackburn Botha, Manchester, Short Sunderland, Stirling
- FN-9 - two gun retractable "dustbin" ventral turret on Wellington, rarely fitted.
- FN-10 - two gun tail turret on early-model Wellington and Armstrong Whitworth Whitley
- FN-11 - two gun retractable nose turret in Sunderland
- FN-13 - four gun tail turret in Sunderland
- FN-16 - single Vickers 'K' gun front turret in Whitley
- FN-17 - two gun retractable "dustbin" ventral turret on Whitley, rarely used
- FN-20 - four gun tail turret on Lancaster, Wellington, Stirling, Wellington, Whitley
- FN-50 - two gun dorsal turret on Lancaster, late-model Stirling
- FN-51 - two gun dorsal turret on early-model Handley Page Halifax
- FN-64 - two gun ventral turret on Lancaster with periscopic sight, rarely fitted
- FN-82 - two gun (0.5 inch (12.7 mm) Browning) tail turret on late-model Lancaster
- FN-54 - two gun rearward firing chin turret on Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV and Bristol Beaufort
- FN-121 - four gun tail turret on late-model Lancaster
- FN-120 - four gun tail turret on late-model Lancaster fitted with Village Inn gun-laying radar
- FN-150 - an improved two gun dorsal turret, based on the FN-50, and fitted to many Lancasters
References
External links
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