Roger wrote:
The message
from Bruce contains these words:

More likely a mix of Unified and Metric, if BL. BMC - different.
Most of the engines, etc BL used were designed before they were formed and
used Unified. It would make little sense to re-engineer for another thread.


My father's 1970 Hillman Avenger needed two sets of spanners to work
on it. I cannot recall which two types they were, but the engine
needed one set and the rest of the car the other.

My half inch socket set was bought in 1964 along with a set of open
ended spanners. IIRC the socket set alone cost £12 which was a
horrendous price in those days. Both sets covered AF and Whitworth. I
don't think I bought a single metric spanner in the next 10 years.

I missed the earlier part of this thread and Dennis lives in my killfile
anyway but on the Hurricane/Spitfire /Battle of Britain controversy it
is my understanding that the Spitfires were targeted at the fighter
escorts as they were faster and more manoeuvrable than the Hurricanes
and the Hurricanes were targeted at the bombers.

That was in general true, but a hurricane by virtue of its wing area
could out turn a ME109, and conversely the ME109 was much faster..the
Spitfire reduced the differential, but the main advantage the RAF had,
was its radar and the fact that the fight was over home soil. The ME's
were always over hostile ground so a loss of a plane meant the the
effective loss of a pilot, and their ability to stay in escort duty was
marginal at best.


A situation which reversed in the latter parts of the war, until the
longer range Mustangs Thunderbolts and Lightnings arrived, and the large
4 engined bombers able to carry decent defensive armament were
available. Germany never had any 4 engined bombers AFAICR. Their
response was the massive and highly effective deployment of flak guns.