Turntables.

Yes, that's jogged my memory, I think it was on Oxford Road around the University somewhere.

 

I have heard a similar story about one ion the City, it may be the same one

 

Over the sea to Skye at Kyle in 1969. Car and passengers for the princely sum of 7/6 ( 37.5 pence for the youngsters ). A more exciting way to arrive but I suspect the islanders appreciate the bridge.

 

Do I remember correctly that there was a Turntable on the Humber Ferry prior to the opening of the bridge?
Only ever used it the once.

 

That was possibly a compass swing platform. The aircraft would be parked on the platform and then the platform would be turned so a check of the headings shown on the aircraft's compass could be made against known, fixed headings.

 

In Winchester, on the road in from Alresford, just before the cemetery, there is a house with a turntable which is nicely finished with stone setts. I don't think it is ever used, but was probably the price of getting planning consent. (I read somewhere that it is actually an offence to reverse onto a road - may be only A roads(?)
Pat

 

Planning permission is necessary for creating any new vehicle-access on a classified road.

 

Salisbury library has a turntable at its front entrance for turning the mobile library that parks there at night.

 

Hummm, Not sure about that as compass swings need an area free from as much magnetic interference (e.g. ferrous metals) as possible. Even the reinforcing bars in the concrete on a designated 'compass base' are brass or similar and not steel.
Making a turntable out of ferrous metals would certainly induce errors in the compass readings which would not be easily identified as separate from the aircraft's own errors making correction almost impossible.

 

The one on the airfield at Gutersloh was built of wood!! Not used by the shiny Lightnings or glossy Hunters though, it was a relic of the days when the Luftwaffe were in residence with their ME109s and FW190s - as described by one of our civvy staff who was a Luftwaffe mechanic and based there during WWII.

Just checked Bing maps - the area where it was located can still be seen!!

 

Wood? Now that is different! I guess it would still need metal bolts & straps etc and some sort of pivot so unless these were non ferrous they must have just accepted that there were going to be residual errors after the swing.

I'm not sure if the turntable would really be a benefit though. The engines have to be running at about 75% - 80% power (Cruise RPM) when you take the readings of the aircraft compasses to compare with your external reference compass so it's no real additional bother just to taxi it round in a circle between readings - unless, of course, you have no hard standing suitable and the grass turns into a quagmire after any rain .
It would have made my life interesting when swinging helicopters… Take a reference reading, wind up the power to the specified value and… Oops - rotor torque and a turntable? Oh what fun trying to hold that still!

 

Definitely wood - I stood on the damn thing as Werner explained how he had used it when he was a young mechanic servicing the Luftwaffe's finest in 1944/5 - I suspect you are talking modern procedures.

Funny old thing - here's photo of an Me-109 on a compass swing turntable just as Werner described - don't know if it's the Gutersloh platform though..

 

A couple of pictures of the Bournemouth Corp trolley bus turntable at Christchurch in September 1966

 

Somebody once told me the first thing he learnt about driving 'for real' after passing his test was not to try to overtake a Bournemouth Corporation Trolley Bus - it cant be done

 

There is one inside the Palace of Westminster for turning Royal Mail vans. Still in use when I toured the place about five years ago.

 

It's the same nearly every time I pass it. (Winchester Library Railway Section beckoning!!)
Pat

 

one in the front garden of a house in Askam in Furness build by the present owner for his wife Nissan Micra who can reverse her car out the Cul de sac

 

Can anyone provide Google maps links to any of these turntables pls? I'm struggling to find them.

 

This is the Framlingham one..
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.221...4!1s2F-rLrfzaCIsI1F5N3ijHw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656