Nash & Thompson
tail turret 2.jpg|thumb|right|The FN-20 4-gun tail turret on an Avro Lancaster]
[Image:Avro Lancaster VR-A front turret.jpg|thumb|right|FN-5 2-gun nose turret on a Lancaster]
Nash & Thompson was a British engineering firm that developed and produced hydraulically operated gun turrets for aircraft. As part of Parnall Aircraft it was also an important manufacturer of hydraulic-powered radar scanners used on radar systems such as H2S and AI Mark VIII.
Nash & Thompson also designed the hydraulically-powered turret traversing systems that were used in British Cruiser tanks from the A9 - the first tank with a powered turret traverse - through to the Cromwell.
History
Nash & Thompson was established in 1929 at Kingston upon Thames by business partners Archibald Goodman Frazer Nash and Esmonde Grattan ThompsonNash & Thompson developed the hydraulic gun turrets that Frazer-Nash invented and his designs were consequently numbered in a series prefixed with "FN".
Parnall Aircraft
In May 1935 Parnall Aircraft was formed taking over the George Parnall & Company site at Yate which gave them a skilled workforce, and the Hendy Aircraft Company. Thompson was the managing director and Frazer Nash technical director. Production was to be at Yate while development remained at Tolworth.The company's major competition in the UK at the time was from Boulton & Paul, which had licensed the designs of the French company S.A.M.M.. The FN turrets used hydraulic power produced by the aircraft's engine: the BP designs used individual hydraulic pumps for each turret supplied from the aircraft's 24-volt electrical system. Bristol also became a major builder of turrets for British aircraft in the following years.
Initially other companies such as Vickers and Handley Page took FN control units for fitting in their own turret designs.
The importance of Parnall at Yate to British aircraft production was such that two bomb attacks by the Luftwaffe were made on it, the first on 27 February 1941 by KG27's most experienced crew which resulted in 46 deaths and loss of production drawings. In response production was dispersed.
Over the course of the war the company workforce reached 8,000 engaged on design, production and maintenance and support. At the end of the war, under the chairmanship of the Earl of Limerick, Parnall left the aircraft industry reducing to 1,000 employees at Yate.
Products
[Image:Village Inn AGLT FN150 Turret.jpg|thumb|right|upright|FN 121 turret incorporating the Village Inn system, as fitted on a Lancaster.]Nash & Thompson 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 with which they merged in 1935.FN 1 – "lobster back" partially enclosed turret for Hawker DemonFN 4A – four-gun rear turretFN 5 – two-gun nose turret on Avro Manchester, Short Stirling and Vickers WellingtonFN 5A – two-gun nose turret on Avro LancasterFN 7 – two-gun dorsal turret on Blackburn Botha, Manchester, Short Sunderland, StirlingFN 9 – two-gun retractable "dustbin" ventral turret on Wellington, rarely fitted.FN 10 – two-gun tail turret on early-model Wellington and Armstrong Whitworth WhitleyFN 11 – two-gun retractable nose turret in SunderlandFN 13 – four-gun tail turret in SunderlandFN 16 – single Vickers 'K' gun front turret in WhitleyFN 17 – two-gun retractable "dustbin" ventral turret on Whitley, rarely usedFN 20 – four-gun tail turret on Lancaster, Wellington, Stirling and WhitleyFN 21A – two-gun retractable "dustbin" ventral turret on Manchester, rarely usedFN 25 – two-gun retractable "dustbin" ventral turret for the Wellington I based on the FN 17FN 50 – two-gun dorsal turret on Lancaster, late-model StirlingFN 51 – two-gun dorsal turret on early-model Handley Page HalifaxFN 54 – two-gun rearward firing chin turret on Bristol Blenheim Mk.IV and Bristol BeaufortFN 64 – two-gun ventral turret on Lancaster with periscopic sight, rarely fittedFN.70 - planned pressurised rear turret for high-altitude Wellington VIFN 77 – retractable ventral turret fitted with Leigh Light for the Wellington and Warwick based on the FN 25FN 82 – two-gun tail turret on late-model LancasterFN 120 – four-gun tail turret; refinement of the FN 20 weighing less; used on late-model Lancaster and WellingtonFN 121 – four-gun tail Automatic Gun Laying Turret on late-model Lancaster fitted with Village Inn automatic gun laying radar and fire control ; also used without AGLR on Wellington and WarwickFN 150 – an improved two-gun dorsal turret, based on the FN 50, and fitted to many Lancasters