Military or not? Need help IDing an artifact.

mfsob;

I am by no means an expert, however just looking at it. This appears to be a turn latch to fasten a tarp or hood down. The olive drab colour would place it in the World War II era of items.

I would suggest possibly sending an email with the pic to a few of the vehicle restoring groups around for a more definitive answer.

Cheers;

Gregory

I know nothing about what aircraft flew from that field at any given time, but if it is from a jeep, I'd batch it from 1941 or so through the early 60's.

However - I just thought of a loooooong shot - but since I have no basis for making this guess other than 'inspired guess', I'd follow it up with research.  But since from your first post it sounds like a training field, I tried to think of what use it could be on an aircraft.  It might have been used to secure the canvas hood over the cockpit of an Army (since it's dark green) biplane for instrument-only training flights.

While the biplane cockpit guess is more of a wish than a guess - and it's more likely that it comes from a much more mundane origin - I wouldn't jump to conclusions.  I just wanted to throw it out there as a possibility.  I don't even know how they secured those canvas hoods down, but I believe Army planes in the 20's and 30's were a shade of dark green.  Who knows?  Keep us posted on what else you might find out!

How did you come across it?  Was it close to a building: Out in the middle of nowhere?  On the field or near it?  Was it on the surface or under dirt?  If under dirt, how deep?   Try to find out how the field's configuration evolved over the years - was the spot where you found it at one time occupied by hangars, or a runway, or empty land?  How complete are field records?  Could there have been a crash whereby this bit was ejected and lost?  Granted, it looks like a jeep part too, but you never know.  Is there a museum around where you could compare it to a jeep from the 40's to see if it matches up with those parts?  Get going, Sherlock Holmes!   This could be fun!  

One thing's for sure, though - it isn't from any uniform or web gear I've ever seen.  Without a top-down view it's hard to say, but it looks like a screwhole on either side to bolt it down to some kind of larger object - presumably vehicle (or aircraft).

alumni72, to answer your questions:

• 1) The artifact was found during the week long aviation archaeology school conducted by TIGHAR in 2005.
• 2) It was found in front of the original Hangar 2 structure, about where one corner of the sliding hangar doors would be. Nothing but the outlines of the original 1911 hangars remains today.
• 3) It was found in the first 10 cm. soil layer excavated. None of the test pits went down much below 30 cm. because we ran into the glacially-deposited subsoil, which was devoid of cultural items.
• 4) The available records on the original hangars are spotty, particularly as to all of their eventual fates. The College Park Aviation Museum, http://www.pgparks.com/places/historic/cpam/ , has pretty thorough newspaper clipping files, so we were able to pinpoint when Hangar 1 burned down in the 1940s; Hangar 2 apparently collapsed under a heavy winter snow load at about the same time, but we aren't sure if the debris was burned, bulldozed to the side or simply left to rot.
• 5) There have been numerous crashes at College Park over the years, including two with the first Wright Military Flyers (steep learning curve, I guess). Whether any of them occurred right in front of Hangar 2 is impossible to say.
• 6) You are correct about the mounting holes - there is one on each side of the knob at the ends of the "T", each about 1/8^th-inch in diameter.

It is off a jeep. It mounts to the body and used to secure the "rag-top" canvas top.

Have used these things since Hitler was a corporal.

Yep its a turn fastener they still use them to attach tarps, and bra's  rock chip prtectors to the from of motorhomes

mfsob;

that twist lock tab was also used on aircraft to secure the sound proof padding to the interiors of planes, like the B-17's, B-24's, and C-45's, C-46's, C-47's, and they are still used today in most large, corpurate, & private aircraft in use

I used that exact same piece for holding the edges of a Jeep's top to the body.

I've also seen them used to hold an aircrafts first aid kit to a bulkhead.  It's a very

common type of fastener.

Ray

mfsob wrote:

Go here for a picture: http://home.earthlink.net/~mffowler/cpartifact_clip.jpg . Any thoughts on whether it came from a car or not would be appreciated.

A very common fastner used on many military vehicles and trailors for anchoring/attaching fabric tops/covers/tarps.

I worked in the motorpool for a long time and those same fastners were used. Instead of snaps like we see sometimes today, those were used for attaching such things as: the tops on Jeeps, cargo covers on M-88's (pickup trucks), covers over the generator trailors, etc...

As far as putting a date on it... that is past my expertise. I do know that I worked on vehicles and equipment that dated back to WWII and those fastners were on them.
How it got there? Could be even from a mechanic dropping one while working on something!
A geneator could have been outside and needed work or a Jeep. Hangers were used as a garage for repairing anything, not just planes.

Concentrate your reseach on how the military attached soft tops to equipment, that might help you zero in on an answer.

Good luck.

Ray Marotta wrote:

I used that exact same piece for holding the edges of a Jeep's top to the body. I've also seen them used to hold an aircrafts first aid kit to a bulkhead.  It's a very common type of fastener. Ray

Yep, those things were used for hold-downs; hold-closed; hold-on situations that velcreu is used for today.  They were used to button-up side-pockets on old-styled military backpacks and many small canvas storage pouches in aircraft cockpits, too.