A friend of mine who is a treasure hunter found a engine data badge buried in a city park near Ft. Worth and this area is miles from any airport. Must have fallen off inflight.
It is beat up to hell but I could read enough of it to see that is nearly matches the one I have posted here (top photo).
The Jacobs factory in Pottstown, PA manufactured P & W engines from 1932 to 1945.
Anyways, thought it was interesting and wonder what tired old trainer (just a guess) it fell off of.
Er - do engine plates really just 'fall off' ??
I would have thought some bigger pieces would have to 'fall off' first !
Beat up - as in corroded? Or mangled, tangled, twisted, beaded and braided, like the Cowsills used to say. From your photo it looks like it's a mixture of the two.
If it's the latter, it could be in that condition because there may have been an unfortunate incident occur at that spot in the past. Maybe the city's archives or a long-time resident now in a senior living center may be able to shed some light on that plate.
R-985. Wasn't that what was installed on Beech 18s/C-45s?
Well, maybe there was a crash but it would seem like there would be a field of metal debris which my friend did not report finding.
The Wasp Junior showed up in a host of aircraft along with the Beech.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratt_...85_Wasp_Junior
..check old newspaper archives, find out in city records what previously occupied the site (old airfield, metal salvager?) Also, (this has worked for me in the past on some salvaged items) try soaking it in lemon juice (cheap store bought stuff) sometimes it will degrade the corrosion enough you can read it. Then go from there.
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