OT: weird part

[jankees]

Yesterday, my brother gave me this big chuck of metal, saying "I have no idea what is is, but I'm told it comes off a B-24 Liberator".
To me, it looks like some sort of hydraulic piston or something like that, but wether it comes from a B-24??? It has a serial 9727-7508, and markings saying "assem 106-58027 compassem 106-580270".
Does any of you guys have an idea, or a suggestion where else I might look?

[Ferry_vO]

Well it's definitely a piston, most likely hydraulic, but could be pneumatic as well. If it comes of an aircraft it could be a flap actuator.?

Edit: Not much help, but here's a schematic of a B-24D's hydraulic system:

http://www.zenoswarbirdvideos.com/Images/B-24/B24HYD.gif

[srgalahad]

it's very similar to the main gear shock strut but it's too small. in this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLlxQWzUkLI there are a couple of good looks at the 1:12 mark and about 2:10. as you can see the main oleo is about 2-3 times the diameter. From the look at your pics, it's too short for the nose gear oleo (which had a rather long travel) so I'd think it might be flaps or even nosegear steering (both wild guesses) although it might also be part of the gear-retraction system.
Off to more looking.

Rob

[viking3]

Looking at that schematic of the hydraulic system, I would say that it sure looks like the flap actuator item 24.

Regards, Rob:ernae: