Whitworth v UNC

Yes, the Leyland 0600 and 0680 were Whitworth standard. Fitted into the Unified standard Leopard chassis, the engine mounts would be BSF but the chassis fittings, otherwise were Unified. (Apart from the brake linkages which dated back to the PD double deckers! ) And then later, as I said, they mounted the Metric 500 Series engine on it!

Even worse was the Gardner engined Bristol RE. Gardners were resolutely Whit standard. So the clutch was bolted to the flywheel with 5/16 BSF bolts - with 5/8 A/F heads! And the bell housing was retained by nine 3/8 BSF bolts and three studs with 3/8 UNF nuts.

So much for standardisation.

Howard

Prior to the Fire & Rescue service I worked for a time for Hants & Dorset buses, they had a large fleet of Bristol buses, including RE single deckers. Lovely buses, especially the Gardner engine at the rear. I'm very fond of Gardners with all their idiosyncrasies. They also had a sprinkling of Leyland National buses, not our favourite vehicles, but at least they were toasty warm inside for the passengers.

Reference the aircraft accident, fitting a windscreen is not an easy job, the aircraft windscreens that I have fitted the securing bolts had rubber sleeves slid on them prior to putting them in place, the rubber sleeves caused a lot of friction and it was difficult to feel what was going on with the threads. An important difference with the windscreens that I fitted was that they were inserted into the framework from within the cockpit so if all the bolts suddenly let go the windscreen would stay in place held by the cabin pressure. Unfortunately modern aircraft design has moved to items like windscreens and entrance doors being fitted from outside the aircraft, in the case of doors that open outwards, a failure of the door could mean it blowing out due to the internal cabin pressure. I assume that the move to outward opening doors on aircraft was because they take up less of the internal space when operated, meaning more space to cram in passengers. I would like to say that a lot of my aircraft maintenance experience was on Britannia aircraft so that dates me.
Dave W