20mm hispano round

[corblimy]

I was given this recently by an old friend who served in the RAF in the mid 1950's
It is a lovely condition 20mm round that has had the Kings crown and RAF Eagle soldered onto it. It has also had 99 Squadron engraved very neatly underneath the eagle.
The headstamp is 'BMARO' dated 1940 and 20mm IZ. These stamps I have looked up read about, so I understand that part of the item, including the fact that apparently this quite an early 20mm round, so I would like clarification on that side of things.

Now, 99 were a bomber squadron, it was a bomber squadron that Group Captain Pickard of the later Amiens gaol raid was on in 1940. Equipped with Wellingtons, transferred to india in 1942 where it later operated Liberators.

So the 20mm is not common to those aircraft, and certainly not in 1940, so an armourers piece I should think.
The base has been soldered onto something else in the past, any tips for removing the solder without damaging the casing?

 

[Tony Williams]

The headstamp is actually BMARC: British Manufacturing and Research Company (also written BMARCo) which was Hispano-Suiza's British subsidiary, making the early 20mm Hispano guns. Yes, 1940 is an early date for this ammo (the guns didn't become widely used until 1941). No-one ever fitted a Hispano to a Wellington, that I've ever heard.