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Aircraft gunsight


M1Marksman
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I picked up a gunsight a long time ago & have never seen another like it 'til recently on ebay. This is the one on ebay; mine looks identical, except for the dimmer knob & maker. Any ideas where this was used? Is it a gun aiming device or from a bombsight? Please help. Thanks.

post-5344-1264951691.jpg

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Are there any markings on the one in your collection? Most of the WWII gun sights were very similar in appearance, but with the model number we might be able to tell which aricraft it came from. Some aircraft even used several types during the war.

Tom Bowers

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Got a bunch of markings on the end where the dimmer knob is...

 

General Electric

Retiflector Sight

Cat. No. 9167718G1

Serial No. 4442980

Manufactured by

Farrand Optical Co., Inc.

NP 143580 New York Made In USA

 

 

It has dark green & amber flip-up filters, both of which got broken when the raccoon got into the shed where the sight was at the time, but there is enough glass still there to see the color, shape & thickness.

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Cobrahistorian

It looks like a turret-mounted sight, rather than a fixed gunsight like a fighter would have. A number of interesting links come up if you google "Farrand Optical, Gunsight"

 

 

Jon

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it is for the B-29 sighting station. On the B-29 the guns were sighted remotely from several sighting stations. These sights were mounted in the sighting blisters. In Jay wisler's warbird parts catalog he lists

 

Retiflector gunsight for the B-29 ring sighting station, Type Des. 165 Mod O, complete with wire harness & plug, dated 1945, new? for $135.00

Hope this helps

Tom Bowers

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Cool, thanks everyone. Looks like I'm the proud owner of a B-29 gunsight. I've had it for about 30 years & paid $10 for it. They actually had a few in the box. They don't have any left; the store is still around, but the supply changes from time to time. They usually have sights for tanks & some misc Russian stuff. Every once in a while, I'll find something I can use, like surplus/unissued Chinese drum magazine pouches for the AK47, rifle grenade sights for the M1 garand, etc. I even got a WW2 aerial camera dated 1942, in the carrying case & w/manual. 30 years later, I found the correct yellow filter for it.

 

Btw, I'm not disclosing the name or location of the store. It's my little secret (wringing hands & laughing maniacally).

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