I was waiting for my karate licence to come through from the Karate Union of Great Britain (K.U.G.B.) but the envelope got chewed up in the sorting office. When it eventually did arrive, it came in a plastic, self sealing bag marked 'Opened by the Ministry of Defense'. I was a bit puzzled until I saw that the sorting office rollers had chewed up the U in KUGB and all that was visible was KGB! As if the KGB would send you a membership via Royal Mail and in English as well! On the other side of the coin, my dad once sent me a birthday gift wrapped in flimsy wrapping paper with Happy Birthday all over it. It arrived (miraculously) unscathed! He should have known better having spent 40 years as a postman. Keith
The very one Steve. The larger one , possibly within the system which directed "Pom Pom" guns but I cannot be 100% on this.
Such an interesting thread! Better than this could only be a Predictor system for a 3.7" AA battery, I suppose. My father 'worked' on one so I'm interested On the one before last photo there are two details that I'm curiouis about: 1 - That little arrow above the left eyepiece, which I suppose is pointing to some cursor. Looking up on another pic this arrow appears to be fixed. 2 - What appears to be a nipple outside each eyepiece, each having maybe a stopper held with a chain. Could the optics be filled with some fluid? There is no hope of a photo of the reticle, I'd hazard All in all a nice memento, James!
My guess, Za, is that the knob on the R moves the LH eyepiece to set its distance from the other - note the lump underneath in the 3rd photo probably housing a worm drive to that effect. Assuming the LH assembly secretly pivots somewhere around its middle, the curved scale on top would move against the pointer in the opposite direction to the eyepiece itself. A low-tech version of a Volvo's seat-position memories for its various drivers, think how much quicker this would have been for optimising the sight when called to action stations in a hurry - needing only to remember one personal setting number for all sights of that type on any ship. Good ergonomics! As for nipples, I automatically assume lubrication - grease/oil for, say, the focus and filter-changing mechanisms? No sealed bearing in those days and rather a harsh environment don't forget!
Za/ Steve The two arrows you mentioned at the side of each eye piece, these allow for focusing. The knob on the left hand side, these adjust the inter ocular distance , allowing the use to et the best view possible , eg set the eye pieces apart for the distance between your eyes. The nipples you mention , no fluid in the set, most likely to allow the set to be purged with nitrogen to remove moisture. The filters the front engages a grey filter, the lever above each eye piece engage three different coloured filters. Below the possible mount for the set, or a similar instrument, gun laying stands.
Go wrong! Recently I found an old butt map -taped to the inner side of my SLR rifle butt, in November 1976 the Bogside, if a contact was called I could refer to the map. I had made a comment in china-graph and as I looked at it all these years later the event came back to me. We had been tasked to parallel patrol through the Bogside when we spotted a Saracen - the GOC was going to have a look see for himself. Standing in doorways looking at the world going by, the codeword came across the air to my reliable Stornophone radio, come on lads we are off. To our front we could see the Saracen we followed it up as other patrols flanked it others were patrolling in front. As the vehicle left the Bog we went on to our secondary tasks. A garbled message over the air, where the ****s the escort? 'Felix' (bomb disposal) had decided to take a route through the bog without informing Tac HQ! We had just escorted the ATO whilst the GOC had gone through with just his close escort group. I bet someones mess tab was high that night! On this same tour the powers that be decided to show the Guardsmen how quickly 'Starlight' The Doctor could reach them if needed. The old gas works was my area to patrol as the call came over the net - Starlight - with a code so we new it was the run - right lads and we waited and waited. Told to move on by Tac we had been in one area too long. The de-brief was hilarious (it should not have been!) Doc came out of Masonic Car park, Portacabin City, or home as some poor deluded souls called it - down to the Little Diamond and - yep bang some poor old dears motor was rendered unwell by a bloody great Sary Can! In a state of shock they treated her and left us out in the Bog being sworn at by the locals.
I have images of those rangefinders in Royal Navy Pompom directors on one of my blog entries. I do not know much more about these binoculars though, but at least you know where the smaller ones have been used on (assuming you didn't know already!)
Za , the Blogg which Foeth has is an fantastic and very informative source of information. I was delighted to find it and was amazed by the wonderful photos there.
