Warbird Information Exchange

Hello everyone. A good friend of mine volunteers at the museum at the old Manston airbase in England. They have pulled out some items from storage and need info so they may be displayed. It looks like an ILS display but the markings are not readable. B-17s and B-24s operated from Manston so possibly the instrument came from a wartime plane. Any help greatly appreciated.
Thanks and Merry Christmas to all.

B-17s, B-24s and many others diverted to Manston but they didn't operate from there: it was RAF-manned and operated thus throughout the war. From 1950 thru 1958 it was a base for F-84D/E/F, F-86D/F, SB-29, C-82, SA-16, H-19, T-33, C-47, T-6, L-5, L-20 etc. It also held a brief B-45 TDY deployment.

No guarantees that this instrument came from any of those but the 1950s seems a more likely source, or of course the later RAF use of the site up to the (1990s?) with SAR helicopters.

It could be part of a zero reader system, an early flight director. Have a look at the last image on this page: https://aeroantique.com/products/headin ... 4353794078, note the second instrument on that drawing from a F-89 manual. There is a photo of a slightly different one here: https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.o ... -indicator

If you can make out what the text on the side says (the photos you attached are a bit on the small side) it would help a lot. The first two lines are most likely going to offer the best clues.

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A Little VC10derness - A Tribute to the Vickers VC10 - www.VC10.net

You're in luck. I just so happened to scan a manual at the museum the other day that has illustrations of an instrument that looks just like it:





(Source: Instrument Flying: Army Air Forces Instrument Approach System, T.O. 30-100F-1, 15 January 1945, title, ii, 3, 4, 12.)

The complete version is available via the Tri-State Warbird Museum's Internet Archive collection.


One thing I found out while listing the manuals in the 30-100 series is that the British had their own version of the system. I've never seen a copy of it, but it should be titled something like Instrument Flying: British Standard Beam Approach System, T.O. 30-100E-1. It may be related to the autoland system tested on a Boeing 247.

Which reminds me, you should reach out to the Rochester Avionic Archives as there's a good chance they would be able to provide more information.

Lastly, in the future, be sure to make use of the full 1024 x 1024 pixel resolution that WIX allows. The images you uploaded are significantly smaller than that and the text is difficult to read. Minor details will be easier to spot as well and you'll be much more likely to receive a successful identification as a result.

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

Thank you very much everyone for the great info. I will pass it on to my chum in England. He promises me lots more to come.
Best Regards
Bill