Warbird Information Exchange

I found this little oddity in the Wise County Historical museum in Decatur, TX. The people there didn't have any idea where it came from. As you can see by the sign, someone guessed from a tank or an airplane. I was thinking maybe from a B-29 or a B-36 central fire control, but can't find any pictures on the internet.

I thought I would throw it out to the forum for input. Any suggestions?

(EDIT: Updated with larger pictures. I was in the midst of the update when WIX conveniently threw me out for the last hour. I love computers!!)

Thanks,

JMC

John, can you link bigger pictures? The ones you show are kinda small.

I was going to say it came from the UFO that crashed in Aurora, Texas, but I don't think Sperry was building them at the time.

It's not from a B-29.

That incident NEVER HAPPENED. At least that is what the guy with the dark glasses that landed in the silent black helicopter told me.

I looked at as many places as I could find on the internet, and had a feeling it didn't come from a B-29. I couldn't find many pictures on what the B-36 had.

Would it be something that might have come from a tank? Any possiblity of a ship?

Thanks for looking, JMC

I'm pretty sure it's not B-36 either.

Scott

I was afraid of that, too. The only reason I was thinking those two was that I thought it might be part of some centralized control system. Could it have been attached directly to a gun, to help stabilize a hand held gun in flight?

Also, something I just thought of. Laying next to it is a K-13 gunsight. Would they be used together, or is the K-13 gunsight an independent piece of equipment?

JMC

I was wondering about an artillery piece, armored vehicle, or antiaircraft weapon? Since it is green instead of the typical black used in aircraft, I think that might be a possibility.

S

I agree, the sign they had with it said they weren't sure if it came from an aircraft or a tank. (Or maybe some other piece of armor.) Airplanes I know pretty well, armor-not so much.

One thing I have learned, though, is that the B-17 waist guns had a K-13 computing gun sight attached to them, never knew that before, I always thought it was direct sighting.

JMC

Well, it has an Air Corps contract number, if I'm not mistaken- A.C. 7164
I'd say research that number...
Robbie

Could the A.C. mean Army Contract? Just a possibility.

It might pay off to post these photos on http://web.g503.com/forums/ to see if the military vehicle gurus could help.

Scott

What's the relationship of this controller to the part with the 32FXXX number next to it in the box?

If they're attached, or came from the same aircraft, this may even further the mystery. If I read the p/n correctly on the "green thing" that piece is B-24 Liberator, as the "32" was a Lib number and "F" indicated "fixed equipment" as having something to do wih an internal airframe bracket.

But it is not a controller I've ever seen in the Lib - not Martin upper, not Consolidated or MPC or Southeastern or Erco nose/tail or Briggs or Sperry ball.

The a/c contract is indeed for Air Corps and the AN stamp acceptable for Army or Navy contracts...

I'd throw out a possibility of B-32 Dominator. Look at the B-32 turret thread in this section - it's missing a controller. Look at the three mounting bolt holes on the turret post where the controller sat - and then the back end of "your" piece. The cropped photo only shows one bolt hole - if'n there's three, you may have found the suspect. I have a feeling this is it.

Lacking that, could it have been a special controller for the B-29 CFC equipment as fitted to some of the special stateside training Libs?

B-32 sounds pretty good, Pooner. I didn't even think about that turret style. It also makes sense since the Convair plant is just down the road.

Scott

JMC,

I found a page in the B-32 mainterance manual that shows the turrets and their contollers.The control unit fot the A-17 turret looks a lot like the item in your pictures.I haven't found any useful pictures of the inside of the turret so far,but I'll keep looking.

LK

I hadn't even thought about the B-32. Shame on me, since I am the one that most recently posted pictures of the B-32 turret under rebuild down at Lancaster.

The two other gunsights that were in the cabinet with this piece were unrelated. One was a K-13, and one was unmarked, but was a simple reflector gunsight. Next time I get to the museum I will try to get pictures of them.

Thanks for the insight and interest,

JMC

That control unit may be the one that was separated from the DFW Wing/CAF B-32 turret prior to being donated. Maybe Charlie and the DFW wing can work out a deal and complete the turret with that unit if it is indeed the correct item?