Need help identifying Kingfisher part

[yak18pilot]

Last Spring, I visited the site of a 1945 Vought O2SU Kingfisher crash near my home. The plane stalled at low altitude, spun in, and burned killing the pilot. The site was cleaned up, but there were numerous small pieces still present. As the site was on private ranch land, it took permission from the landowner to visit it. One of the pieces left behind is this item below. It looks like some sort of navigation light, but I cannot find a similar object in the photos of Kingfishers I've looked at. Anyone have an idea what it is?

Attachments

[marine air]

Need a few more pics to be of any help. Just taking a WAG, it could be a generator housing, but seems too small. Or, it could be a vacuum driven instrument like an artificial horizon or Vertical speed indicator or quality of turn indicator. The metal casing and several screws suggest it has to be strong and support forces/pressures of some kind and needs to have structural integrity beyond say , an ashtray or coffee pot holder.

[yak18pilot]

Unfortunately, this is the only photo I took of the object. It was about 4 inches in diameter and about 3 inches tall. It had the remains of a clear band shaped lens about 1-2 inches tall with a light bulb still inside and a somewhat heat damaged base. Most of the other parts still at the crash site were easily identifiable including part of the wing structure, engine mount structure, radio racks, and rear canopy parts. This part appeared to be in rearward area of the fuselage, possibly from the back cockpit towards the tail.

[JohnB]

Just out of curiosity, very generally, where is the crash site?
Was it a USN example?

[yak18pilot]

It was a USN fixed gear Kingfisher. It took off from Alameda NAS and crashed about 14 miles southeast of Livermore, CA on September 24, 1945. It turns out the pilot had no time in type (but claimed he did) and while maneuvering low to the hillsides, multiple witnesses saw him enter a steep bank then spiral to the ground killing both the pilot and GIB. At that time, there was a popular bar about a mile away on Mines Road and it is possible he was overflying that area when he lost control. The site was cleaned up, but as is often the case, many smaller pieces were left behind. I can post more pictures of the current debris if anyone wants to see more. I do have the crash report pictures, but since they are not censured, I will not post them...

[bdk]

It was about 4 inches in diameter and about 3 inches tall. It had the remains of a clear band shaped lens about 1-2 inches tall with a light bulb still inside and a somewhat heat damaged base... This part appeared to be in rearward area of the fuselage, possibly from the back cockpit towards the tail.

Looks like it could be the remains of a rotating beacon. Looks like one end contains a motor and a transmission for the rotation mechanism.