Wha? ok wiseguy, its still a WW2 weapon! - a clue - actually its a part of a weapon ok...how long do people wait normally for a reply on this thread? shall I drop another clue later... [ 28. November 2003, 02:31 AM: Message edited by: BratwurstDimSum ]
The one at foreground: Komandohilfegerät 35, an antiaircraft gun director, a sort of mechanical computer at background: EmR 4m R40 ? a 4m base rangefinder. The both equipment were used with German heavy AAA Regards, Juha
I'm impressed! That is correct for the item in the foreground, the item in the background, I'll let you have it. Its a listening device for Aircraft out of range of sight I believe. Over to you Juha!
Juha is correct on the item in the foreground. It is, indeed, a Kommandohilfsgerät 36. It was used as an auxiliary fire control device with heavy AA units. It operated on the angular rate method and used the range finder in the background as its data source. It is intended only as a backup to the device in the background. The range finder in the background is a Kommandogerät 36 mounting a 4 meter stereoscopic rangefinder. It mechanically computed the target's speed, altitude,etc using continious data linear computation method. The crew was 11 men. Data was transmitted to the guns in the battery. It was towed on a 4 wheel two bogie type trailer (sort of a smaller version of the 88 trailer). Note, the large circular things under the rangefinder are handwheels... Where several batteries were slaved to a single director the Flakumvertegerät Malsi 41, 42 or, 43 was provided to correct data at each battery before transmitting it to the individual guns.
Some pics from "Handbook on German Military Forces, by US War department technical manual 15th March 1945":
Great response guys, looks like I was wrong about the "listening" bit eh? Here is the full picture, which kinda reveals that it is a German piece of kit. [ 29. November 2003, 03:22 PM: Message edited by: BratwurstDimSum ]
I have some really neat questions but I can't seem to get the *&%$^ photo's to upload! So, here's a non-photo one: Many ships in the Atlantic used a similar camoflauge scheme. In the US Navy this was called Measure 16 or "the Thayer system." What was this camoflauge scheme called in the Royal Navy?
Was this by any chance 'dazzle camouflage' which was proposed in WW1 by artist Norman Wilkinson, based on Cubist ideas of art ?
No, but it was proposed first by Abbott Thayer, an American naturalist and artist in the WW I era. It was resurrected in WW II by Peter Scott a British naturalist and artist who proposed the idea to the Admirality who accepted it. A great number of ASW ships on Atlantic convoy duty ended up painted in this scheme.
Well I was going to say disruptive but I have no idea if Thayer suggested that or not and besides it sounds too much like "dazzle" in this context....
Well, another overwhelming response. The correct answer is the Western Approaches scheme. A ship in this scheme was painted completely white on all vertical surfaces. A splinter pattern of very light blue and green (British version only) was applied over the white. In overcast or hazy weather (which was the rule in the Atlantic) a ship in this scheme virtually disappeared into the background. The blue and green panels were to help hide it in clear weather when it would otherwise stand out like a sore thumb. A variant was done by Lord Mountbatten's DD squadron which substituted "Mountbatten Pink" (a very light red) for the blue. This made the splinter pattern darker at night than the blue panels did. Well, enough on that. I'll have to come up with another question....maybe something on tanks this time....
Measure 16, the American equivalent of the British Western Approaches System, has been named the Thayer System. http://www.shipcamouflage.com/6_42_discussion.htm Indeed, there it is. If I had tried a little harder, I would have found the answer, sorry. But it was not easy. This is the only web source mentioning the relation. [ 06. December 2003, 02:25 AM: Message edited by: KnightMove ]
I will have a new question first thing in the AM (+8 GMT). Military duty called this weekend so I was a bit occupied elsewhere.
Ok, a nice easy German equipment one: Name the unique vehicle used by the 8th Schwere PanzerJäger Abt in 1940 - 41 in France and Russia.
