WW2 aircraft cine camera: need ID
Steven Malikoff
Hi all,
I recently acquired a WW2 aircraft cine camera, and am wondering if
anyone might be able to identify it or tell me a little bit about it.
The camera is definately British as it has AM (Air Ministry) on the camera
itself and on its brass film cannister, where it also has the /|\ arrow.
It measures 118mm wide x 104mm high x 27mm thick (4 5/8" x 4 1/16" x 1 1/16")
and is made of aluminium alloy, painted dark brown-grey.
The camera has a braided cable with 3 wires ending in an aluminium cannector,
and the only controls are a knob indicating time left (?) and a Bright/Dark
restrictor that slides over the aperture. The aperture itself is halfway
along one edge on the underside of the body. The markings on the camera are:
A.M.
14A/3629
G.G.S.
RECORDER
MK.II
24V
XX 6020
The folks on WWII-L told me it takes 9.5mm film but no further information.
Is it a gun camera? What sort of aircraft would have used it? Can anyone tell
me what G.G.S. stands for?
I have scanned in top, bottom and side view pictures of it, at
http://phaedra.apana.org.au/camera_1.jpg (and camera_2.jpg & camera_3.jpg) if
anyone's interested.
Thanks for any help at all,
Steve Malikoff.
ste...@phaedra.apana.org.au
--
Steve Malikoff
ste...@phaedra.apana.org.au
WW2 jeep page at http://phaedra.apana.org.au/ww2jeep.html
Philip Morten
Reply-To: pmo...@vnet.ibm.com
Steven Malikoff wrote:
>
> Hi all,
> I recently acquired a WW2 aircraft cine camera, and am wondering if
> anyone might be able to identify it or tell me a little bit about it.
> The camera is definately British as it has AM (Air Ministry) on the camera
> itself and on its brass film cannister, where it also has the /|\ arrow.
> It measures 118mm wide x 104mm high x 27mm thick (4 5/8" x 4 1/16" x 1 1/16")
> and is made of aluminium alloy, painted dark brown-grey.
> The camera has a braided cable with 3 wires ending in an aluminium cannector,
> and the only controls are a knob indicating time left (?) and a Bright/Dark
> restrictor that slides over the aperture. The aperture itself is halfway
> along one edge on the underside of the body. The markings on the camera are:
> A.M.
> 14A/3629
> G.G.S.
> RECORDER
> MK.II
> 24V
> XX 6020
>
> The folks on WWII-L told me it takes 9.5mm film but no further information.
> Is it a gun camera? What sort of aircraft would have used it? Can anyone tell
> me what G.G.S. stands for?
This is a recording camera for a Gyro Gun Sight (G.G.S.), it fits on
to the GGS and records the view the pilot gets through the sight. I'm
not sure with which mark of GGS this is associated, if it is the one for
the GGS Mk.II then it could be from a late Second World War fighter. Is
there a serial number on it anywhere? They are often of the form
12345/xx, where the xx after the / represents the manufacturing date.
The fact that it is 24v probably indicates a later rather than than
earlier model, the Spitfire became 24v only in the Mark 24. Later marks
of GGS were used on aircraft up to and including the Hunter and Javelin.
The British Aircraft Armament series of books will probably help, I cant
remember whether it is Vol 1 or 2 which has the gunsight information,
I'll have a look tonight and see if there is any more info.
British Aircraft Armament Volume 1 R. Wallace Clarke, PSL, £19.99, ISBN
1 85260 223 6
British Aircraft Armament Volume 2 R. Wallace Clarke, PSL, £19.99, ISBN
1 85260 402 6
Philip Morten
Philip Morten
Philip Morten wrote:
> This is a recording camera for a Gyro Gun Sight (G.G.S.), it fits on
> to the GGS and records the view the pilot gets through the sight. I'm
> not sure with which mark of GGS this is associated, if it is the one for
> the GGS Mk.II then it could be from a late Second World War fighter. Is
> there a serial number on it anywhere? They are often of the form
> 12345/xx, where the xx after the / represents the manufacturing date.
> The fact that it is 24v probably indicates a later rather than than
> earlier model, the Spitfire became 24v only in the Mark 24. Later marks
> of GGS were used on aircraft up to and including the Hunter and Javelin.
>
> The British Aircraft Armament series of books will probably help, I cant
> remember whether it is Vol 1 or 2 which has the gunsight information,
> I'll have a look tonight and see if there is any more info.
>
> British Aircraft Armament Volume 1 R. Wallace Clarke, PSL, £19.99, ISBN
> 1 85260 223 6
>
> British Aircraft Armament Volume 2 R. Wallace Clarke, PSL, £19.99, ISBN
> 1 85260 402 6
OK I checked. It is Volume 2 that describes the gunsights, there is a
picture on page 174 of a camera which has the same markings that you
describe, on the previous page there is a photograph of one attached to
a GGS Mk.IID. The GGS Mk.IID was the fighter version of this gunsight
and deliveries to the RAF started in late 1943, production continued
until mid-1945. Later marks of gunsight ( for example the GGS Mk.4
used in later marks of Vampires and Meteors) used the Camera Recorder
Mk.3 so it is reasonable to assume that the one you have was used with
the Mk.II gunsight.
Philip Morten