Gunsight Bracket

Hi Al
No problem about getting back to me we all get computer problems at some point. Your right about the bracket it is steel and that’s whats thrown me but if you think about it your FN5 turret mount was steel with alloy castings at the ends. I do know for sure its not of a BP D type as a mate of mine has one, so I will look into the BP type E turret to see what that looks like.

Hi Col,

Apologies for not getting back to you sooner but I’ve had nothing but IT problems for the last few weeks, including the imminent/failure of several hard drives, all packed with gbs of data. It’s been a struggle but I think I’ve been able to retrieve most (but not all) of it.

As to what the piece is…

I agree with Bruce, it’s most likely to be from a rear turret.

Beyond that, it’s not FN120/121 or FN82, nor is it from a Rose rear turret.

That leaves the Boulton Paul turrets. The side frames (the V-shaped piece) look right for B-P rear turret but the sight support arms are wrong for the B-P Type D (yours are straight, the B-P Type D’s were curved). That leaves the possibility of a Type E equipped with a G.G.S? Unfortunately, I’m bereft of A.P. info on the B-P rear turrets which I can go and consult, so this is only a guess/suggestion.

If you do a Google image search for B-P Type D turrets, I think you’ll see what I mean.

One last thought, your photo makes the parts look rusty? Surely they are not steel? If so, maybe they are from some type of ground based defence gun mounting that used a G.G.S?

But only for a Mk 11 gyro sight. Sets a bit of a limit on it! Could also be tail turret for (eg) Lancaster/Lincoln.

Yep the bit on the right is the bottom mount for the Gyro Gunsight.So from late Spitfire onwards.

The basic gyro part is identical to a meteor