B17 ring and bead sight for tail guns

Here’s a link to some period LIFE magazine shots of B-17Es.
Two nice shots of the rear gunsight,

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=46408

Thanks guys, thats great. The photo of Thunderbird provides a near perfect match although mine doesnt have a hollow end.

I thought that there must be thousands of these things around but am having trouble finding any for referrence.

Am convinced it is definately B17 now.

Thanks folks.

Did Boeing built any other aircraft that would have been fitted with a ring and bead sight?

No.
Their pre-war fighters had gunsights, but nothing like that (to the best of my knowledge..it’s a bit before my time).

I don’t know how historically accurate these sights are ……

First up is the tail of Lone Star Flight Museum’s “Thunderbird”

The Collings Foundation’s “909” has the bead but no ring ….. but does have an extra device inside the stinger tail

🙂

Here’s a close up of a model

http://www.janhermkens.nl/fotos/FF044.%20Tail%20Turret%20closer.jpg