Gauge ID

So it’s a mid fifties 600mph airspeed indicator that’s being exported to France or a French speaking nation.

So 600 mph equals jet.

In the mid fifties the France military used knots and it’s civil side was metric kph.
Pretty sure the Swiss were all Metric.
What did the Belgium’s use?

Sticking with the French theme, and assuming it would be fitted to a jet for export to a further country which still used mph;-Sud Aviation Caravelle gong to North America or maybe a Dassault Mystere going to Israel

aircraftclocks
Thanks for that. Amazing what can be found out on this forum.

Can’t help with what aircraft this instrument may have been fitted to but in the Smith’s 1956 catalogue it is priced at 38 10 0.

Some of the placarding in our Anson cockpit is in MPH as well as knots.

Anon.

I ought to clarify my last reply; They were in many fifties and sixties aircraft, but reading in knots. Some however were in MPH; perhaps as has been said for the export market. I recall an advert on ebay for one, where it was stated that it was from a Buccaneer.

Bruce

Thanks Bruce,
I learn something new every day!
I always thought that from the early fifties ASIs were in knots in the RAF and MPH was for ‘odd’ aircraft – like American etc.

Not Vampire or Venom. The type of instrument was standard on many aircraft in the late fifties and sixties, including Hunter. They were in Buccaneer, but as you say usually in kts.

Thanks guys,
Surely not Buccaneer. Although it goes up to 600 MPH the date on it is 1957.
Could it have been fitted to an export Vampire/Venom/Meteor?

I think a clue can be found in the packaging. I would say it was destined for the export market. Many countries such as France used British manufactured instrumentation in their own aircraft industry not just limited to military aircraft but also civil.

Unless the SAAF used mph ??
I thought even the RAF had mostly changed to Kts by the mid 50’s !

By Buccaneer you would think it would all have been in Knots, but I have seen one advertised as such before – I just cant remember by whom!

Navy would have been calibrated in knots surely Bruce ; )

Buccaneer rear cockpit I think – oddly!

Not seen many others with MPH readings; they are mostly knots.

Yes indeed thats apparently what it is (tech no) – just to make matters confusing for the noob like me, getting them mixed up with aircraft numbers:rolleyes:

Thanks for all the help !

I had an AH with A42-52 on it once and was told that it was a servivicing tech no??

Some instruments can have the aircraft serial number “hand written” on them when removed by the engineers from a particular aircraft usually in some sort of silver type of ink,
However it is very unlikely the factory would imprint the number on the instrument, it probably refers to something else other than the individual aircraft serial number.

THe number is factory stencilled, if that makes sense – I’d put a pic up but I don’t have my camera with me at the moment :rolleyes:

Was the number a factory stamp ie embossed or handwritten onto the insrument?