MK I Gyro Gunsight

here It is. Is that a Scout hiding behind your sight? Quite a collection!

Interesting pic of the Australian gyro sight there. The prismatic gyro sighting head is also different from the standard turret sight. It has a slot in the base into which the plastic ‘lead’ aiming point reticule fitted. I posted a thread about this when I found one but didn’t get the same splendid response. I’ll try and post a picture

The Prismatic gunsight was one of those ****-ups that should never have happened.

Much money, time and effort (and much needed production capacity) taken up developing a gunsight that was, to its intended end users, impracticable and unwanted.

I think someone ordered 1,000 to be built before it was properly tested.

It was originally intended to be for turret and free gun installations and I never did understand why bolting it on top of a gyro stabilising unit would somehow turn it into a practical sight for a Spitfire.

Imagine being in a heated dogfight and having to clamp an eye to that thing in order to be able to draw a bead on the enemy?

Still, if lessons learned led to the development of the Mk. II sight, then perhaps not all of that effort was wasted.

Here is a picture of my Mk 1.

I got it from Australia.

I was told and I’m not sure if it was true or not, is that all the Mk 1 were tested in Australia to stop any falling into enemy hands

What you have there is a Prismatic gunsight, with an interesting story of its own.

It would only be a Gyro sight Mk. I if it had the very large “lump” which is missing from your item.

I would wager that there were hundreds (read maybe thousands!) more of the former made than the latter, so the chances are it has never been anywhere near a Spitfire in its life.

(Unless you store it in the same shed?) 🙂

Can anyone tell me if the Mk. I Gyro sight was actually used operationally, and by whom/what?

Thanks for the info what were the prismatic sights used in? I have to say i have see many Gunsights but never come across this one before. As you can see in the above picture the MKI Giro was fitted to Spitfires if it was used operationally I woukld have thought to be unlikely due to the difficulty in operating it. Perhaps it was just a test bed before the MKII was introduced?

What you have there is a Prismatic gunsight, with an interesting story of its own.

It would only be a Gyro sight Mk. I if it had the very large “lump” which is missing from your item.

I would wager that there were hundreds (read maybe thousands!) more of the former made than the latter, so the chances are it has never been anywhere near a Spitfire in its life.

(Unless you store it in the same shed?) 🙂

Can anyone tell me if the Mk. I Gyro sight was actually used operationally, and by whom/what?

Especially for unemployed pilots?

Thread title edited 😀