Spitfire IX gyro gunsight mounts

[John Hollway]

I am hoping someone can can help me with some questions regarding the different mounts for the GGS in Spitfire IX.

 

There seems to be at least two quite different mounts:

One has a triangular (side profile) bracket attached to the top of the instrument panel. This is the style in the Tamiya 1/32 kit and the Barracuda resin sets.

The other is a tubular bracket that attaches to the cockpit sides under the windscreen quarter panels. This is the style in the LF IX e (TE 565) in the WWP book and also illustrated in the SAM publication on Merlin Spitfires.

 

The ancillaries, such as dimmer switches and spare bulbs, are in different locations as well, but the identical sight unit GGS Mk IId appears in both configurations.

Does anyone know whether the different mounts indicate early versus late production or retro-fit? 

 

I think TE 565 was a very late production Mk IX so this might indicate that the tubular mount was a late production configuration. Yet the fabricated bracket with the triangular side profile also appears in later aircraft like the DH Hornet just to confuse matters. 

 

Hoping someone can help clear this up. Thanks.