Mosquito Gunsight Question

[11bravo]

Hi folks,

 

Any idea what type of gunsight would have been fitted to a late-war (early '45) FB.VI of Coastal Command?  I'm building the Tamiya 32nd scale kit and they include both a "Mk II" and "Mk III" gunsight.   I'm way out of my area of expertise with British subjects, any info is appreciated.  For that matter, would these aircraft have had an even later gyro gunsight like the USAAF's K-14 by that point?  

 

Regards,

 

John

[Howard Moon]

The Mk III gunsight could be depressed for firing rocket projectiles so maybe most likely? The Mk II gyroscopic gunsight, (GGS), was a late war development that didn’t reach volume production until mid/late 1944 and I would have thought the priority would be to supply the fighter squadrons. The K-14 is a US manufactured Mk IID GGS.

 

Hope that helps

 

H

[11bravo]

23 minutes ago, Howard Moon said:

The Mk III gunsight could be depressed for firing rocket projectiles so maybe most likely? The Mk II gyroscopic gunsight, (GGS), was a late war development that didn’t reach volume production until mid/late 1944 and I would have thought the priority would be to supply the fighter squadrons. The K-14 is a US manufactured Mk IID GGS.

 

Hope that helps

 

H

Interesting, I would have assumed that the Mk II came before the Mk III.   I've been looking for close up pics of Coastal Command Mossies from this time period that show the gunsight but nothing so far.  Thanks very much for the info! 

[Howard Moon]

It gets a bit complex and you are right the Mk II did pre-date the Mk III. The gyroscopic sight was designated MkIIC for flexible mounted guns such as turrets and the like and the version for fixed forward firing armament became Mk IID. Some years ago, R Wallace Clarke produced a couple of volumes on British aircraft armament which are a good source of info. Happy to provide you with scans of the relevant sights if needed but do t want to post here for copyright issues.

 

All the best

 

H

 

Forgot to mention second volume of said book mentions the Mk III being used on Mollins Gun Mosquitoes but nothing else.