No gyroscopic gunsight for the Tempest ?

[taffy2jeffmorgan]

It's a bit of a mystery why the Mk 11c gyroscopic gunsight was never fitted to the Tempest V ,  and yet the sight was fitted to both Spit and P51 ?  the tempest had gained a reputation by the latter part of the war as perhaps the RAF's best low to medium altitude fighter which still relied on the old reflector sight. Tempest 11s had the gyro sight fitted just after the war.

[Stonehouse]

Asked about it the gunsight in the Tempest once before - apparently the gyroscopic sight wasn't fitted but we still have the wrong one anyway as best I can tell. Doesn't appear that any post about it gained any interest within the dev team or possibly it is just sitting on a very long to do list.

 

 

[[CPT]Crunch]

Ever consider the possibility the tech wasn't mature enough to compensate for the 20mm munitions during the war?  They aren't exactly the flattest in trajectory, and up close the sight isn't really necessary.  A hint this might be the case is modern cannon sights give you a line or funnel in addition to the pipper.

[LukeFF]

1 hour ago, [CPT]Crunch said:

Ever consider the possibility the tech wasn't mature enough to compensate for the 20mm munitions during the war?  They aren't exactly the flattest in trajectory, and up close the sight isn't really necessary.  A hint this might be the case is modern cannon sights give you a line or funnel in addition to the pipper.

 

Spitfire IXs were equipped with gyro sights. 

[ShamrockOneFive]

17 hours ago, [CPT]Crunch said:

Ever consider the possibility the tech wasn't mature enough to compensate for the 20mm munitions during the war?  They aren't exactly the flattest in trajectory, and up close the sight isn't really necessary.  A hint this might be the case is modern cannon sights give you a line or funnel in addition to the pipper.

 

In addition to the Spitfire IX and XIV having the Mark II GGS the Spitfire XVIII had four 20mm cannons just like the Tempest and had it.

[cardboard_killer]

13 minutes ago, ShamrockOneFive said:

he Spitfire XVIII had four 20mm cannons j

 

Maybe with 4 HS 20mm close was good enough?

[RedKestrel]

18 hours ago, [CPT]Crunch said:

Ever consider the possibility the tech wasn't mature enough to compensate for the 20mm munitions during the war?  They aren't exactly the flattest in trajectory, and up close the sight isn't really necessary.  A hint this might be the case is modern cannon sights give you a line or funnel in addition to the pipper.

The hispano 20mm has good ballistics and a pretty flat trajectory, pretty comparable to the M2 .50 cal. 

 

[FTC_Zero]

13 minutes ago, RedKestrel said:

The hispano 20mm has good ballistics and a pretty flat trajectory, pretty comparable to the M2 .50 cal. 

 

13 minutes ago, RedKestrel said:

Ever consider the possibility the tech wasn't mature enough to compensate for the 20mm munitions during the war?  They aren't exactly the flattest in trajectory, and up close the sight isn't really necessary.  A hint this might be the case is modern cannon sights give you a line or funnel in addition to the pipper.

Even the Me262 with 4x mk108 has gyroscopic sights available. Wanna talk about mk108 ballistics? ? Most factors are quite calculate'able regardless of caliber.

Edited October 15, 2020 by ZeroCrack01

[Trooper117]

The Tempest did eventually get a gyro gunsight, but not until post war...

[ZachariasX]

On 10/15/2020 at 5:38 PM, cardboard_killer said:

Maybe with 4 HS 20mm close was good enough?

It wasn‘t that. Pilots simply preferred having (for once!) great view ahead and were openly against having that bulky item installed.

[LukeFF]

42 minutes ago, ZachariasX said:

It wasn‘t that. Pilots simply preferred having (for once!) great view ahead and were openly against having that bulky item installed.

 

It was for similar reasons that the P-38 never was fitted with a gyro sight. I have some of the original drawings of what it would have looked like in the P-38, and even just the comments on the drawings mention that numerous instruments would be blocked with the K-14 installed.