TBM-3 AVENGER STRIKE CAMERA

[fubar57]

Anyone have a better photo or drawing of this camera?

Thanks in advance,




Geo

 

[Micdrow]

Humm interesting, not the exact same camera but I did take these this year at Airventure. Note this camera is rear facing. I will see if I can dig some more up today.

 

[Micdrow]

Humm interesting, not the exact same camera but I did take these this year at Airventure. Note this camera is rear facing. I will see if I can dig some more up today.

 

[fubar57]

Thanks Paul.




Geo

 

[Micdrow]

Found this picture at this link, looks like a similar camera I posted but facing forward

Warbirds and Airshows - 2014 Thunder over Michigan Airshow

 

[fubar57]

Beauty Paul. I've seen some that were mounted vertical. If i can't find anything else, your photo will do just fine.




Geo

 

[Micdrow]

Beauty Paul. I've seen some that were mounted vertical. If i can't find anything else, your photo will do just fine.




Geo

No problem Geo, glad I could help

 

[GrauGeist]

The rear-facing camera was for strike/damage assesment?

 

[Micdrow]

The rear-facing camera was for strike/damage assesment?

Correct!!!

 

[Wildcat]

Fantastic detail on flying warbirds!

 

[fubar57]

Okay, now we have a name.....Russell Vought Division of the Solar Aircraft Company

Now, to see if I can find some rough dimensions. For those who might be interested, here, starting bid, 50$...https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/1916630_us-navy-aircraft-torpedo-camera-magazine-type


Geo

 

[fubar57]

Hmmmm.....found this large profile, the same as the photo, better showing the camera. Looks different, more like a hand held Nikon or Canon.

Double hmmmm.

Geo

 

[GrauGeist]

There were several different types used.

There was the USN Aircraft, Torpedo, K-20 (which looks like a hand-held camera) and the Vought, Aircraft, Torpedo, Type 1 (like the image you posted earlier) and others.

Looking at the illustration, it looks like that aircraft has the K-20 mounted.

 

[GregP]

In the USA at that time, it most certainly would not have been a Japanese camera! ... unless the photos are of a TMF in modern times with a camera on it. I doubt that since modern, privately-owned TBF's aren't going to be dropping torpedoes.

 

[fubar57]

In the USA at that time, it most certainly would not have been a Japanese camera! ... unless the photos are of a TMF in modern times with a camera on it. I doubt that since modern, privately-owned TBF's aren't going to be dropping torpedoes.

?????

 

[GregP]

Question marks? Really?

The TBF / TBM was a WWII bird. Nikon is a Japanese company. We would NOT have been using a Nikon in WWII, certainly. Cannon is a Japanese multinational corpporation and, again, we would not have been using Cannons in WWII either.

Might be using a Polaroid or a Brownie, Bell Howell, Cinneflex, Keystone, Kodak, a Vinten, or maybe even a German Zeiss obtained through Switzerland. We had a LARGE stock of Zeiss cameras in the USA before the war started, especially the Press.

But I doubt we'd have been using a Japanese camera. Today, all my cameras are Japanese and all are digital except my father's old 35 mm SLR film cameras that I never use anymore.

Heck, I'm not even sure where I'd have the film developed anymore. Might have to do it myself, and that isn't gonna' happen while I have a digital camera avaiable. Plus I don't have the chemicals anymore, either.

 

[fubar57]

I said it was shaped like a hand held camera. As I own Nikons and a Canon, theses were the examples I used not the assumption that the camera on the aircraft was Japanese. Had I owned a Leica and a Hasselblad, I would have used these as examples.

 

[GregP]

Hi Fubar,

Wasn't fussing at you. Just observed the two examples you used were Japanese ... and thought that was strange during a WWII timeframe.

Hasselblad was certainly an option.

 

[GrauGeist]

Hi Fubar,

Wasn't fussing at you. Just observed the two examples you used were Japanese ... and thought that was strange during a WWII timeframe.

Hasselblad was certainly an option.

Not many American cameras during the late 30's and early 40's looked like a modern Japanese camera, so I got Geo's comparison. And that forward-facing K-20 camera in the illustration sure looks like a modern japanese SLR!

And not sure if the government would have used a Swiss Hasselblad back in those days, either!

 

[fubar57]

No problem Greg, back to the cameras. Was the K-20 camera Dave mentioned a still camera or movie camera? Though it looks similar, would a still camera be used as a rocket strike camera?

"LtGilbertMilneRCNVR2June1944" by Lt Richard G. Arless. Canada. Department of National Defence. Library and Archives Canada, PA-163920 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/4679193324/. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/...#/media/File:LtGilbertMilneRCNVR2June1944.jpg



Geo