Bomb sights in wooden boxes x 5 - Help please !

[Tsargood]

Hi All,
First post.
Im usually just a WW1 WW2 Lithgow 303 collector but I have stumbled across something I need help with and hope this is where I can find it.
I have access to a few of these things. A friend of mines Grandfather died and has left a huge shed full of old stuff. Much of it military/aircraft.
There are at least 5 of these things in boxes and Im trying to find out when they date from and what they were used for? Also how much should they be sold for??
Over the next few months other items will emerge from the collection but it will take time to sort through it all as the shed its all in has collapsed on itself and is dangerous at present.
There is literally tons of boxes full of stuff and lots of old army vehicles and airplane parts etc etc.
Sorry for the poor photos but its all I have right now.
Any help much appreciated

 

[A4K]

Searching the net came up with an example of a Course setting bombsight Mk.IXA at the IWM, produced by Novobax Ltd., Watford in 1939.
Thinking she may be from a Bristol Beaufort, which were also produced in Australia.

 

[Airframes]

Course setting bomb sights were standard in all RAF/RAAF/RCAF/RNZAF bombers from the 1930s until late in WW2, when the MkIX optical gyro sight began to enter service. Can't offer any advice on perceived value I'm afraid.

 

[Allan Hunter]

Yes, the picture shows a Course Setting Bomb Sight, although I cannot see if it is a Mk VII or a Mk IX. The date of manufacture can often be seen as the last two digits after the slash mark on the serial number, as in /43 means 1943. I have had several of these sights. I'm actually always looking for spare parts to complete what I have - and I realize this posting is several years old! Prices for these sights depend heavily on condition, as the alloy tended to shed paint and then oxidize, making repainting and restoration a bit of a struggle! The one you've pictured is the type A, for bombers 1939-1945, without the 'moving target attachment', which probably places this one at 1941. Let me know if I can be of more help, or if you have any to sell.
Best wishes, Allan

 

[Crimea_River]

I hope he appreciates your comments - 8 years later!

 

[Allan Hunter]

You never know, Crimea_River! It took me more than eight years to track down some of the things in my collection, so I live in hope. And who knows who else might read the thread? I'm an optimist really......

 

[Allan Hunter]

I'll attach a picture here of my late father, who used the Mk IX bombsight in Beauforts, for Coastal Command. Here he is in late 1940, at West Freugh, with a site - and standing in front of a Fairey Battle. He gives some interesting descriptions of RAF life in his memoir "From Coastal Command to Captivity". Shot down attacking the Scharnhorst in 1941, he spent nearly four years as a POW, much of that time in Stalag Luft III. He retired from the RAF in 1975 as a Wing Commander.