Identification help please...what is this?

[Dente]

Hi. Newbie here. Have had this glass bubble for the past 20+ years. A vet once told me he believed it was a light cover from a WWII bomber. There are no attachment doohickies or other elements that would seem to allow this to "lock" into place or screw in somewhere. Metal rim feels like aluminum, globe is roughly 1/2" thick. Google search has turned up NADA. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[XBe02Drvr]

Looks like a rotating beacon dome from a large aircraft. I used to change lamps in Fokker F-27 beacons. The dome was slightly smaller than this and tinted red, and held in place with a clamp ring and rubber gasket. Lots of fun outdoors in winter, on top of a ladder, 32 feet up in the air as the plane's tail bobs in the wind.
Cheers,
Wes

 

[XBe02Drvr]

Not funny, Cap'n! When your fingers are frozen numb and you can't get the clamp screw threaded and the tail bobs and you drop the screw and it bounces off the horizontal stabilizer and into a snow bank.
Cheers,
Wes

 

[Dente]

Well taa-daa that's it. Thanks! Guess I was searching for the wrong terms. Pics of others online tend to be of red ones and much smaller. Given its' size, do you think it may have been from a military craft?

 

[XBe02Drvr]

Well taa-daa that's it. Thanks! Guess I was searching for the wrong terms. Pics of others online tend to be of red ones and much smaller. Given its' size, do you think it may have been from a military craft?

Well, it's about 8 inches across, and a beacon dome from an F-27 (twin engine, 48,000 lbs) is a little over 6 1/2 inches, so maybe a B-29, B-50, or B-36? Before electronic strobes became common, clear or amber flashing anticollision lights were often rotating or oscillating beacons. (Check out videos of early model A-4 Skyhawks at dusk or at night)
Cheers,
Wes

 

[Capt. Vick]

This just keeps getting funnier and funnier

 

[Skyediamonds]

Because it's clear & not tinted, it would suggest that it was meant to be looked out of by human eye. You did not describe it as having any distortions when looking through it. My guess therefore based upon your initial observation & photos along with you describing it (possibly from WW II era) would be a Perspex of some kind for say a navigator to take sextant readings. A B-24 (& Lancaster) bomber had such a clear glassed dome of the approximate size immediately in front of the pilot's windshield on the top deck, which incidentally is where the navigator's station is located below. As near as I can recall, I believe it's mounted in such a way that the opening is slightly smaller than the flange at the base of the glassed dome, thereby "wedging " it within the fuselage. This is all pure conjecture but you asked, & I'm giving it my best guess.

 

[XBe02Drvr]

a Perspex of some kind for say a navigator to take sextant readings.

The OP described it as glass, and it looks like it in the photo (for what THATs worth), but if it's perspex, that should be obvious from its weight.
How about it, Dente? Glass or Perspex(Plexiglass)?
Looks awful small to me for a celestial nav dome.
Cheers,
Wes

 

[Airframes]

Far too small for an astrodome 'blister' - they were around 20 inches or more in diameter.
Looks like a beacon dome and, if glass, rather then 'Perspex', it could be from a ground-mounted lamp, such as a beacon on a pole, or a taxi-way marker lamp etc.

 

[Skyediamonds]

Airframe & Xbe, you're probably right about it being too small for celestial navigation. Just took my best shot based on info ("allegedly" from a WW II bomber) & combined with what it looked like. Let's see it anyone else can give out a more definitive answer. This was fun.

 

[XBe02Drvr]

it could be from a ground-mounted lamp, such as a beacon on a pole, or a taxi-way marker lamp etc.

Our local, rural, "podunk" airstrip has runway lights on 12 inch stems with clear glass domes that look like that, but are much smaller, about half size or less. Bigger airports have more powerful lights, but they're sunk in the pavement surface and have directional ports that allow more light to project along the runway axis than to the sides.
Taxiway light domes are blue, so it's not one of those.
I still vote for an anticollision light dome from some older large aircraft. Any Globemaster fans out there?
Cheers,
Wes

 

[YGBSM]

The discussion so far has been interesting - I've been tossing many of the same ideas around myself.

By appearance alone this seems to be a beacon dome of some sort.... but by it's size it would be for a VERY large aircraft, post WW2. I agree that we're talking B-36, C-17, C-5 territory here if it is in fact a beacon dome. A ground beacon would also work, as has been said.

The strange thing is that it definitely has the configuration of a aircraft blister style object. See below for a generic representation of a blister with a base ring (i.e. "cover").

The diameter is about right for aerial photography apertures, but you wouldn't want thick, curved glass like that (picture distortion). I would if some sort of infrared application would apply? Or maybe glass was used for some odd reason in lieu of a standard metal blister? Such as for a radar antenna like above, even though they could've used an opaque blister?

It's an interesting mystery, that's for sure!

 

[XBe02Drvr]

The diameter is about right for aerial photography apertures, but you wouldn't want thick, curved glass like that (picture distortion). I would if some sort of infrared application would apply?

Good idea! The grandmammy of all Sidewinders? The 'Winders I've seen had more pointy noses than this dome, however.
Cheers,
Wes

 

[YGBSM]

I agree - it wouldn't be from a 'Winder. I was thinking something more like the AIM-4 Falcon or perhaps an aircraft-mounted sensor of some kind - earlier generation in any case.

AIM-4 Falcon, for reference:

Source: Wikipedia

 

[XBe02Drvr]

I agree - it wouldn't be from a 'Winder. I was thinking something more like the AIM-4 Falcon or perhaps an aircraft-mounted sensor of some kind - earlier generation in any case.

AIM-4 Falcon, for reference:
View attachment 503882
Source: Wikipedia

The nosecone on the Falcon appears to be more tapered than the dome in question, and opaque rather than clear. I've seen Sidewinders with clear nosecones through which the IR sensors could be seen.
Cheers,
Wes