SCOPES DURING WW2 TV

James Bald, the special assistant to the director of the Night Vision & Electronic Sensors Directorate at Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC), the Army’s technology development organization. “The motto of our laboratory is ‘Conquest of Darkness,’” says Dr. Today, night vision devices can amplify light by 50,000 times or more, and scientists continue to innovate. This has the advantage of working in utter darkness when there’s not even a touch of starlight to intensify, such as in a cave. Then there’s thermal imaging, which captures the infrared energy emitted by people and objects.

SCOPES DURING WW2 TV

This produces the classic bright green image we’re familiar with from TV and movies. First, there’s image intensification – taking existing ambient light like moonlight or starlight and amplifying it through electrical and chemical processes. There are two main ways night vision can work. Night vision systems were a major part of Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s, with one general testifying that the Army's night vision capability was the biggest advantage he had. The 1970s brought breakthroughs in thermal imaging, which was improved on through the next several decades. Devices like the small starlight scope were crucial in the Vietnam War, with soldiers often fighting in low-light jungle conditions. By the mid-1960s, scientists had created what’s now referred to as the “first generation” of passive night vision devices, which didn't need an infrared illuminator to function. Throughout the 1940s and 50s, the Army worked with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) to develop the technology further. These “generation zero” technologies amplified existing light about 1,000 times, but were bulky and cumbersome, necessitating infrared searchlights so big they needed to be mounted on flatbed trucks, making them easy targets for the enemy. The history of night vision devices goes back to just before World War II, when Germany developed primitive infrared devices, and the Allies followed suit. Stronge (2010)īritish Rifles: Catalogue of the Enfield Pattern Room, H.It’s hard to imagine the military without night vision technology, those goggles and scopes that make the blackest landscapes jump to life. Sniper in Action: History, Equipment, Techniques, C. The British used the Rifle No.3 MkI* (T) throughout the war alongside adapted SMLEs Rifle No.1 Mk III*s and Rifle No.4 MkI (T)s. As well as a compass, binoculars and camouflage veils. Each sniper carried his rifle, two hand grenades, 50-rounds of ball, 5-rounds of tracer and 5-rounds of armour piercing ammunition. The British and Australians used the Rifle No.3 MkI* (T) during the war. The scopes were graduated from 100 to 600 yards. The War Office approved a new offset scope mount in December 1941 and cheekrests were also approved.Īrmourers were to fit them for snipers who required them, the sniper above does not have a cheekrest fitted.

The British reissued the old rifles and new conversions of Winchester-made Rifle No.3s began with the fitting of World War One vintage scopes taken from stores. In 1926 the British Army changed its nomenclature system and renamed the Pattern 1914 the Rifle No.3, retaining the rifles and scopes in stores until the outbreak of World War Two.

While rifles in other configurations were in use during the war the Pattern 1914 Sniping Rifle, officially approved in April 1918, was the British Army’s first officially adopted scoped, sniper rifle. The British believed that the Pattern 1914′s made by Winchester were inherently the most accurate and equipped these with Pattern 1918 3x telescopic sights made by the Periscopic Prism Co., Aldis and Winchester. While the Pattern 1914 was not as widely issued as the SMLE during the war it gained a reputation for accuracy, due to its Mauser-style bolt, and was issued as a sniper’s rifle. The rifle is perhaps better known as the Pattern 1914 built in the US for the British Army in 1915. The sniper is loading and sighting his Rifle No.3 MkI* (T). The photographs above show a British sniper in training at the 21 Army Group Sniper School at Courselles, Normandy in July 1944. In Action: Pattern 1914/Rifle No.3 MkI* (T)

Scopes during ww2