Rear sight for leading airplanes - info

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cessna123

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This is a rear sight for leading airplanes. Can anyone provide any information on this?
 

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Leading them where?
Good story (if you can fill it out a bit) though.
Hope you didn't buy it, the story that is, on a rifle.

That looks to be a receiver sight.
Maker's name should be on it.
These sights were very popular in the days before standard rifle scope use
and higher quality versions are still used for target shooting (as in the Olympics).

IFAIK, receiver sights like the one you have pictured were never standard issue on U.S. combat rifles.
JT
 
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That sight has nothing to do with aircraft. It's a target sight that goes on the receiver like JT-AR-MG42 says. Exactly what receiver is unknown. Might be a .22. Might be an '03A3.
 
Looks like a Lyman No 48 target peep sight. Dead common in its day. Base shape looks like Springfield.

Strangely enough, there was a Lyman sight made for anti-aircraft training with the 1922 .22 rifle. It was the regular No 48 base and elevation slide, but instead of a peep sight aperture, it had an open notch. Very scarce, I have only seen a few pictures, none in person.
 
Jim Watson is correct, but the idea soon went away when it became obvious that shooting at airplanes with rifles would not be very production, although some countries (e.g., Japan) continued to issue rifle sights with "wings" that could be opened outward for firing at aircraft. It was probably done more to let the troops feel that hey were doing something to fight off the seemingly invincible airplane than to provide a realistic defense against aerial attack.

Jim
 
Wow, how embarassing. I remember Dad showing me a wings out sight on a rifle for aircraft purposes so I've been looking for it. I found the side mount peep sight and thought that was it. Dad did part with a Japanese sniper rifle years back - maybe that was it.
 
cessna123 said:
Wow, how embarassing. I remember Dad showing me a wings out sight on a rifle for aircraft purposes so I've been looking for it. I found the side mount peep sight and thought that was it. Dad did part with a Japanese sniper rifle years back - maybe that was it.
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Well, we all make a blunder once in awhile, yours just came sooner then expected. welcome to the forum.
 
It was probably done more to let the troops feel that hey were doing something to fight off the seemingly invincible airplane than to provide a realistic defense against aerial attack.
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While it did do that, every once in a while, it actually worked. There are records where aircraft have been shot down by rifle fire from the ground. A single 7.7mm bullet can down a P-40 (or any other liquid cooled single engine aircraft) IF it hits just the right spot (engine cooling system).

The best tactic was for the entire unit (platoon, company, etc.) to volley fire at the aircraft. Ground attack aircraft, especially in the Pacific often flew within rifle range in order to spot their targets.

Was it as good as MGs and AA guns? no. On the other hand, all it cost was a few rounds of ammo, and troops were shooting back, and once in a while though rare it did work.
 
Of some consolation, maybe Dad didn't part ways with the Japanese sniper rifle - I found his bayonet that would fit the Ariska 99.
 

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cessna123 You'll want to take some light oil and 0000steel wool to that bayonet.

I heard a story about a p-51 pilot saying he was shot down by a single rifle shot by a German soldier while doing ground cover in Holland. At a different gather describing the same battle an American soldier said he had shot down a Messerschmidt with a single shot from his rifle.
 
A friend of mine was a Cobra pilot in Gulf War I.

He was shot down by an Iraqi with an AK-47.

One bullet managed to find that magical entry point and damaged and damaged an oil line, causing the engine to overheat. They had to sit down about 40 miles short of their base.
 
"Leading" sight are built into rifles currently, the standard M16 rifle is set up that way. Those protective ears around the front sight post that seem flared out, are actually used as a leading sight for enemy troops. Running either left or right, use the opposite ear as your front sight post.
 
New one on me. While that could have been done, or maybe even was, I am pretty sure the sight guards were put there to protect the sight blade from damage, not as an aiming point for a running enemy soldier.

FWIW, the early M1 rifle, of WWII fame, originally had front sight guards that were almost straight. Then it was found that too many soldiers were mistaking one or the other guard for the front sight blade, so the guards on both the M1 rifle and M1 carbine were given a greater outward bend.

Jim
 
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