Smith Industries Mk2b periscopic sextant
Smith Aircraft Instruments (Kelvin and Hughes) periscopic sextant Mk2B
Obtained from the Netherlands
Product details: Smith Industries Mk2b periscopic sextant | Smiths Aircraft Instruments | Octant | Military | Material: Aluminium
This periscopic sextant was developed as the Mk2a in 1947 for use in the RAF but also did service in commercial aircarft such as the Comet. The one in my collection is the slightly modified Mk2b version of it. It succeeds the MkIX bubble sextant and has a similar averaging mechanism as the MkIX-BM with 1 and 2 minute averaging times. What it adds to the MkIX is however the periscope which became a neccesity in the jet age. With the relatively slow propellor aircraft the sextant was operated from an astrodome (a perspex / plexiglas dome on top of the fuselage). As the astrodome was detracting from the fuselage integrity a different solution had to be found which was the periscope. With only the top part sticking out it produced less drag and required a smaller opening.
As British made commercial aircraft became scarce after the issues with the Comet (metal fatique) and american commercial aircraft became widely used, this type of periscopic sextant is not often found wheras the Kollsman is abundant. This instrument seems to have been used in Denmark after doing service in the RAF as the labeling is both in English and Danish.
More information / other collections:
mk2b periscopic
Data sheet
- Year
- 1950-1979
- Serialnumber
- 302/KH1/66
- Type of use
- Military
- Material
- Aluminium
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Smith Aircraft Instruments (Kelvin and Hughes) periscopic sextant Mk2B
Obtained from the Netherlands
Product details: Smith Industries Mk2b periscopic sextant | Smiths Aircraft Instruments | Octant | Military | Material: Aluminium