K-14 Gunsight

[Krupi]

I have seen pictures of these gunsights on Corsairs, were any installed on the F4U-1D’s?

[Metrallaroja]

5 hours ago, Krupi said:

I have seen pictures of these gunsights on Corsairs, were any installed on the F4U-1D’s?

In the flight manuals, F4U-1D uses the Mark 8 that was reflected in a glass that also served as bullet proof, this afaik was the most common configuration:

in Il2 1946 it was correctly modelled:

In the DCS images I saw the gunsight is reflected in a more classic way, this configuration might have been used too but I think it was more common in early war. About 1943.

Something cool would be if player can choose what configuration to use.

Maybe some developer can tell us why they choose this configuration? @Hiromachi 

For example we can see it in a early birdcage 1943 british corsair:

F4U-4 also used Mk 8 in a smilar set up as F4U-1D, but it was directly reflected on the windshield.

F4U-5N uses a similar gunsight configuration as F4U-4, called Mk20:

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This is from an F8F-1 that used the same gunsight, it gives an idea:

Finally F4U-5, AU-1 (F4U-6) and F4U-7 used MK 8 lead computing sight, similar to the K14 you mentioned:

Edited January 23, 2023 by Metrallaroja

[Krupi]

That is great thank you.

interesting that the images from Magnitude 3 show a different setup, would love to hear from them.

[Gambit21]

Mk 8 is coming post early-access as stated before and posted on their website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Metrallaroja]

18 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

Mk 8 is coming post early-access as stated before and posted on their website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ah, great!

[Nealius]

Awesome! As much as I love the accuracy the K-14 gives for A2A combat, I find the Mk8 superior for A2G with the slip indicator easily visible while also looking through the sight.

[Cahokia]

On 1/30/2023 at 1:10 AM, Gambit21 said:

Mk 8 is coming post early-access as stated before and posted on their website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is it still true today ?

[Krupi]

The mk8 can be seen in the latest shots, they have now added the armoured glass which doubled up as a reflective glass, however they have yet to remove (I assume) the original reflector glass.

they needed to remove the original glass when they raised the seat position to improve the forward view. 
 

Grab from off eBay from Dana Bells excellent book (part 2) on the F4U, I highly recommend his books, which shows the difference between the F4U-1 and F4U-1A/D.

It looks like the -1A had a few different setups where the pilots installed different modifications to improve the height of the reflection. This seems to have been avoided with the -1D armoured glass.

Please correct me if I am wrong!

[-Rudel-]

As reference, we used the Corsair section located at the MAPS Air Museum.

 

[Krupi]

Thanks Rudel that is really interesting, I haven't seen this setup before.

Could it be they introduced this with the introduction of rockets, the Turn and Slip indicator would certainly make rocket and bomb runs easier?

[Krupi]

I don't have the Dana Bell book with me at the moment however this extract I found online indicates that some people preferred the "Project 108" reflector.



I quite liked the idea of not having the bulky reflector mount on the Mk8 reflector!

[Metrallaroja]

2 hours ago, -Rudel- said:

As reference, we used the Corsair section located at the MAPS Air Museum.

 

It would be interesting to know the history behind this plane/cockpit since it did quite a travel. How did it end with that gunsight?
Maybe the answer is that in 1948 the cockpit was transferred to the goodyear museum where it served with an educational purpose and maybe was modified? 

Would be nice to have photographs from 76671 before 1948.

• February 1948 – Cockpit section transferred to the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company Museum, Akron, Ohio.

https://mapsairmuseum.org/goodyear-fg-1d-corsair/
 

Edited January 8, 2024 by Metrallaroja

[Krupi]

It is very hard to tell from the grainy images that are available however I have found one image of a USS Gilbert Island escort carrier in 1945 clearly showing the oval reflector.

[Cahokia]

4 hours ago, -Rudel- said:

As reference, we used the Corsair section located at the MAPS Air Museum.

Thanks for sharing your reference.

How common was such gunsight in 1944-45 ?

And more important, is Magnitude 3 still working on the Mark 8 gunsight or is it postponed ?

[Krupi]

The latest images show the mk8 mod 8 gunsight implemented. You can see more information on their website on the most recent update…

https://magnitude-3.com/2023/11/04/2023-annual-update/

 

Edited January 8, 2024 by Krupi

[Cahokia]

1 hour ago, Metrallaroja said:

It would be interesting to know the history behind this plane/cockpit since it did quite a travel. How did it end with that gunsight?
Maybe the answer is that in 1948 the cockpit was transferred to the goodyear museum where it served with an educational purpose and maybe was modified? 

Would be nice to have photographs from 76671 before 1948.

 

Thank you for highlighting an important point.
After WWII planes were sometimes heavily modified to such an extent they now have parts they didn't had during wartime.

Look at ED's Sptifire. It is a "puzzle" aircraft with parts from various Marks and even mordern "warbird" parts.

[Krupi]

To confound matters here are F4U-1Ds with a Mk8 mod 8 gunsight with the oval reflector removed, you can see they retained the turn and slip indicator and it looks to use the armoured glass as the reflector.

I think you can see the slip indicator without oval reflector.

This is what I was hoping to see modelled.

Edited January 8, 2024 by Krupi

[Metrallaroja]

1 hour ago, Krupi said:

It is very hard to tell from the grainy images that are available however I have found one image of a USS Gilbert Island escort carrier in 1945 clearly showing the oval reflector.

Nice catch, maybe it was up to pilot choice. 

Same squadron, probably taken moments after/before of that one but different plane and this one has no oval reflector:

Spoiler

 

[Metrallaroja]

Also no oval reflector with the whole squadron reunited

Spoiler