Warbird Information Exchange

Looky what I found in a neighbourhood by me. That would be a cool in my man cave....

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/pen/atq/1503903007.html

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Some people are like slinkys, good for nothing but bring a smile to your face when pushed down stairs.

I would just love to get a Norden Bombsite for my collection. They are just so expensive. It would be the ultimate piece for a B-17 nut like myself.

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Chris Henry
EAA Aviation Museum Manager

Too bad it is just the top portion. The bottom portion with the gyros and the mount is the hard piece to find.

What's the going price for a complete top and bottom norden with mount near mint / NOS condition?

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Taylor Stevenson

Sorry Guys, this is a fake. It was made by Ralph Crandon's sewer buddy, Ed NORTON. Read the ad closer...the guy really knows what he has.

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

OK, I'll bite. So just how does this constitute a "fake?" It's a Norden sight. It's the sight head assembly - yeah - and it's Navy nomenclature. And it's Second War manufacture, and the Navy variant had no specific or unusual features than did the one that the AAF stuff that was humped in a B-29, the -17, -24, or -25 or several other mathematic numbers, so what's the point of contention with this piece for sale?

Where's the "fake," bro? D'ya mean he hasn't got one for sale and is shilling the public? Or you think it's not a correct piece because this one's made for the USN verus AAF?

If'n you want to crab and carry on that something's a "fake" - support your argument and your horse toothed statement. Me surmises - and that's just it - a guess - that you've found contention with the price and perhaps his reference to the "as used in bombers like the Enola Gay" text. Fact of the matter remains that there's nothing "off" with this satement. He might as well have stated "same type as in Lady Be Good B-24" and "almost-used-in-the-famous-B-25-raids-over-Tokyo-in-'42-but-the-brass-thought-better-of-putting-a-piece-of-classified-equipment-on-board for-fear-of-capture-and-didn't-do-it." Tryin' hard here to think of a Navy patrol bomber that has name recognition like that B-29 we can suggest he cite. Nah, still don't have one.

Get my drift, amigo?

Full disclosure - I have no dog in this hunt - don't know the seller, nor do I particularly care about the piece one way or another. One bit. I just get pee-oh'ed when someone wants to rail against a piece of hardware that someone has brought out to sell and has obviously preserved. He might as well scrap it, with the reception he's had from this lot. Maybe he'd get at least get a decent mixed metal rate from the boneyard goons versus the nut-kicking from the true experts and afficionados, eh?

Ah, OK.

Spelling. Gotcha.

Never mind the barroom posturing, man.

Stupid thing to quit drinkin' early in the day just to prove a point to those around ya.

Old man shuts up. Sorry, SD.

True Ken, but if it was one of those elusive Glide Bomb attachments, that would be even rarer!
I think Taigh would be jumping out of his skin to get one of those! (He is probably one of the few to already have one!)
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

Pooner, it's all good. I was just pokin fun at the spelling of the name. I'm an old fart that remembers the "Honey Mooners" with Jackie Gleason and Art Carney and found the spelling of the "Norton" bomb sight humorous. Perhaps a typo but none the less, I would think that if professing to sell a significant piece of history, at least the basics should be well covered. It would be a cool item to own, for sure.

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."

A couple of years ago, I saw a complete, new-old-stock Norden bombsight, in the original shipping crate, offered for sale. It went for $4,000 (four thousand dollars). Just *slightly* out of my price range.

A really nice used one sold on eBay last year for something like $2,500. All I could afford to bid was $2,000. I couldn't afford that much now.

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Dean Hemphill, K5DH
Lake Dallas, Republic of Texas

I do have one of these in my man-cave...but it has the reflex site attachment included.

As to the Navy nomenclature---if you read up on the NBS you'll find that the Navy had the contract with Norden--and basically leased all Norden sites to the USAAF. So every B-17 or 24 or whatever, had a Navy marked NBS in the nose. Strange but true.

I do have one of these in my man-cave...but it has the reflex site attachment included.

As to the Navy nomenclature---if you read up on the NBS you'll find that the Navy had the contract with Norden--and basically leased all Norden sites to the USAAF. So every B-17 or 24 or whatever, had a Navy marked NBS in the nose. Strange but true.

I work in the building where the Navy built the bombsites during WW2. The floors are all hardwood 9like a big bowling alley). That was to eliminate vibration that might damage the calibration of the site. I would imagine that went to pot after a few trips on a bomber!
There is still one up in the lobby rigged up with a moving map underneath so that the crosshairs can be worked to bomb the target.

PJ
PV-2 Harpoon "Hot Stuff"
www.amhf.org

I was told that there is a "hobby room" at Norden where old timers tinker with vintage Norden equipment. Somebody yanked the optic group out of mine. I oughta get ahold of this outfit and see it they have a spare!

PJ- Dave M. from Xenia was a good friend of ours and crewed on "Hot Stuff".

If anyone has a "Norden Bombsight that needs restoration, let me know. I have restored over a hundred of these along with many other bombsights, gunsights and such. I have a stand that I can run up the gyros and check the operation of the electrical systems.
Denny