A Small Sample of Warbird Artifacts

Here are 7 of ~1,000 military aviation artifacts in my collection, acquired over the last 10 years from a variety of sources. These are all from military aircraft of either the US Army Air Force (pre 1947), US Air Force (post 1947), or US Navy.

From front row left to back row right:

1) Mach Meter (used to indicate aircraft airspeed relative to the speed of sound, i.e., mach 1). Used in jets of the early 1950/60's, such as the F-86 Sabrejet fighter and B-47 Stratojet bomber.

2) Accelerometer (used to indicate G-Forces upon the aircraft). Used in aircraft during and post WWII, such as the P-51 Mustang. The center pointer indicated current G-Forces, the left and right pointers indicated min/max G-Forces experienced by the aircraft since last reset (i.e., turning of the knob in lower left corner).

3) Air Speed Indicator 300MPH (WWII-era), primarily used in trainers, transports, or reconnaissance aircraft.

4) Air Speed Indicator 500MPH (WWII-era), used in bombers B-17 Flying Fortress, B-25 Liberator, B-25 Mitchell, etc., and fighters P-38 Lightning, P-40 Warhawk, P-47 Thunderbolt, and P-51 Mustang .

5) Ordnance Intervalometer (rectangular box in middle), used in all WWII bombers to automate the timing and release of a series of bombs once actuated by the pilot or bombardier. It would be set to release the specific number of bombs per drop, and the time delay between drops.

6) Altimeter 20,000ft, used in WWII aircraft intended to operate at relatively low levels, such as torpedo and dive bombers and ground attack aircraft.

7) Altimeter, Sensitive, 40,000ft, used in WWII aircraft intended for high altitude flight such as bombers (e.g., B-17, B-24, B-29) or fighters (e.g., P-38, P-51). This altimeter has 3 pointers, one each for hundreds, thousands, and ten-thousands of feet increments. It displayed altitude in much finer resolution than the previous altimeter.