Telescopic scopes

[Romani]

I was quite surprised at seeing pictures of Fokker DrIs equipped with telescopic scopes. It's something I associate with the 1930s, not WWI!

But then I recalled that some SE5 and SPAD XIIIs had them also,and this got the thought propeller spinning

From what I understand, aerial gunnery is quite difficult,being either a matter of spraying the air with lead hoping for a potshot, or getting so close you cannot miss.

I had always thought, that aces aside ( Ball, Fonck, MvR) in WWI you aimed with the *plane* not the sights. Just get the plane in the same flight line as your target and shoot.


In the 30s, particularly in the Spanish Civil War, though the scopes were now standard, accuracy and effectiveness decreased. Firepower was very much the same, but aircraft were larger, sturdier,and above all moved much faster reducing the time you had to line up a shot, and complicating further deflaction shots.

Considering that due to this the magnifying scope was replaced by the reflex sights, it cannot have been that good, right?

But then I was told that the scope is indeed the most effective and imple to use gunnery aid, after all, there's a reason why snipers use them.

As I understand, the disadvantage of using a scope in air combat is that you lose peripheral vision , and you cannot afford to stick your eye to the scope during the needed time to shot your target down without an enemy taking advantage of your concentration to sneak in behind you.

Morevoer, it seems that at the firing ranges of WWI, the scope isn't much of an aid.

Or was it? Did the scope allowed fighter pilots to make longer range shots? Did it improve the accuracy of the pilots that used it? Did it have a measurable impact in aerial combat?

There has been a discussion on this before (have a look in the Archives if you're interested).

The general drift of the discussion is that, the Aldis sight, the thing that looks like a telescope on British scouts, is not a telescope but a simple tube with flat glass at either end. One of the glasses has a ring etched on to it to give a modicum of 'aim off' calculation.

Some pilots loved 'em, some hated 'em.

I guess the advantage of them is you see where your bullets are going to go.

[Barrett]

Regardless of the range to target, you NEED a sight of some kind in aerial combat unless you're shooting at least 50% tracer. Much short of muzzle contact, there is no such thing as a guaranteed distance "too close to miss."
The tubular optical sight similar to the Aldis remained in fighter service until the brink of WW II. In the USN it was no more than 1.5X, mainly retained in scout-bombers until late 1942. A friend has one, and it's interesting to examine. The reticle is not a crosshair as has been reported, but the same image projected on the Mk VIII reflector sight: a center dot (pipper) with 50 and 100 mil rings plus stadia lines at 12, 3, 5, 7, and 9 o'clock.

Boelcke taught to get close as possible

[stephen]

Many scouts were also equipped with a standard ring-style "peep" sight; some planes even had both rigged side by side.

And its not just we forumites having this discussion... I've read many times about WWI pilots debating the same topic in the anteroom or in pre-flight briefings.

[Romani]

Excuse me for asking the dumb question , but how do I search the Aerodrome archives? Where's the link?

Thanks in advance.

Hit the little Search magnifying glass at the top of the page.

The one on the left only searches the articles not the Forum.