German gunsights and vsi.

[marshall]

I was wondering why in German planes like Bf 109 or Fw 190 the gunsight was slightly to the right side while in Allied planes it was in the center, and why in the earlier versions of the 109 and 190 there was no vertical speed indicators?

[Kurfürst]

I guess the VSI was seen redundant as it would most useful in bad wheater/night flying, which fighters would normally not do; I am not sure if the pilots had been giving training for it at all.. nightfighter, bad wheater 109s and the last model 109K had VSI though.

[marshall]

What about the gunsights, was this position, slightly to the right, to improve forward visibility when not aiming?

[kool kitty89]

At least some allied fighters had the gunsight off-center out of necessity. Like in the razorback (and Malcolm Hood) P-47's, there was part of the framing going right down the center of the windscreen.

This wouldn't be the case for most (if any) German fighters though.

[marshall]

Or maybe the gunsight was to the right to be exactly over one of the fuselage mounted machine guns? Though I don't know why it would be lke that.

[kool kitty89]

It could possibly give a slightly better deflection view, as the view over the side of the nose is slightly greater.

[Kurfürst]

I believe it was made because the right eye is dominant with most people (try it yourself, put your finger close to you and compare its position with both eyes open, and with left/right only. Both eyes-view is almost same as right-eye only). Plus, it doesnt get in the way so much during normal flying.

[Captain Dunsel]

Kurfurst, your comment about "right eye dominance" brings back memories.

About 20 years ago, I had to requalify with the .38 before going overseas (regular USAF training). We were told to simply take the .38, hold it with two hands, and KEEPING BOTH EYES OPEN, let our dominant eye do the sighting.

Now, I'd always closed one eye to shoot. That's how I shot on my college rifle team, qualified with the M-16 when I was an airman and qualified with the .38 when I became an office. No matter how much I tried keeping two eyes open when shooting, I still kept seeing two guns and two sets of sights.

The youngsters in the group were actually able to do it, but those of us who'd been brought up in the "one-eye closed" school couldn't. We HAD to shoot with one eye closed.

Fortunately, the instructor was a realist. He didn't try to force us all to shoot using the "two-eye" method. He let us shoot as we best felt comfy, which is why I had no trouble requalifying (and my score was one of the best in the class's).

CD