David's Rare Find

The first object that the contributor has brought in is a taboo switch, that was part of a gunnery system and would have been fitted in aircraft or ship. A key feature of the taboo switch is that it was part of an electrically controlled firing mechanism. There is a safety mechanism to stop over-enthusiastic gunners shooting where they shouldn't, e.g. through the tail of his own aircraft or the bridge. The raised surface is a switch mechanism which provides electrical interlock; World War Two guns were fired electrically.

The contributor was helping someone clear out their workshop and there was lots of stuff to be thrown out unless someone took it away. The contributor went to Glasgow, taking carloads of stuff, but after seeing this in a skip, cleaned it up and did further investigation. The contributor checked with former colleagues and at the model engineering club (of which the contributor is a member). A retired army major confirmed what it was; a safety mechanism, colloquially called taboo switch, because it was used in areas where it is taboo to fire a gun!

The person who had it before was possibly involved in services in World War Two: he had other equipment, e.g. a hoist for putting bombs into aircraft which he was using to move heavy equipment. When aircraft was scrapped, guns would be removed and scrapped separately to avoid falling into the wrong hands. The taboo switch could have been sold as scrap, in the thriving post war surplus market after World War Two. The contributor said that they have seen advertisements in 1950s magazines, selling World War Two radar systems with instructions on how to convert it into TV.

The second object that the contributor has brought in is a funkpeiler: two instruments used by the German army to work out where spy transmissions were coming from. The funkpeiler has an eagle stamp which the contributor says means it was made and used prior to 1945. The funkpeiler came from an antique fair and, and the man selling it didn't understand what it was. The contributor doesn't know where the man who was selling it got it from. Labels on the funkpeiler indicate that it was possibly posted to Glasgow from Germany after World War Two, sent by British Railways. The railways amalgamated after WW2 to become British Railways in 1948, so possibly someone working in Germany post-WW2 found it and sent it home.