B-29 Clock

[Snakeoil]

My Dad was in the USAAF during WWII. He was fortunate and never left the US. He was airframe and powerplant certified and became a flight inspector for incoming aircraft from the various companies that built them. When the war ended, he was involved in the closing process of various bases in TX. He watched them tow a brand new P-38 with a damaged nose gear, into a pit they dug with a dozer and burned it.

Anyway, Pop was able to scrounge a few things during the base closing process and part of that was clocks from B-29 bombers. I remember there being at least 2 in the family. One was at my Grandparent's house and someone had made a wood base for it and it sat on a shelf in the informal dining room. The other was in our house and it was always somewhere in the house and I played with it a bit as a kid. It has a radium dial and I would take it into the dark to see the number glow.

So, I've been watching a lot of WWII documentaries on YouTube as part of my breakfast and lunch entertainment. It got me thinking about that clock. I thought I knew where it was and found it. I wound it up and set it to the time on my computer. That was last week. It's an 8-day clock made by Waltham. It lost about 10 minutes over the week. Not bad when you consider the lube is 80 years old. I wound it again today and it's still running merrily on my desk. If only we made things that well today.

 

[Ben]

A great piece of history !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Missionary]

And parts are available.
Depending on where the clock was mounted, it had a checklist certificate showing the inspection dates for accuracy. The navigators clock was the "official" timepiece for the aircraft.
Also very accurate time pieces are still made....

 

[oscarflytyer]

I do custom wood working, and one of my fav projects is a clock/barometer mounted in a piece of fancy wood block with a contrasting fancy wood base. I am getting set up to build a bunch to sell. It would be awesome to have one of these mounted the same way. I need to see if I can find one!

 

[smokeywolf]

I sold a Jaeger LeCoultre 8 Day aircraft clock on 'the bay' about 14 years ago. Can't remember all the timing calculations it was capable of. Was in good shape. After I did a little work on it, it was in near new shape. As I recall, it went for between $1400 or $1500.
Made me sad to sell it, but I was on lay-off and didn't want to sell or cash out other assets.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

I had a couple of aircraft clocks, one mounted in a metal bracket from a shelf over the bench and one in a homemade stand on my desk.

One was a Waltham, the other marked Revue. Both were 8 -day mechanical clocks that fit the standard instrument panel layout.

They both eventually died and after paying to have one repaired only to have it break again less than a year later, I decided the “cool” factor was less than the cost factor. In all fairness, they probably far out lived their design life.

I love mechanical timepieces and admire the engineering and build quality of such devices.

In the 1940’s a mechanical clock was the only real option for an aircraft clock but what is surprising is how long that technology held out. Mechanical clocks in instrument panels were still in use well into the 1980’s, in some cases, even later.

Timekeeping is very important in aviation and sailing. You will not find a old pilot or salty sailor that doesn’t back-up the on-board timepiece with a good watch.

 

[Missionary]

You bet-cha a backup is necessary. When your life is on the line, those precious seconds really count.
Certification logs were adhered to and deviance was a big price to pay.

 

[Uncle Grinch]

Cool… I love the story and history!

 

[Missionary]

The Navy had a "clock repairman on ships. Destroyers and larger vessels had one, but I am not sure how small a ship would also.
It all may have been based on how many clocks were installed in the various "spaces" within a vessel.
Tanks used to have 8 day clocks. The M60 series never did. Possibly WW2 were the last tanks. When I went through tank Commander school at the 1st formation it was announced to get a reliable watch before next formation. I went to the PX and got a pocket watch which was not the Sarge's idea but it was a reliable watch purchased from the PX.

 

[smokeywolf]

Never knew about the "clock repairman" on ships. Stands to reason, given how critical time and speed is to navigation. Also never knew about the clocks in tanks.

 

[JWFilips]

I have one of those in my gunshop.
It was my FIL's He put it in a metal housing. He was in the Army Air Corps at the end of the 2d WW. I have his uniform also .
He was an Electrical Engineer and spent most of his time in the service around and on B-29's

 

[RicinYakima]

My Uncle Bill was an instrument repairman in the 8th Air Force in England for three years. One of his jobs was to salvage instruments of crashed or shot up planes that were not going to rebuilt. He said they only thing they did not repair was the clock and the bomb sights.

 

[beagle]

Beleive it or not, until about 10 years ago, those were still used in Army aircraft. Pilferage got so bad that eventually we ended up installing with rivets.
Replacement was with a digital made by Davtron./beagle

 

[Snakeoil]

Supposedly, one of the reasons that the Titanic lost so many is because they provided a bad position reading after hitting the iceberg. Makes you wonder if it was a sextant reading error or a bad clock.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

Supposedly, one of the reasons that the Titanic lost so many is because they provided a bad position reading after hitting the iceberg. Makes you wonder if it was a sextant reading error or a bad clock.

Yeah..... The Carpathia arrived on the location of the Titanic's last position a few hours after receiving the distress call. The Carpathia picked up the survivers, so the Titanic's crew must have had a fairly decent position fix when they made that call.
So I'm going to say the story about the bad position is a bit of lore.