long branch sniper ?

[Surpmil]

Peter, thanks for that further info. I should have said "I believe" REL was first to introduce the 1MOA plates!

Regarding the "using up existing stocks" as opposed introducing changes to production as early as possible, the negative would be that the troops would not receive the updated version until considerably later, unless the earlier marks in service were withdrawn and replaced. I don't remember ever seeing a photo showing the No32 Mk3 in combat use in Europe in 1944/45. Presumably because the new rifles to which they were fitted were held in store until "required" due to the loss or damage of the rifles then in the hands of the troops (or the equipping of new formations). The earliest photo I've seen is in Capt. Shore's book showing a sniper course in Holland in late 1945 or 46 (can't remember which now) using No32 Mk3s. The scopes were being produced in 1944, but must have spent the rest of the war sitting in stores. BTW, has anyone else seen a photo showing the Mk3 in use during WWII?

"Without Warning":

By December 1943, according to the montly letter of the Director of Small Arms & Ammunition, REL was "also issuing some which are half way between Mk.I and (the proposed) Mk.II." This was the Canadian Mk.IA.

So REL production of the Mk.IA would probably begin in the final quarter of 1943.

Do you know when exactly the H&H chap was sent over? Are there any records or correspondence relating to this? Any records showing what information or drawings were sent to Long Branch initially?

"Without Warning", says this:

"REL was provided with the relevant drawings by the War Office to allow it to undertake the necessary production. Unfortunately most drawings supplied by the British assumed a level of journeyman's knowledge to fill in the blanks - knowledge that was lacking at REL. In considering the production of the No.32 Mk.I scope the engineers at REL felt the design was outdated, complicated and required too many steps to produce.

Now one would expect that engineers able to appraise the worth of a design are easily able to "fill in the blanks" that a "journeyman" tradesman might be able to, and furthermore it is not the job of "journeymen" to "fill in the blanks"(!) when it comes to preparing a design for manufacture - that is the job of the engineers! (Assuming any were available) The wording leaves me wondering what was provided if the engineers had trouble "filling in the blanks"!

I don't have the Report of the Minister of Munitions and Supply handy, but IIRC it says one of the first production projects at REL was the Admiralty Fire Control Predictor, an electro-mechanical computer and about the most complicated piece of equipment then in use. The point being that their resources, and brains, were obviously prioritized. REL also produced a whole range of electrical products, which are also poorly documented.

This is a bit OT, but odd that so many photos were taken at Long Branch, including even films, while almost no photos of the inside of REL seem to exist, this of a complex "occupying 750,000 square feet and employing over 7500 persons."

(If I remember "Without Warning" correctly it says that the C67 lenses were from unspecified optical equipment then in production, rather than binoculars specifically.)