Aircraft gun sight?

[Woodsy]

I should add that this is called the Norman rear sight (used in conjuction with the Norman wind vane front sight) and was fitted to the Mk III Lewis which was the last version of the aircraft gun introduced near the end of WW1, and used as a flexible observers gun up until WW2. They could well have been used on Fairey Battles in WW2 for pilot training.

[Woodsy]

This photo shows the Fairey Battle with the Mk III Lewis and the Norman rear sight fitted. The front sight on this gun is a plain post rather than the wind vane sight.
Attachment 80699

[John H Turner]

I have just looked at some pictures of both the Lewis Gun and the Vickers K, the sights are very similar. Going on what Woodsy said about it being the correct size to fit his Lewis Gun I am inclined to believe that it is for the Lewis Gun. Which does surprise me as I had begun to think it was more likely to be for the Vickers K.

Anyway thank you everybody for your input. I hope you have found it of some interest.

Regards,

John.

[Woodsy]

Belay that! I just blew the picture up and the gun is a Vickers GO. It is unlikely that BSA made parts for for Vickers, especially given how busy they were in WW2, but they were the only UK makers of the Lewis. The GO may have used the identical sight to avoid reinventing the wheel. They certaintly look the same in official VGO manuals I have.

[Brit plumber]

This may be interesting, scroll down to pictures of the Norman

RFC/RAF Gunsights - Axis History Forum