AndyFowler Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 (edited) Hi everyone , discovered this in my late Great Uncles effects and wondered what it could have been used on ? The writing states as follows :- War Department ,Watkin depression range finder , J.Hicks maker , 8,9&10 Hatton Garden London No568 ! My Great Uncle was a tank driver in the 16th/5th Lancers during World War 2 and served in the North African and Italian campaigns ! I would be pleased with any information on this item ! Thanks Andy Edited October 15, 2010 by AndyFowler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjbsophey Posted October 15, 2010 Share Posted October 15, 2010 It looks like a telescope of sorts with it being a range finder , it might be able to give a tank commander better distances between targets as there is dead ground between the user and target and could probably compinsate for this , just my 2p worth might be totally wrong :undecided: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 (edited) Having had a hunt about. It appears to be a strange object for a tankie to have. EXCEPT!!! The Depression Range Finder is a costal artillery, Naval device. So as the original Tank Corps had a lot of Naval input, maybe someone brought it across? The maker J Hicks is intresting in himself. He seems to have had a lot of patents on various technical , scientific instruments. Edited October 16, 2010 by Tony B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyFowler Posted October 16, 2010 Author Share Posted October 16, 2010 Thank you both for your replies ! Regards Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big ray Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Having had a hunt about. It appears to be a strange object for a tankie to have. EXCEPT!!!The Depression Range Finder is a costal artillery, Naval device. So as the original Tank Corps had a lot of Naval input, maybe someone brought it across? The maker J Hicks is intresting in himself. He seems to have had a lot of patents on various technical , scientific instruments. The naval connection might make good sense when you think about it......... sea of water, or sea of sand, not much difference in terms of range finding. Ray.:cool2: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted November 10, 2010 Share Posted November 10, 2010 Very true! Ray. The desert would have very little to scale the eye on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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