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Whatziss?

June 19, 2006 | | Comments (27)

Well, since John has been grumphing that my stuff is more enigmatic than a German cypher machine, I figure I'll make everybody's day by posting a lead-pipe cinch:

Calling Bletchley Park. Come In, Bletchley Park...

Geez, wotta a bunch of whiners! Okay, okay--here's another view of it:

Okay--at least *part* of QWERTY made it...

Obviously, it's not a stand-alone item--it's gotta be connected to something else in order to function and to enable that something else to function, too. Ummmm--*several* something elses, that is.

When the entire system worked, it did exactly what it was designed to do, and when it didn't--wellllll, that was another one of those times when it really sucked to be me...

***************************

Update: Text from Trias, italics from yours truly--

A controller! I win I win Ok you can stop hitting me now.

It looks old and worn but that might be the norm in the military. The delicate fuscia peach and charcoal tones indicate military. The item looks worn on the edges which, with the plug n play bit, suggests that the item is often handled and removed.

At the same time it looks fairly robust. Like it might need to be resistant to the bumps etc of movement. So i think this is for a vehicle of some type.

Left hand and right hand arm. Kinda says aircraft missiles doesn't it? But i'll go outside that and say helicopter. And because i think it's kinda plug n play i could be a 'special' weapon (weapon used real loosely here)like flares smoke grenade or something like that.

It's the dials which have me scrathing my head RGBYWV. The closest match for me is red green blue yellow w?white? and violet? Colours? Hardly a rainbow. Maybe for parades? Far more likely a code. But what the hell does that mean? And being the foremost expert in military hoohar i am utterly lost in the woods.

So a controller for a helicopter special weapon??

I love guessing.

Okay, the lad from the Land of Warm Christmases has put enough shotgun pellets into the target (although he's slightly off the mark on a minor point) to define it, generically. So, what is it *specifically*--meaning system nomenclature and aircraft-of-application?

I toldja it was a lead-pipe cinch...

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27 Comments

By lex on June 19, 2006 1:37 AM
Chaff and flares? Rockets? Other forward firing ordnance? On the left hand, and the right hand? Tactical nukes? Oops. That was going back a bit in my own time... Considering loft profile and dash speeds, that prolly wouldn't have worked so well, in rotary wing.
 
By Trias on June 19, 2006 2:31 AM
A controller! I win I win Ok you can stop hitting me now. It looks old and worn but that might be the norm in the military. The delicate fuscia peach and charcoal tones indicate military. The item looks worn on the edges which, with the plug n play bit, suggests that the item is often handled and removed. At the same time it looks fairly robust. Like it might need to be resistant to the bumps etc of movement. So i think this is for a vehicle of some type. Left hand and right hand arm. Kinda says aircraft missiles doesn't it? But i'll go outside that and say helicopter. And because i think it's kinda plug n play i could be a 'special' weapon (weapon used real loosely here)like flares smoke grenade or something like that. It's the dials which have me scrathing my head RGBYWV. The closest match for me is red green blue yellow w?white? and violet? Colours? Hardly a rainbow. Maybe for parades? Far more likely a code. But what the hell does that mean? And being the foremost expert in military hoohar i am utterly lost in the woods. So a controller for a helicopter special weapon?? I love guessing.
 
By cw4(ret)billt on June 19, 2006 5:45 AM
Lex - Chaff and flares would be used defensively (hmmmpf. a fine mindset for an *attack* pilot). This had an *offensive* function. Trias - I love guessing, too, and I'm guessing you like shotguns a lot. And more than one of the pellets hit the mark, so you've got brags on the generality--and I'm gonna stick this in the main post as an update to see who gets the specifics.
 
By wolfwalker on June 19, 2006 7:08 AM
Enormous gamble here given how little I actually know about helicopters ... but I'm going to guess that's the arming panel for a 2.75" FFAR rocket launch pod system. Further guesses: found on a Huey or HueyCobra, whichever one it was that could carry four pods. Toggle switches above are arming switches. Don't know what the four dials below are, unless they were somehow set for the type of rocket being carried in each pod.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 19, 2006 7:47 AM
One wonders how many helos Bill stripped in his career - and if there's enough parts to build one in his storage shed. Hmmmm, he *claims* to have been unfunded at work and now has to spend time gardening... "Yo, Jake, c'mere, dude, I got a question about Bigfoot..."
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 19, 2006 9:08 AM
Hmmmm. OS-1115 Intervalometer?
 
By cw4(ret)billt on June 19, 2006 9:23 AM
wolfwalker - ...but I'm going to guess that's the arming panel for a 2.75" FFAR rocket launch pod system. The system it controls mounts *on* the pod system. Further guesses: found on a Huey or HueyCobra, whichever one it was that could carry four pods. Toggle switches above are arming switches. Both guesses are "Target! FFE!" JoA - OS-1115 Intervalometer? Different systems, but the functionality is identical. And the intervalometer looks weirder.
 
By Ryan Gill on June 19, 2006 9:46 AM
Toggle switches for arm of course, but looking at the back panel, the dials look to be pots rather than setting switches because there's not nearly enough wires coming from them. Just a bus bar and then a copper contact strip attached tot he toggle. Looks like an arm switch for a rocket pod system with the dials controlling voltage which controls the number of rockets that fire when you hit the appropriate button.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 19, 2006 9:48 AM
I'll keep throwing up random items... XM113 External Stores Control Panel for the Cheyenne?
 
By Nicholas on June 19, 2006 10:27 AM
My guess is the RGBYWV *are* for selecting colours. It think this is for a forward airborne observer helicopter, who spots and marks targets and friendlies using coloured smoke rockets and then call in air strikes on the smoke from attack helicopters or fixed wing aircraft. It would make sense that the helo (something like a Kiowa?) would carry four pods each with a bunch of different smoke-coloured rockets and the dials would select which rockets to fire. I suppose this panel would only be installed on the helo when it was going to be used for FAO and was armed with the smoke rockets... otherwise it might have a different arming/weapons configuration panel for different weapons.
 
By cw4(ret)billt on June 19, 2006 10:39 AM
Ryan Gill - Nope, not pots. There's an actual, physical contact/stop involved. And John's already guessed the intervalometer. JoA - Nope. I've actually used this, and the closest I ever got to the cockpit of a Cheyenne was taking a peek inside the stripped carcass that's sitting on the front lawn of the museum at Rucker.
 
By cw4(ret)billt on June 19, 2006 10:44 AM
Geez, guys, if I give out any more hints, even Maggie will be able to jump all over it. Uhhhhh--maybe not. No salt-water tang to it...
 
By cw4(ret)billt on June 19, 2006 11:12 AM
Nicholas - My guess is the RGBYWV *are* for selecting colours. Your guess is absolutely correct. It think this is for a forward airborne observer helicopter, who spots and marks targets and friendlies using coloured smoke rockets... You're slightly astray on the type, and the scout ships use smoke grenades, not rockets. Smoke warheads are used primarily for screening and only come in white. Re-read the comments and I bet you'll get it before John finishes flailing around...
 
By wolfwalker on June 19, 2006 11:44 AM
All right, one more try and then I really _will_ be out of ideas. Four pods, four arm switches, four independently-settable dials. Suggests different types of something, mixable on the aircraft but not within each pod. If it's not the launch system itself it must be something to do with the individual rockets, which suggests either warhead or fuse. Fuse makes more sense -- Wikipedia tells me that there were six common fuse types for the Mk40, and those four dials have six settings on them. Using some sort of color coding (the color painted on the fuse?) as the setting key makes sense in the limited space available. Therefore ... GUESS: This is the arming control panel for the warhead fuses in a four-pod Mk 40 FFAR launch system. Set the fuse type for each pod using the coded dials, then flip the corresponding switch to ON to activate that pod. (I'll add a WAG that if this little device malfunctioned, it resulted in 100% duds, which would make everyone involved very unhappy. Except the target.)
 
By Nicholas on June 19, 2006 12:24 PM
Ah, yes, I'm an idiot. I don't think it could be a Kiowa or the military version of the MD-500 (what's it called? OH-3) because they have two hardpoints, not four. Assuming that that's what the four dials are for--four hardpoints--which seems logical. That would limit it to what: Apache, Cobra, Blackhawk? Any other American Helos that have four hardpoints? (I don't think the Huey does but I could be wrong). As for what the colours mean, wolfwalker has an interesting idea which could easily be right, but if it isn't smoke or flares then I'm out of ideas :( (I've definitely seen photos of ground troops mark ing their position with coloured smoke so I thought an FAO might want to have a similar ability).
 
By cw4(ret)billt on June 19, 2006 1:03 PM
wolfwalker - This is the arming control panel for the warhead fuses in a four-pod Mk 40 FFAR launch system. Nope. And the fuzes were/are set digitally (the Mk 40 uses the same fuze/warhead combos as the Mk 66). You can set the fuzes for all rockets within a zone, but if you try to zeroize or increase a time-setting improperly, you wind up with a very fast, heavy spear. (I'll add a WAG that if this little device malfunctioned, it resulted in 100% duds, which would make everyone involved very unhappy. Actually, if it malfunctioned it just made the *pilot* very unhappy, since the target never realized that it was a target. Nicholas et al. - Think smoke. Think colors. Think four dials do not necessarily call for four hardpoints. Observe the rocket pod, Grasshoppers--one pod, seven (or nineteen) tubes...
 
By Nicholas on June 19, 2006 1:24 PM
OK, hmm, I had been assuming that--if we are talking about rockets or similar here--the pods were "smart" enough to keep track of how many rockets of each colour they have etc. But given the simplicity of that control, they probably don't. So, as you say, there are usually more than 6 rockets in a pod and often quite a lot more. So it might be possible that pods are split up into two or more "banks" of rockets, each bank containing one of each colour. So you could have one hardpoint, with a pod with 12 rockets, and use two dials/switches to control the two "banks". But since you already said smoke warheads only come in white and are used for screening, I'm having trouble understanding the connection. Clearly when you're marking a target, it helps to be able to distinguish it from other potential smoke on the battlefield, from smoke grenades on the ground, or other markers you've made recently, and there might be more than one target. So that's why I was guessing this was for selecting the colour of smoke. But from what you've said I think I'm wrong. The only other thing I can think of is white smoke rockets with embedded coloured flares, which light up the smoke with different colours? But if you're using it for screening there isn't much point to that. *sigh* there must be something I'm missing.
 
By cw4(ret)billt on June 19, 2006 1:56 PM
Geez, guys -- *read* the update under the original post, then read the comments s-l-o-w-l-y... *throwing hints around with a snowshovel*
 
By Eric Wilner on June 19, 2006 2:34 PM
One thing I notice: there are four wires per toggle switch, but I don't see any electrical connection from the knobs. This suggests to me that they're not really knobs, but things that are set on the ground to indicate what the pods are loaded with...? Now, completely disregarding all comments to date, including the first half of this one, here's my guess: It's the light-control panel for an XM74E1 mobile disco. The left and right arms each had two light pods, inboard and outboard, each with a six-color filter wheel.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 19, 2006 3:10 PM
Snerk! I vote for Eric's answer!
 
By SuperHooker on June 20, 2006 12:51 AM
Never flown anything older than an A/C Kiowa, but after looking at the backside if the panel a couple of times, the knobs are simply visual indicators reminding the (idiot)pilot(OK, just task saturated) as to what type of store was associated with that tube? location? Couldn't even fathom a guess as to what said weapon system it is, nor what platform. The knobs don't do anything.
 
By SuperHooker on June 20, 2006 12:52 AM
Never flown anything older than an A/C Kiowa, but after looking at the backside if the panel a couple of times, the knobs are simply visual indicators reminding the (idiot)pilot(OK, just task saturated) as to what type of store was associated with that tube? location? Couldn't even fathom a guess as to what said weapon system it is, nor what platform. The knobs don't do anything.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 20, 2006 5:55 AM
Oh, SuperHooker, thankyouthankyouthankyou! I have a new code word for idiot! Now, when I come out of a brief where a Senior Leader has just embarassed themselves with a stunning display of "Don't Get It" I can mutter to my long-suffering compadres, "Jeez, that task-saturated b*st*rd couldn't find his fourth point of contact with both hands and a map!" and not hurt anyone's feelings!
 
By CCat on June 20, 2006 5:00 PM
Stunt plane/helicopter for releasing different color smoke?
 
By CCat on June 20, 2006 5:00 PM
Stunt plane/helicopter for releasing different color smoke?
 
By Nicholas on June 21, 2006 5:04 AM
The fact you mentioned Christmas is making me think, now, it's used to control coloured lights mounted externally to the helo. Why you want that, I'm not sure. For guiding aircraft in to landings? For communicating with other helicopters in a formation? *stumped*
 
By CCat on June 21, 2006 8:56 AM
Yeah, colored lights. Think Close Encounters. For signaling the UFO's.
 
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