Brass Keuffel Esser Military Post WW2 Telescope 5010 Western Electric Korean War

Appears to be all there. The optics are crystal clear.

This unit looks like it was treated very well and was hardly used at all. Below is an online description of a white example held by a museum. Telescope, Keuffel & Esser Co.

5010 made for experimental surface-to-air missile system, n. 5010 made for System X SAM-A-7, for Ordnance Corps, U. Metal with white painted finish except on eyepiece and at mounting rings; black lettering both sides. 18-1/2 long x 3-1/4 high including level.

This telescope was made under contract for Western Electric Co. (a part of Bell Labs), the prime contractor for the Army on a defensive missile system, the XSAM or X SAM-A-7. X-SAM was the designation for Experimental Surface-to-Air-Missile and was the first successful one of its kind, ultimately being renamed and operationally deployed as the Nike Ajax. It was changed from X SAM to SAM in 1951.

The telescope was apparently part of the systems for tracking/targeting. Exact use has not been determined.

Marked on left side: System. Marked on right side: Keuffel & Esser Co. Main office and factories were in Hoboken in the period when this item was made.

The Western Electric SAM-A-7/M1/MIM-3 Nike Ajax The Nike Ajax was the worlds first operational surface-to-air guided missile system. Its origins lay in the immediate post-war time, when the U.

Army realized that guided missiles were the only way to provide air-defense against future fast high-flying bombers. Western Electric became the prime contractor for the XSAM-G-7 Nike missile system and Douglas as the primary subcontractor was responsible for the missile airframe. The first unguided Nike missiles were fired in 1946, but problems with the original multi-rocket booster (eight solid-fuel rockets wrapped around the missile tail) soon led to delays in the program. In 1948, it was decided to replace this booster pack with a single rocket booster, attached to the back of the missile. The main propulsion of the missile was a Bell liquid-fueled rocket motor, and the flight path was controlled by the four small fins around the nose. In November 1951, the first successful interception of a QB-17 target drone succeeded. The first production Nike (which had been redesignated SAM-A-7 in 1951) flew in 1952, and the first operational Nike site was activated in 1954. By this time, the missile had been designated by the Army as Guided Missile, Anti-Aircraft M1. The name had changed to Nike I, to distinguish it from the Nike-B (later MIM-14 Nike Hercules) and Nike II (later LIM-49 Nike Zeus). On 15 November 1956, the name was finally changed to Nike Ajax. The Nike Ajax missile used a command guidance system. An acquisition radar called LOPAR (Low-Power Acquisition Radar) picked up potential targets at long range, and the information on hostile targets was then transferred to the Target Tracking Radar (TTR). An adjacent Missile Tracking Radar (MTR) tracked the flight path of the Nike Ajax missile. Using tracking data of the TTR and MTR, a computer calculated the interception trajectory, and sent appropriate course correction commands to the missile. Business & Commerce Manufacturing Military U. The item "Brass Keuffel Esser Military Post WW2 Telescope 5010 Western Electric Korean War" is in sale since Saturday, September 02, 2017. This item is in the category "Collectibles\Science & Medicine (1930-Now)\Engineering\Surveying Equipment". The seller is "chipper01work" and is located in Altoona, Pennsylvania. This item can be shipped to United States.