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Germans had night vision in WWII?

W

WinkOsmosis

Banned
My friend found this site. I don't believe him or the site about Germans having nightvision during WWII.
Mirrored link

Original geocities URL (that won't stay up if you go to it): http://www.geocities.com/desertfox1891/nightfightingpanthers/nightfightingpanthers.htm

Is that for real? Did they have video cameras back then? The site says something about a convertor to change IR to visible light...


Edit: He found something... http://www.wonderquest.com/InfraredVision.htm
An infrared night vision system senses heat radiated by things and produces a video picture of the heat scene. See figure. The gadget that senses the heat is a photocathode, similar to the one in a video camera, except it is sensitive to infrared radiation instead of visible light.

To understand photocathodes, consider how light and metals interact. When a photon (a small particle of light) hits a metal surface, it might kick out an electron. I say "might" because each metal needs a certain minimum amount of energy before it emits an electron. Infrared photons, however, have such puny energies they can only knock an electron out of special metals.

A heat-sensitive photocathode contains a very thin layer of such a metal coated on an optically flat piece of glass. A lens focuses heat from the scene you want to "see" onto the photocathode glass. The metal layer on the glass is so thin that when heat photons strike its front surface, they propel electrons from its back surface. It turns a pattern of heat into a corresponding pattern of electrons.

A high voltage flings the electrons at accelerating speeds against a phosphor-coated anode layer located very close. The electrons pick up so much energy in flight that they make the phosphor glow when they hit. This turns the pattern of electrons into a pattern of light. That's the picture you see.
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Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
My friend found this site. I don't believe him or the site about Germans having nightvision during WWII.
Mirrored link

Original geocities URL (that won't stay up if you go to it): http://www.geocities.com/desertfox1891/nightfightingpanthers/nightfightingpanthers.htm

Is that for real? Did they have video cameras back then? The site says something about a convertor to change IR to visible light...
Click to expand...

Did they have video cameras back then?

OF CORSE! Where do you think all that WWII footage came from? They had cameras by the first world war. As for the IR.... who knows... those crazy germans.
 
Yes they had video cameras and I believe they had primitive night vision

The germans also had cool weapons like remote controlled missiles (think TOW missile)
the world's first assualt rifle
First Jet engined fighter plane
 
Originally posted by: illusion88
Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
My friend found this site. I don't believe him or the site about Germans having nightvision during WWII.
Mirrored link

Original geocities URL (that won't stay up if you go to it): http://www.geocities.com/desertfox1891/nightfightingpanthers/nightfightingpanthers.htm

Is that for real? Did they have video cameras back then? The site says something about a convertor to change IR to visible light...
Click to expand...

Did they have video cameras back then?

OF CORSE! Where do you think all that WWII footage came from? They had cameras by the first world war. As for the IR.... who knows... those crazy germans.
Click to expand...

Wasn't the footage all on film??
 
They invented pretty much everything in the 20th century, so why not nightvision too?
Also if you read the site carefully, it will say that they did not have the passive nightvision we have today but rather an active system.
They used an (for human eyes invisible) IR-lamp to brighten things up and then used special optics to view the "invisible" bright area.

Given 10 more years of development on most of their weapons technology they probably would have won WW2 like we just won the Gulf War. Not a very comforting thought ... crazy Hitler and I applaud the German genious.

No wonder they build the best cars in the world. 😉
 
Originally posted by: coolVariable
They invented pretty much everything in the 20th century, so why not nightvision too?
Also if you read the site carefully, it will say that they did not have the passive nightvision we have today but rather an active system.
They used an (for human eyes invisible) IR-lamp to brighten things up and then used special optics to view the "invisible" bright area.

Given 10 more years of development on most of their weapons technology they probably would have won WW2 like we just won the Gulf War. Not a very comforting thought ... crazy Hitler and I applaud the German genious.

No wonder they build the best cars in the world. 😉
Click to expand...

I know they used an IR spotlight. But I want to know how they converted it to visible light.
 
Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
Originally posted by: coolVariable
They invented pretty much everything in the 20th century, so why not nightvision too?
Also if you read the site carefully, it will say that they did not have the passive nightvision we have today but rather an active system.
They used an (for human eyes invisible) IR-lamp to brighten things up and then used special optics to view the "invisible" bright area.

Given 10 more years of development on most of their weapons technology they probably would have won WW2 like we just won the Gulf War. Not a very comforting thought ... crazy Hitler and I applaud the German genious.

No wonder they build the best cars in the world. 😉
Click to expand...

I know they used an IR spotlight. But I want to know how they converted it to visible light.
Click to expand...

Infrared Equipment for Panther G

Basically just like an electronic camera we use today. The "converter" is sensitive to infrared light. A lens is used to focus the IR on the detector. When the cells of the detector are struck by infrared they are excited and produce a voltage. Use the voltage produced to produce a picture on a CRT.
I believe the detector must be chilled to reduce background noise.
 
they had all sorts of cool military equipment whose potential was wasted because hitler wanted it used for something other than what would have helped the nazis best. good old hitler.
 
i saw on history channel a few months ago , the axis had Tibetian monks, that would predict the enemy's tatics ...


em axis were lightyears ahead of every1 else ....
 
Originally posted by: coolVariable
They invented pretty much everything in the 20th century
Click to expand...
Lay off the crack.
Given 10 more years of development on most of their weapons technology they probably would have won WW2 like we just won the Gulf War. Not a very comforting thought ... crazy Hitler and I applaud the German genious.
Click to expand...
10 years? Sure, if the allies decided to stop their R&D as well. For all the german genius you're applauding they lost don't forget. Plus I don't recall them dropping any nuclear bombs.

---

they also had flamethrowers and tactical nuclear weapons but hitler, in his infinite mercy, decided not to use them
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That's a curious statement because of course flamethrowers were available and used at the time, but neither the axis nor allies had tactical nuclear weapons (I don't really call droping bombs on a city very tactical 😉).
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Originally posted by: Broohaha
they also had flamethrowers and tactical nuclear weapons but hitler, in his infinite mercy, decided not to use them
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They never made one, but they were very close to it. Much closer than was previously thought. I believe the that small brigade (sorry can't remember the name but I think they were a group of Jewish rebels) sabotaged their heavy water supply and slowed down the research considerably. But yes, Germans had their technological advances as well.
 
Originally posted by: Antoneo
Originally posted by: Broohaha
they also had flamethrowers and tactical nuclear weapons but hitler, in his infinite mercy, decided not to use them
Click to expand...

They never made one, but they were very close to it. Much closer than was previously thought. I believe the that small brigade (sorry can't remember the name but I think they were a group of Jewish rebels) sabotaged their heavy water supply and slowed down the research considerably. But yes, Germans had their technological advances as well.
Click to expand...

its a shame how they used "slave labor",and misused POW's,all in an effort to try and win the war,
yes they discovered,refined some neat stuff,but at what costs?

War is not nice,at any time,and in any war,people get hurt,killed,and worse. 🙁

 
Wasn't until the end of the war that they had them in numbers, and by then they didn't have enough people left 😛

Had em from tanks to artillery to rifles.

 
It's amazing how many inventions came to be during world war 2. The computer, radar, sonar, night vision, jet propulsion, rockets, helicopters...
 
Originally posted by: TheBoyBlunder
It's amazing how many inventions came to be during world war 2. The computer, radar, sonar, night vision, jet propulsion, rockets, helicopters...
Click to expand...
Isn't necessity the mother of invention? If not for war we'd probably still be riding horses!

 
Originally posted by: Skoorb
Originally posted by: TheBoyBlunder
It's amazing how many inventions came to be during world war 2. The computer, radar, sonar, night vision, jet propulsion, rockets, helicopters...
Click to expand...
Isn't necessity the mother of invention? If not for war we'd probably still be riding horses!
Click to expand...

And if not for computer games we'd all be using 8086's 😀

BTW, every once in a while you'll see German night vision stuff come up on eBay. Ocassionally US optics as well.
 
Originally posted by: Antoneo
Originally posted by: Broohaha
they also had flamethrowers and tactical nuclear weapons but hitler, in his infinite mercy, decided not to use them
Click to expand...

They never made one, but they were very close to it. Much closer than was previously thought. I believe the that small brigade (sorry can't remember the name but I think they were a group of Jewish rebels) sabotaged their heavy water supply and slowed down the research considerably. But yes, Germans had their technological advances as well.
Click to expand...

It was far from a group of Jewish rebels. It was basically the Norweigan resistance backed by England.

 
Originally posted by: FrustratedUser
Originally posted by: Antoneo
Originally posted by: Broohaha
they also had flamethrowers and tactical nuclear weapons but hitler, in his infinite mercy, decided not to use them
Click to expand...

They never made one, but they were very close to it. Much closer than was previously thought. I believe the that small brigade (sorry can't remember the name but I think they were a group of Jewish rebels) sabotaged their heavy water supply and slowed down the research considerably. But yes, Germans had their technological advances as well.
Click to expand...

It was far from a group of Jewish rebels. It was basically the Norweigan resistance backed by England.
Click to expand...
It sounded better when they were Jewish rebels 🙂
 
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