Post your bunker telephones please!

[BCraig]

Here’s a closeup of the handset & data plate.

As the handset was dug, the rubber earpiece & the mouthpiece are replacements but sadly not identical replacements.

[Festrako]

Hi Ben,

It's a very nice phone you have there. Is the plate "Feind hört mit !" an original one ?

Concerning the bell protection, I do not think it was deleted in the production chain. I own a phone from 1944 and it is equiped with. I know someone wo makes very nice copies of it if you absolutely want to complete your phone.

Here is a picture of my display.



Best regards

[BCraig]

That is a really incredible bunker phone set up. I am really impressed with the overall completeness. There are a lot more pieces I need to look for.

As far as I know, the plate is original. It was on the phone when I bought it.

I had asked earlier in this thread about the bell covers, & there was an opinion that they had been eliminated. I have seen several phones that did not have the bell covers, but they may just be missing after 70+ years. Honestly, I don’t know.

Regards, Ben

[Festrako]

Your plate is a original one, the paint is in very good shape !

Thank for your nice comment, but I still miss many details.

The question of the bell cover might depend of the manufacturer ?

If we try to accumulate datas, here is my input about my Fs38 for wich I have/had the id plate from the origin :

- Fs38 Siemens 1940 : with bell cover
- Fs38 Fernsig 1944 : with
- Fs38 KM (Only made by Siemens ?) : with
- Fs38 TN x 2 : with
- Fs38 Mix & Genest : without

Best regards

[BCraig]

The idea that the manufacturer may factor into whether the bunker phones have a bell cover or not is an interesting one.

There is a bunker phone with a data plate with “brd” & dated 1943 without a bell cover in this thread. There had also been a photo of others without bell covers in photos that are now gone from this thread.

I’ve posted a close up of mine where the bell cover should have been, & in my opinion, there does not appear to have been one present due to lack of wear on the paint. It is a TN made in 1942.

I wonder if there were other factors as well on whether bell covers were present or not such as type of bunkers, location of bunkers, & date produced.

Variations on German uniforms, insignia, & field gear have been studied extensively. I wonder how much has really been studied on variations of the festungsfernsprecher 38.

Regards, Ben

[Funksammler]

Hmmm, it generally does not work like that with communications equipment. You are talking about items that were made in their hundreds by a very limited number of manufacturers to an exact specification rather than the tens of thousands uniforms made by a mixture of small and largish firms and a cottage industry. Even with a much larger production item like the FF33 there is surprising consistency. Production was generally changed because a) field use revealed weaknesses in the design b) lack of strategic materials c) considerable savings in production time. These last two factors predominantly played out in the last year of the war. Omitting a simple stamped metal part like a bell cover does not seem warranted as a necessary design change in this respect. It is much more likely that the covers were removed in the 75 years since the war....

regards,

Funksammler

[kabel]

My phone:

Photos here: https://goo.gl/3d6wRE

Kabel

PS I'm just asked to sell it, but have no Idea about what's a reasonable cost.
DS

[kabel]

For your information; it is sold.

[feind-hort-mit]

Plenty of those post war upgraded to KM look / ex-Norwegian phones out there, handset is post war, I had four of them, still got a couple.
Original phones always stand out.
...........

[feind-hort-mit]

a few ..

..okay then,
Hi all, I've been having a tidy up in the garage recently, had a chance to put all my phones in roughly the same place
Can you see the interesting one

[IMG]<a href="https://ibb.co/du29oe"><img src="https://image.ibb.co/gjnLuK/DSC_3921_1.jpg" alt="DSC_3921_1" border="0"></a><br /><a target='_blank' href='https://aluminumsulfate.net/aluminum-oxide'>chemical symbol aluminum</a><br />[/IMG]

-------------------------

[feind-hort-mit]

The details are in the photo's ..

Me again
One of the phones in that lot .. middle one bottom shelf, differs from the norm, it isn't a one off .. it's not a Channel Island phone either, but it is a genuine ww2 version, it hasn't been mucked about with.. other than an application of horrible blackboard paint
It has a waffenampt rubber stamp on the front cover, it has the flat topped grease points.
But, most importantly it does not have .. and never as had a bell cover, unfortunately it is missing the bell plate so I cannot tell you who it was made by.
The point is ..it never had the threaded holes for the bell cover drilled.
I can confirm .. because I was there, when the Guernsey Armories opened up their ammunition bunker at Batterie Dollmann, the Bunker telephone was still in situ, albeit with a cracked front plate.. vandals but it was also a non-bell cover version (no threaded holes) I can't find pictures of it at the moment but I will post them in due course.
This is a case of a manufacturer with a different phone design, it might be that the holes weren't drilled because the covers were not available due to their low importance / materials, it might be an early version, I don't know.
Thought you might be interested in the images.
Night all .. Ian "feind-hort-mit"

[IMG]<a href="https://imgbb.com/"><img src="https://image.ibb.co/fDqVDe/a_DSC_3922_1.jpg" alt="a_DSC_3922_1" border="0"></a>[/IMG]

[IMG]<a href="https://imgbb.com/"><img src="https://image.ibb.co/mHMOzK/a_DSC_3924_1.jpg" alt="a_DSC_3924_1" border="0"></a>[/IMG]

[IMG]<a href="https://imgbb.com/"><img src="https://image.ibb.co/iagj6z/a_DSC_3925_1.jpg" alt="a_DSC_3925_1" border="0"></a>[/IMG]

[IMG]<a href="https://imgbb.com/"><img src="https://image.ibb.co/cefcRz/a_DSC_3926_1.jpg" alt="a_DSC_3926_1" border="0"></a>[/IMG]

[IMG]<a href="https://imgbb.com/"><img src="https://image.ibb.co/eVpbKK/a_DSC_3927_1.jpg" alt="a_DSC_3927_1" border="0"></a>[/IMG]

[IMG]<a href="https://ibb.co/iOTaDe"><img src="https://preview.ibb.co/nzVYzK/DSC_3928_1.jpg" alt="DSC_3928_1" border="0"></a>[/IMG]

Funksammler.
Hmmm, it generally does not work like that with communications equipment. You are talking about items that were made in their hundreds by a very limited number of manufacturers to an exact specification rather than the tens of thousands uniforms made by a mixture of small and largish firms and a cottage industry. Even with a much larger production item like the FF33 there is surprising consistency. Production was generally changed because a) field use revealed weaknesses in the design b) lack of strategic materials c) considerable savings in production time. These last two factors predominantly played out in the last year of the war. Omitting a simple stamped metal part like a bell cover does not seem warranted as a necessary design change in this respect. It is much more likely that the covers were removed in the 75 years since the war....
regards, Funksammler

See photo's above mate

------------------------------

[BCraig]

Well that really is interesting that it never had a bell cover nor the holes drilled to accommodate the bell cover.

You have to wonder if there was an Engineering Change Order telling them to drop the bell cover from the design or what the deal was.

Super nice collection of bunker telephones by the way!

Regards,

Ben

[Festrako]

Hello,

I am quite skeptical. As a new paint has been applied on the screw drills, no one can confirm the hole were not fullfiled and then overpainted...

Best regards

[feind-hort-mit]

Just a plain stupid idea.

Hello,

I am quite skeptical. As a new paint has been applied on the screw drills, no one can confirm the hole were not fullfiled and then overpainted...

Best regards

Really ....
I could say don't be so argumentative..but I'll just ask you this..why would they ?.
If I could be bothered to continue I would but I can't, I'm fed up with telling those who truly believe they know bunker phones..that I I don't.
I've been collecting them for thirty years, my first was a "real D", I've seen countless ricidulous examples purporting to be such, none have been correct..nobody notices that lack of two holes on the front plate not just the usual one, but they are hailed as amazing examples.
I now have two D's, both from Jersey..fact.
I have a genuine superb example of a KM version, but why should I show the non believers who will judge it..as experts
I have seen on this very website t&ats who see an acid etched date.. on a pre or post war mining phone..but insist it's a real bunker phone..get real people, show me the photos..I could show you ww2 photos of my exact types in fortifications,.but I will not stoop to some so called experts standards.

While I'm at it, what's the rights and wrongs when using an image from online.. in a book ?.
That is, a photo that the writer doesn't own but takes off the web and uses It in his or her book without asking permission or crediting the owner.
Every time I use a photo on here that isn't mine I at least credit it to the website.

Ben, I fully agree..I confirm that the phone I have has never had a cover fitted or holes drilled thanks for your message mate. Best wishes..Ian.

Goodnight friends.

..............

[Festrako]

Helllo

It is a pity you are such aggressive. I won't comment it further.

About the missing of the two drill holes on the plate, a similar example from my collection.


Best regards,
Another Festungsfernsprecher collector.