Unusual attitude indicator

[ateamer]

Not the airplane, the attitude indicator itself. I came across an early 60s Cessna with this oddball. The owner doesn’t have any info on it without digging through 60-some years of logs. Any ideas about where it came from?

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Looks like a christmas tree ornament.

 

[dmspilot]

Is it connected to a vacuum pump or electrical source? It doesn't look like a real instrument...

 

[Piperonca]

Saw one like that in the early '60s. It was installed in another oddity: a Champion 7FC Tri-traveler. Owner was from Memphis.

 

[Dan Thomas]

Looks like a christmas tree ornament.

That's all it is. Nothing a on a string can show attitude. All it can show is coordination.

 

[Piperonca]

That's all it is. Nothing a on a string can show attitude. All it can show is coordination.

Looks like a horizon behind it, which indicates bank. So, a really strange Turn & Slip? I'm getting a headache trying to visualize it.

 

[ateamer]

Bumping this old thread, ‘cause I solved the mystery.

It is a real instrument, the Coffing 3-D Horizon. Quite unusual, and apparently rare and collectible.

 

[Albany Tom]

That's absolutely awesome. I hope there's someone out there flying with one of those in working condition.

 

[ateamer]

That's absolutely awesome. I hope there's someone out there flying with one of those in working condition.

My neighbor has one in his ‘61 172. That’s where the OP originated.

 

[AZEL]

Looks like a christmas tree ornament.

Yeah, I was going to say "Hallmark."