Hello all, new member here.
I was lucky enough to get a hold of an old air raid siren. Was hoping someone here could help me out with a little background on what I have. It's very old and weathered, has a tag that say "B & M siren manufacturing" and the model number is either 10CA or 10Ga.
A little history about myself. I grew up in the late "60s and 70's in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. During that time frame, there were numerous air raid sirens around the city. I can still vividly remember when they were tested, and the gloomy feeling they provoked. My father was an engineer working up at the Santa Suzanna field laboratory (AKA the hill) developing technologies to fight the so called red menace. This just added to the feelings of uncertainty that was prevalent in that era. The sirens went up just after WWII and were tested monthly up until they were silenced permanently in the early 1980's.
So, naturally, when I saw this little gem, I just had to have it. I wasn't sure what to expect, so I wired a plug on the end, plugged it into 110 volts, and, HOLY COW is this thing loud. My neighbor a quarter mile away came out of his house to see what was happening.
Does anybody have any history on this siren? I assume it is from the early 1950's. Thanks for reading!