The Siren Board

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!

Do you have a picture? That will help out.

I am almost positive it is a B&M Siro Drift. However, there are multiple models of the Siro Drift. I could not find any model related to the "10 CA or 10 GA" model number. I could possibly pin point the siren's exact model name, if you upload a picture of the information tag (it should look something like the picture below).

Thank you for your reply. This is the only tag on it located on the motor housing.

that seems to be a B&M 10GA, a vertical outdoor siren that B&M produced. thats the first time ive seen a picture of one, ive only heard of them before now. from what i can gather, thats a rather rare specimen

Wow, good to know. I just found out that B&M is still in business and offers restoration services. Not sure if I even want to do that, it works fine, and its weathered condition kind of adds to its charm. I do know I dont want to open it up since I know next to nothing about these. Thanks for the info.