The Carter Hand Siren
My personal favorite WWII item
The Carter & Co Hand Siren is a real WWII Classic. Carter started making these circa 1939, and 11,000 were made total. Sadly, most have been recycled. A few survived and made their way to Government Surplus auctions and liquidators. The one above is one of the lucky few.
The Carter Siren is a large hand-operated warning siren made during WWII for Royal Observer Corp outposts. As far as hand sirens go, this is the largest type made, standing 3 feet tall and sporting a rotor that is considerably larger than that of a fire engine and it's even larger than the one used in the Federal Model 2 electric air raid siren. Listen to the sound file below, and I'll think you'll agree that this is not a high-pitch fire engine sound, it is the roar of a bona fide air raid siren. I've kept one of these for my permanent siren collection. I simply get too much joy in cranking it to part with them all...