Quote:
Originally Posted by uwe zankl
Guten Morgen zusammen...
Wie ja vieleicht schon bekannt ist suche ich eine Leica für eine 30iger/40iger US War Correspondant Darstellung. Nun meine Frage, weiss jemand bis wann die Firma Leitz ihre Cameras in die USA exportiert hat? Waren die 1940 erschienenen IIIc noch im Export? Gibt es vieleicht sogar Listen mit Serienummernbereichen die in den Export gingen?
Danke und Gruss
Uwe
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Uwe,
Leitz New York openly announced to all Leica Friends in the USA in the Leica Photography Magazine of August 1939 that operations/sales/inports of new Leica equipment was to be suspended until further notice, (I have a copy of this somewhere)
Leitz New York only made 2 or 3 more issues (more a newsletter) during the war to inform interested people that Leica would be coming back after the hostilities were over
Wartime US Army issue cameras were mostly Leica III/IIIa and a very limited amount of IIIb cameras, mostly with leftover Summar f2.0 or Elmar f3.5 50mm lenses - these would be the correct cameras for your Military reenactment impression
No Leica IIIC`s were exported to the USA until well after the war - any examples that may have been used by US Army Intelligence or other Allied forces RAF/Royal Navy/MI5 - were "captured" cameras or cameras that were smuggled out of Norway from Sweden with the candlestine "Shetland Bus" ferry operations - these were few and far between, maybe less than 250 cameras the entire war
From wars end in May 1945 to Late 1947 the entire Leica camera production was turned over and delivered to the US Army PX system in Germany
Leitz New York, did`nt sell cameras to the civilian public again till late 1947/early 1948, as Germany itself was moving into the Wirtschaftswunders zeit, with the "flattop" Sharkskin Leica IIIC (in that era)
I hope all that information helps - Together with a friend I`m preparing a new Leica Book on the 1939 to 1948 era discussing the involvement with the US Army/US Government and the successful return of the Leica back to the world`s market after WW2
Tom