A change of ownership was, in fact, exactly what had taken place, although the new owner, American Optical Co., of what became the "Fecker Division", did not concern itself with advising former customers of this transition. The new owner clearly had NO interest in scopes or shooting, sad to say, nor much, probably, even in the great astronomical instruments that had won international acclaim for Fecker in the pre-war years. It was, rather, the advanced optical and electronic systems Fecker engineers were then developing for such Cold War priorities as aircraft and missile tracking that had stimulated the purchase. Current manufacturer of the Super Targetspot, Gil Parsons of Parsons Optical Co., who was working as an A. O. optician about two years after this takeover, thus bringing the story forward to 1958, remembers the last, rather pathetic, act in the Fecker target-scope saga: boxes of miscellaneous scope and mount parts were delivered to his plant, and all present invited to take their pick which he, at lest proceeded to do with gusto. Thus ended the Fecker target-scope story; not with a bang, but a whimper.
But not, surprisingly, the J. W. Fecker name and corporate identity, which has survived several corporate mergers, and exists today as a division of the Contraves Co., still located in Pittsburgh. Aerospace tracking and guidance gadgetry, some of it employing lenses or mirrors that would be recognizable to Fecker today, is supplied to such buyers as NASA, the U.S. military and astronomical observatories. Make a point, however, not to ask them to repair your vintage Fecker scope!
THE END
Pages: 
The Life & Times of J. W. Fecker (Read 166 times)
