I'm trying to visualise what the "Vampire" and similar systems would look like through the scope. I'm interested in primitive visual display and electronics systems as they developed from the 20s through to the 50s but can never seem to find a good description of what it was like to actually use the first generation of night vision equipment.
a note to anyone imagining ww2 raves like i was -
OP is referring to the german "VAMPIR" infrared night vision system. it's interesting that infrared was known as "black light" back then, but now it's UV at the other end of the visible spectrum.
It was a TV-style CRT with a flashlight on top, per this description. So a cruddy black and white [or green and white] TV picture of some sort.
I can't tell if this is an actual through-scope picture or a computer-generated simulation but here is a video clip with some alleged nightsight footage.
It looks suspiciously clear to me.