So I know about the experimental night vision from late WWII and the stuff from the Cold War you can sometimes buy and that's mostly from the 80s but not much about the stuff inbetween. How much was it used during Korea or Vietnam?
/r/ing the picture of Mike Vining holding an M14 with a starlight scope
The WWII stuff was Gen O, requiring IR lamps for illumination. Vietnam jssue gear used Gen i cascade tubes, two or three Gen I tubes in series, giving resolution close to low end Gen III, but big and heavy. The PVS2 in the pic above is an example. Cascade tubes are cheap, there is a build your own thread at AR15.com
http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/ll418/PESCA_photos/Historynightvision1.jpg
http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/ll418/PESCA_photos/Historynightvision2.jpg
http://i314.photobucket.com/albums/ll418/PESCA_photos/Historynightvision3.jpg
M3 infrared sniper scope on M1 carbine. Used in WWII and Korea.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BvfABFaiBVo
Shown in the German pic above.
British L42A1 sniper rifle with IWS cascade night vision scope. Lots of pics for those that collect them:
http://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=20733
Zeiss Orion 80 was the West German equivalent to the PVS2 and IWS.
>>29709416
https://www.varusteleka.com/en/product/polish-pnw-57-tank-helmet-with-infrared-goggles-surplus/24667
>>29710365
>PVS2
No. More like a PVS-4. The Z51 came into service just before 1980, and the PVS-2 has a much inferior resolution and light amplification ability.
