This exhibit is a cold cathode voltage stabiliser. VS111 is the RAF designation and AW3 is the UK Army designation. Both types were renamed CV1110.
The working voltage is 120 Volts and for currents of between 6 - 75 mA the voltage is maintained to five volts of the target value.
Such valves would be used to achieve stable voltages for sensitive circuits such as oscillators. Also such a tube run at constant current would form a reference voltage for a valve voltage regulator. Oscilloscopes and radar displays would be fed from fully stabilised supplies.
The base is loose and the electrodes are tilted. It is not clear if this was deliberate or the result of mechanical shock. The supports are stout wire and it is difficult to see how it could have bent without damaging the glass.
The closed end of the central cathode cylinder.
The balloon envelope is 50 mm in diameter and, excluding the B4 base pins, is 104 mm tall.
