and the telescope tube and the optical and engineering work were complete by 1939 although the telescope was not assembled until after World War II. During the 1940s Beames also mounted a 17-inch (432 mm) Schmidt telescope and a 6inch (162 mm) refractor telescope used guide scope on the side of the main telescope. The Schmidt was never completed as the corrector plate was stolen before it was installed. During the war years Beames' skills in optics enabled him to make a significant contribution to the production of optical munitions. At the time, there were very few people with the skill and knowledge of optic production and his services were called upon to make sighting telescope and signal lamp reflectors for Aldis signal lamps used by the Royal Australian Navy & British Navy. The extent of this production is currently unknown as he probably sub-contracted to AWA in Ashfield and is not mentioned in the official history as a contractor. Nevertheless, preliminary research in the observatory archive and assessment of moveable heritage there indicates that his work producing optical munitions during the war was sizable. He also manufactured naval artillery fuse gaskets for the British Navy and parts for the airframes of Mosquito bombers for the Royal; Australian Airforce. It was also during the war that Beames joined the NSW Branch of the British Astronomers Association. At the end of the war Beames took steps to finally locate and assemble his 24-inch telescope in a suitable place away from the light pollution afforded by Sydney. It was first assembled in a sliding roof observatory building at Lisarow near Gosford in 1946 but the clouded night skies experienced there prompted Beames to purchase land at Linden in the Blue Mountains in 1948. The square brick base of the observatory building was built by his friend and fellow member of the British Astronomical Association, Albert York who was a builder by trade. Over the next ten years Beams designed and built the dome, and the electrical control systems including winding his own specialised motors. He built most of the machinery and equipment necessary to assist in the construction of the telescope which was housed in three workshops on site. Finally by 1959, the 24 inch telescope was installed in the observatory building and made operational. Beames had an association with those at the Mt. Stromlo observatory although there are few records of