[ARC5] Pilot's control box, CZR-23214...and ZB discussion!

[Lenox Carruth]

-----Original Message-----
From: arc5-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:arc5-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On
Behalf Of Mike Morrow


> Many years ago, I had an opportunity to have dinner with and visit with
all of the then remaining participants in that mission including the only
surviving Japanese Zero escort pilot.  The success of that mission was due
to good navigation with a large helping of luck.  They, indeed, flew at very
low altitude until they got near Bougainville when they went to a higher
altitude and split into a killer group to go after the two Betty bombers and
a protection group to handle the Japanese fighter escort.  No electronic
navigation aids were used.  

ZB is only a homing system and is not useful for navigation.  The accuracy
decreases with distance from the transmitter.  The circle around the
transmitter is divided into segments identified by a Morse letter which
changes daily.  Thus, the pilot only knows which segment he is in.  Segments
are always referenced to North so the pilot knows what approximate direction
he needs to fly to find the carrier (transmitter).  Since the segments are
pie shaped, the plane is funneled right to the location of the transmitter.
The system was also used on land but I have no idea how often.  Somewhere I
have a manual for the transmitter end of the system.

Incidentally, the Yamamoto shoot has been a source of great controversy and
field investigation ever since the event and is an interesting story.

Lenox
WA5OVG


There has been some speculation on this list that the USAAF P-38 aircraft
that intercepted IJN Admiral Yamamoto may have been equiped with a ZB or
AN/ARR-1 to help navigate so accurately those hundreds of miles of Pacific
that the P-38s covered.  One pilot's statement said that a special navy
compass was used (which could have referred to a ZB), but there seems to be
little to substantiate.  The P-38 pilots claim to have flown at low altitude
for the mission, so a ZB would not be long useful under those circumstances.