[Milsurplus] Norden & the Autopilot

[Michael Tauson]

Hi, Clete,

> The way a bombardier explained the Norden to me back
right after WWII the autopilot was not connected to
the bombsight.

Hmmm ... interesting.  The reference I saw said it
was, though it may have been late in the war and not
universally installed.  I shall have to research this.

> When the angle between the target and Vertical was
just right, the bombs were released.

Was this manual or did the bombsight handle this as
well?  

> Azmuth guidance was passed to the pilot, 

I've seen the indicator for this and wanted to add it
to the nav panel discussed elsewhere.

> when Second Station came into being the bombardier
had a small handle that connected to the autopilot
rudder control.  

This is the part that I think was eventually tied to
the bombsight which meant once the run was set up and
the sight had the target, all the bombardier had to do
was sit back and watch.  Well, figuratively.  

> Then there was that "other bombsight" that never had
a good PR.

Well, yeah, but how widespread was it's usage?

Best regards,

Michael, K3MXO


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