[Milsurplus] ineffective ballastic bombing of ships

[boeing377 at aol.com]

Check out this WW 2 weapon: a radar guided air launched anti shipping missile. It came late in WW 2, had bugs, but it did sink at least one enemy ship. Further developed this would have totally changed the bomber vs ship equation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_(guided_bomb)

We are really lucky the Germans didn't develop an effective proximity fuse for AA weapons. Their AA rockets and artillery never had good proximity fuses and relied instead on accurate aiming. Those of you who attended Steve Blank's fascinating lecture at the last Radiofest in Monterey learned how extensive and sophisticated their AA radar network was. If you didn't attend, check out the link below, really amazing historical info. I have read a lot about WW 2 aviation and had no idea how far the Germans had developed their networked radar systems. You hear lots about the British Chain Home HF radar air defense system but not much about Germany's ground and airborne systems.

http://steveblank.com/2009/04/27/the-secret-history-of-silicon-valley-part-vi-the-secret-life-of-fred-terman-and-stanford/

73,
Mark
AF6IM