[Milsurplus] Norden Bombsight

[Todd, KA1KAQ]

Sent this to the list earlier but it bounced back as 'no such address' for
the milsurplus list. Try again:


On Mon, Dec 7, 2015 at 7:25 PM, Michael Bittner <mmab at cox.net> wrote:

Yes, the vaunted Norden bomb sight was hopelessly overrated during the war.
> Carpet bombing was the only way of being reasonably sure of hitting the
> intended industrial or military target.  We've all seen the stock footage
> shown in countless WWII movies of B-17 and B-24 raids over Germany where
> the bombs are landing in the towns, the orchards, the Danube river and
> everyplace else in addition to the target.
>

True, but the same footage used over and over in multiple places does not
an accurate picture paint.

Who knows what was going on in the other aircraft dropping bombs at that
time? Were they under attack or damaged, and jettisoning their bombs? Was
it a nervous bombardier who wanted to get out of a hot zone and head for
home? This was highlighted in the Hollywood production of Memphis Belle
which, while not an historically-accurate representation overall, did bring
up the issue that was on many-a-young crewman's mind in such times.

I've seen a lot of other footage as well, including rail yards decimated,
refineries and ammo dumps blown up, factories destroyed. No doubt more
bombs dropped = better chance of success, but the inaccuracies of crewmen
under duress along with other contributing factors don't mean the entire
program or system was a failure.

I believe it was Bob, WB1AJG(SK) who told me that, while the Germans did
indeed get ahold of the Norden bombsight information, they didn't disregard
it but rather incorporated much of it into a new sight they were working
on, with improvements. Bob worked for Norden at some point and was also a
B-24 mechanic in WWII. He worked on the superchargers. I recall he had a
little block of clear plastic on his desk with a Norden bombsight inside.
Of course, he was old and could have been mistaken I guess.

Then again, look at the accuracy (or lack thereof) of German bombing.
Doesn't appear they had anything better going for them early on.

Since we weren't there (and media coverage has never been exactly accurate
either), I'll err on the side of the good ol' USA and say that sure - it
wasn't perfect but it also wasn't a useless dog. Along with its
shortcomings we need to factor in the hostile environment it was being used
in. I suspect that in itself account for some pretty varied results.

And I'd love to have one here. So any of you who are burdened by one of
these horrid contraption simply send it my way and sleep much better at
night. I'll even pay the shipping. (o:

~ Todd,  KA1KAQ/4