This is not a forum for general discussion of the articles subject put new text under old text. The great bend army air field aaf norden bombsight storage vaults, built in 1943, are utilitarian concrete structures designed by the army corps of engineers for the storage and issue of the norden bombsights during world war ii. Original vector bombsight technology relied on a bomber being able to make a clean, long run towards the target, with minimal weather conditio. The bombsight highly increased accuracy for bombardiers. Courtesy of war history online book on the history of the norden bombsight, which claimed the. The core belief that popular science and our readers share.
Although not as accurate as the norden bombsight, the interwar bombsights proved superior to those used in wwi, and they gave planners the tools needed to develop the. The norden bombsight required a set of crosshairs with which to pinpoint a target. Gyroscope, c1 autopilot, norden bomb sight, honeywell gyro. Another norden bombsight at the quonset air museum in north kingston, ri. This great book was issued to each bombardier in wwii and was intended to be a quick reference guide for use in the field. Norden bombsight at the air heritage museum in beaver.
An observer uses the wimperis bombsight, an old type. Nordon bombsight article about nordon bombsight by the free. Apr 23, 20 despite massive investment and effort by the technology enamored army, the mystique of the norden bombsight failed to hold up in the field according to malcolm gladwell. The buildings are located at the great bend municipal airport, 9047 6.
Norden bombsight description and operation background. The bomb missed its target by 800 feet, but of course it didnt matter, and thats the greatest irony of all, gladwell said. The norden bombsight consisted of two primary parts, the gyroscopic stabilization platform on the left side, and the mechanical calculator and sighting head on the right side. The site would also be used by the us air froce during the korean and vietnam wars to help drop bombs accurately. How it all works on a bomb run norden bombsights by moore. This was essentially using wind speed and direction coupled with an aircrafts speed to determine a suitable vector to the target. Without her, the bombsight might never have succeeded. Click here to start a new topic please sign and date your posts by typing four tildes new to wikipedia. The norden system utilized a computer within the bombsight. The norden was able to determine, from variables input by the bombardier, the point at which the aircrafts bombs should be released to hit the target. The norden bombsight consisted of more than 2,000 parts such as dc motors, gears, potentiometers, clutches, levers, cams, mirrors, gyroscopes, and specialized components such as gudgeon bearings, cardans, and gimbal rings. He inputs time of fall information into the disk speed knob, and adjusts the trail arm to the correct number. Photograph of a norden bombsight, military secret of world war ii.
After adjusting the sight for altitude and airspeed, the bombardier essentially aimed it like. The norden bombsight was the standardissue bombsight during most of world war ii and well afterward. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the creative commons cc0 license. Even though carl lucas norden had built a prototype and was developing his bombsight well before, it. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. Norden inventor of the classified norden bombsight used in world war i. I found a dealer in a local antique mall who has one, but if i invested in it, i dont want to overpay. The norden bombsight and german espionage trips into history. The norden bombsight is arguably one of the most important technological advancements to come out of wwii. Wwii norden bombsight at the wings of eagles museum in horseheads, ny. Another norden bombsight at the cradle of aviation museum in garden city, ny. As shown in figures 1 and 2, the sperry sl sight is essentially a cube with control data input knobs on each side and a vertically mounted telescopic viewing system.
All money goes toward maintaining and improving this web sight. Hoax mary brown was chosen to donate her hair to become. Exterior view of the nose turret and bombardiers station on a b17. After adjusting the sight for altitude and airspeed, the bombardier essentially aimed it like a rifle. Bd0111 norden bombsight principles, army air force film d0 duration. It begins when you hit the predesignated waypoint, about two.
Norden bombsight at the new england air museum near hartford, ct. A bombsight is a device that is used to drop bombs accurately from aircraft, and the norden bombsight was perhaps one of the few scientific instruments, along with radar, ever credited with playing such a large role in the allied victory in ww ii. Some parts required machining to extremely close tolerances, previously unheard of in a massproduced device. Popular science gives our readers the information and tools to improve their technology and their world. Even though carl lucas norden had built a prototype and was developing his bombsight well before, it was its use during wwii which made it famous. There are good drawings of the various systems and how they solve the bombing problem. The c1 autopilot was used in conjunction with the norden bomb sight to fly the plane on a bomb run.
The future is going to be better, and science and technology are the driving forces that will help make it better. Primary controls on the right side were concentric azimuth rate and displacement knobs, a crosstrail correction knob, a trail knob for setting in the standard value for the bomb, and a caging control for the. The museum of aviation in georgia claims that no one has seen a norden bombsight with anything but crosshairs etched directly onto the glass, and that. One more norden bombsight at the empire state aerosciences museum in schenectady, ny. No one told carl norden that his bombsight had been used over hiroshima.
Victor 4120, an m9b, is the sight that was used by tom ferebee to drop the first atomic bomb on hiroshima on august 6th, 1945. Therefore, to perform a bomb run, the bombardier knows the altitude and airspeed and looks up in tables the time of fall and trail. The september 1999 issue of ieee spectrum has a very good article on this topic, appropriately called the bombsight war. A norden bombsight at the military museum of southern new england. Jul 26, 2018 the norden bombsight was created and used by the united states army air forces usaaf and the united states navy during ww 2. This was part of a new service kit for the c1 autopilot which included the gyro, 3 control surface servos, a small dynamotor, and a black box that tied into the norden bomb sight control. Recent examples on the web kermit beahan, used a norden bombsight to target the factory. The norden bombsight was the plot of an episode of hogans heroes. Nordens that were not calibrated had an accuracy of more like 14 mils, or a 14 foot miss for every 1,000 feet of altitude. The enigma of the norden bombsight maxwell air force. Bombsights, a feature of combat aircraft since world war i, were first found on purposedesigned bomber aircraft and then moved to fighterbombers and modern tactical aircraft as those aircraft took up the brunt of the bombing role. During world war ii, great precautions were taken to guard the secrecy of the norden bombsight. The museum of aviation in georgia claims that no one has seen a norden bombsight with anything but. Interwar development of bombsights national museum of.
The problem with such accuracy was the bombsight could only be used during daylight. During the entire war the norden was considered a top secret piece of equipment and normally when it was shown in training films, it was hidden behind a piece of canvas or otherwise blacked out. One out of every 10 norden bombsights produced was taken to a test facility for quality control and calibration. Norden is probably not given enough credit for the role he played in the war effort, but one woman is given even less credit. This is the section on nomenclature and operation of the norden m series bomb sight. Army brass liked to brag that, using the norden, crews could drop their bombs in a pickle barrel from 20,000 feet, although i imagine that they needed very favorable winds for this sort of accuracy. Norden bomb sight article about norden bomb sight by the. A gyroscopically stabilized synchronizing bombsight used mainly for synchronous bombing but useful for fixedangle bombing explanation of nordon bombsight. Jan 20, 2012 the bomb missed its target by 800 feet, but of course it didnt matter, and thats the greatest irony of all, gladwell said. Typical bombsights of the prewar era worked on the vector bombsight principle introduced with the world war i course setting bomb sight. Using the highly accurate norden bomb sight in their b17 flying fortresses, they insisted on carrying out precision daylight attacks on specific military and industrial targets, perhaps heeding eakers warning that we should never allow the history of.
This sight is presently installed in the nose of the most famous b29. These systems consisted of a slide ruletype calculator that was used to calculate the effects of the wind on the bomber based on. The legend of wwiis bombsight rapunzel atlas obscura. The americans scornfully referred to it as potato farming or agricultural bombing. The bomb sight web map and mobile app reveals ww2 bomb census maps between 7101940 and 06061941, previously available only by viewing them in the reading room of the national archives. When technology fails by richard galant, cnn malcolm gladwell said the story of the norden bombsight is a cautionary tale about the promise of technology. Bomb sight makes you discover london during ww2 luftwaffe blitz bombing raids, exploring maps, images and memories. Bombsights, a feature of combat aircraft since world war i, were first found on purposedesigned bomber aircraft and then moved to fighterbombers and modern tactical aircraft as those aircraft took up the brunt of the bombing role a bombsight has to estimate the path the bomb will take after release from the aircraft. These systems consisted of a slide ruletype calculator that was used to calculate the effects of the wind on the bomber based on simple vector arithmetic. This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the norden bombsight article. Media in category norden bombsights the following 43 files are in this category, out of 43 total. The norden bombsight was created and used by the united states army air forces usaaf and the united states navy during ww 2. Army air service used the mark i bombsight a copy of the british wimperis bombsight on its dh4s. I went through the bombing problem and then described the norden bombsight and all of it components and how the bombsight solved the bombing problem.
Norden bombsight finescale modeler essential magazine. Critics called the new policy aiming point cathedral. The sight was loaded onto its aircraft just before takeoff under armed guard. Conrad brown, was located and assigned tad to vo67. A bombsight is a device used by military aircraft to drop bombs accurately. Bombers that its highly secret norden bombsight provided such accuracy that a bomb could be placed in a pickle barrel from 20,000 feet. Norden had its beginnings in the company that developed and manufactured the norden bombsight of world war ii fame. Norden bombsight americas secret weapon in wwii description. As the bomber approached its target, the bombardier entered data about wind direction, airspeed and altitude into the bombsights analog computer, which calculated wind drift and provided the correct aim point. Posted by subfixer on tuesday, february 22, 2005 9. Even today people still marvel at the super secret norden bombsight. One of the most famous devices of ww ii is the norden bombsight, often mentioned along with radar and the atomic bomb as the most umportant technologies in winning the war. This series of films provides a rare look at the operation of the bombsight as it was presented to bombardiers. Armed forces in reducing an enemys capability for war through precision bombing.
Norden bombsight americas secret weapon in wwii the. Dec 31, 2015 updated tutorial for the norden bombsight with crosstrail information added. It was years after i saw that show before i learned more about the real. Bomb sight mapping the world war 2 london blitz bomb census. He had it shipped priority one to vo67 and used it to train the squadron bombarbardiers. Jan 05, 2017 the norden bombsight was created and used by the united states army air forces usaaf and the united states navy during ww 2. Norden bombsight used on us bombers during world war ii, the korean war, and the vietnam war. Also known as the blue ox, the sight relied on a mechanical computer which helped calculate the bombs trajectory based on flight conditions and.
Jun 29, 2017 the legend of wwiis bombsight rapunzel. Nordon bombsight article about nordon bombsight by the. Below you will find scanned pages from the bombardiers information file bif. Queries to the operatives in new york brought the response that no one in the ring had access to it. All structured data from the file and property namespaces is available under the. I dug out my bombardiers information file and my norden training manual along with my tachometer and the accompanying nomographic computers e6b and c2 and met with bob the following week. A norden bombsight at the west point military museum in west point, ny. Begin them 3040 minutes before you reach the target area. Interwar development of bombsights national museum of the. Another norden bombsight at the air mobility command museum. The data input knobs are similar to the norden bombsight, but were positioned on both sides of the instrument. Deconstructing the myth of the norden bombsight on our first day at norden, we were awed and even scared to be in the very building that housed the mysterious, secret, powerful and famous norden bombsight it is a wonderful, superb instrument it has made an unsurpassed contribution toward the. Army brass liked to brag that, using the norden, crews could drop their bombs in a pickle barrel from 20,000 feet, although i imagine that they.
There is lots of good reference material on the web, including this great site about for bombsights we are fortunate to have a complete norden bombsight with the optional x1 reflex sight. Jul 16, 2008 united states leadership believed the norden bombsight pictured at right, with improved bombing accuracy, would allow the united states army air corps usaac to accurately bomb enemy targets. Bombsight definition of bombsight by merriamwebster. In the summer of 1937, the luftwaffe asked the abwehr to obtain the design of the much heralded and supersecret norden bombsight. Massey air museum has on display a norden bombsight such as would have been used by the bombardier on a b17 bomber and other u.
Out of curiosity, what would be a good price for a nice condition norden bombsight. In fact this is the probably the most famous norden bomb sight of them all. Norden bombsight at the mid atlantic air museum in reading, pa. Dec 29, 20 bd0111 norden bombsight principles, army air force film d0 duration. During world war one, the system used was referred to as vectoring. That tradition continued through 20 with the development and manufacture of sophisticated airborne electronics systems. The norden bombsight was intended to solve four problems facing the commanders of the united states military. A norden bombsight at the maps air museum in north canton, oh.
Army service, is a bombsight that was used by the united states army air forces usaaf and the united states navy during world war ii, and the united states air force in the korean and the vietnam wars. In 1945, pattons third army came upon a hidden factory in the tyrolean alps and captured its secret product. They were essentially separate instruments, connecting through the sighting prism. Brown located a battered copy of a wwii training film on the norden bombsight in the smithsonian institute. Sperry as the norden bombsight helped write world war iis aviation history, the lessknown sperry technology pioneered avionics for allweather flying contrary to conventional wisdom, carl l. Pictured are some of the platforms hosting norden radar, display and fire control systems. Bombsight definition is a sighting device for aiming bombs. Xv, known as the norden m series in army service, was a bombsight used by the united states army air forces usaaf and the united states navy during world war ii, and the united states air force in the korean and the vietnam wars. The enigma of the norden bombsight maxwell air force base.