Most bombers in this formation won’t aim at all. They’ll wait for one plane’s bombs to fall.
American heavy bombers carried the Norden bombsight, and its maker used “pickle barrel” imagery to build its reputation. Inside, a gyroscopically stabilized platform steadied the bombardier’s view through the sight, and an analog computer continuously recalculated where the bombs would hit as flight conditions changed.
In combat over Europe the results were poor. The average circular error in 1943 was about 1,200 feet, meaning only 16 percent of the bombs fell within 1,000 feet of the aiming point. Curtis LeMay put his best bombardiers in the lead bomber of each combat box: only the lead bombardiers actively used the Norden, and the rest of the formation dropped their bombs when they saw the lead plane’s bombs leave.
#shorts #ww2 #b17 #nordenbombsight #bomber #aviation #ww2history #history #military #3danimation
source