Bomber gun sights.

[Backfire]

Quick little video on b17 b29 gun sights. Pretty cool tech back in the day. They have another good one on the ball turret

https://youtu.be/NLX_FWdRccA

[ABNAK]

I didn't watch the video but supposedly one or two of the gun turrets on a B-29 was aimed distally, like some dude with a sighting device in a different part of the plane.

Yeah, you're right.....pretty cool tech for the time. They also split the atom, so light years ahead of me!!! If you dig further into it one could be surprised by what existed almost 80 years ago. That would make for a cool show on TV: interview [largely idiots] in the street and ask if they knew that we could do XXX in 1945. They'd be like "No way duuuude".

[Diamondback]

I didn't watch the video but supposedly one or two of the gun turrets on a B-29 was aimed distally, like some dude with a sighting device in a different part of the plane.

Yeah, you're right.....pretty cool tech for the time. They also split the atom, so light years ahead of me!!! If you dig further into it one could be surprised by what existed almost 80 years ago. That would make for a cool show on TV: interview [largely idiots] in the street and ask if they knew that we could do XXX in 1945. They'd be like "No way duuuude".

On the B-29/B-50 and B-36, all but the manned tail turrets were remote-operated, as was the top turret on the P-61 Black Widow.
https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/defending-superbomber-b-29s-central-fire-control-system

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a18343/the-cannons-on-the-b-29-bomber-were-a-mid-century-engineering-masterpiece/

MOF here in Seattle just got the system in their B-29 restored and operational a few years ago--they think they COULD make T-Square-54 fully airworthy again except she's on loan through the USAF Museum Program and USAFMP has a strict rule of "once it enters our custody it never flies again for any reason."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHfsbMjKHNo

As an aside, 80 years later we STILL don't fully understand how the "Kommandogerat" (powertrain control computer) in the engine of an Fw190 worked.

[flenna]

I remember going to the museum in Oak Ridge 15 or so years ago and it had a whole section dedicated to the B-29 bombing sight. It was very advanced for it’s time and was considered top secret.

[Backfire]

I remember going to the museum in Oak Ridge 15 or so years ago and it had a whole section dedicated to the B-29 bombing sight. It was very advanced for it’s time and was considered top secret.

I was pretty surprised at the reticle and how the computer made all the corrections.

[Backfire]

On the B-29/B-50 and B-36, all but the manned tail turrets were remote-operated, as was the top turret on the P-61 Black Widow.
https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/defending-superbomber-b-29s-central-fire-control-system

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a18343/the-cannons-on-the-b-29-bomber-were-a-mid-century-engineering-masterpiece/

MOF here in Seattle just got the system in their B-29 restored and operational a few years ago--they think they COULD make T-Square-54 fully airworthy again except she's on loan through the USAF Museum Program and USAFMP has a strict rule of "once it enters our custody it never flies again for any reason."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHfsbMjKHNo

As an aside, 80 years later we STILL don't fully understand how the "Kommandogerat" (powertrain control computer) in the engine of an Fw190 worked.

I really wish they had stuff like this on TV. The Old TLC with operations, military stuff, it's all turned to crud now

[Diamondback]

I was pretty surprised at the reticle and how the computer made all the corrections.

Really surprising is that the Philco-Ford gun layers aboard Iowa, New Jersey, Missouri and Wisconsin are STILL four of the most precise computers ever built despite being almost completely mechanical.

[P2Vaircrewman]

An older cousin now passed was a waist gunner on B-17's. He flew 30 missions over Europe, the last 3 days after D Day.

[HackerF15E]

MOF here in Seattle just got the system in their B-29 restored and operational a few years ago--they think they COULD make T-Square-54 fully airworthy again except she's on loan through the USAF Museum Program and USAFMP has a strict rule of "once it enters our custody it never flies again for any reason."

MOF has sadly *never* had any interest in keeping anything in the collection actively flying. Since the 1980s it has been run by "museum" people rather than "aviation" people, so there's no interest in the risk and cost incurred in operating the many airplanes in the collection currently that could be made flyable. There have been numerous people over time who have been part of the staff or the board who were interested in trying to fly some of it (briefly there was a move afoot to fly N17W, and again when they acquired the Champlin collection), but those voices were always in the vast minority.

Fifi and Doc wouldn't be able to keep flying if it weren't for the ability to sell rides, and the FAA is making the bar for LHFE operations higher each year, unfortunately. The insurance, mx, and ops costs are just that astronomical at this point.