 | B-29 Question| Aviation Discuss B-29 Question in the World War II - Aviation forums; Originally Posted by DaveB.inVa
The very first reply back on the B-29 Yahoo group was from Farrell. He'... |
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09-16-2005, 04:53 PM
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#31 | | Senior Member
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Originally Posted by DaveB.inVa The very first reply back on the B-29 Yahoo group was from Farrell. He's blunt, but put it short and sweet, here is his reply unmodified and in its entirety. The cap's are his not mine so don't be offended... I've heard it a few times from him before myself.
"If he knows of a radar that waist / Blister gunners had , he knows more than WE do! Range finding was the cookie handle and sight glass reticle which in adjusting the size of the target within the changing diameter of the light reticle, adjusted th erange MODESTLY through a relatively unsophisticated computer! NO RADAR! Farrell" | My Dad described it the same way - I just couldn't be sure because he was there in the 50s and things change. There maybe confusion between the Central fire Controller and radar sighting. The controller decided which turret would fire at any particular plane.
He was out of Mtn. Home AFB about 50 mi from here and theres an airshow this weekend....
Wmaxt | 
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09-16-2005, 05:05 PM
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#32 | | Senior Member
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| Did he ever have anything to do with any of the other bombers like the B-17, 24 or 32?
Another guy on the forum, Jim Peters, was a top turret gunner/FE on a B-17 and they had a rangefinding radar.
Im going to send some documents he sent me.
The documents are small but look on the second page at the bottom. You'll notice "AN/APQ-14 for B-29's" and later it says the AN/APQ-14 was secret.
This entire document was about rangefinding radars as well.... so who knows! I personally have never heard or seen anything about a rangefinding radar for the B-29 gunners but there may have been one in the works or something. Also the B-36 used a sight very similar to the recticle sights used on the B-29 and these werent radar ranged even with the advances that could've been used on the B-36.
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09-16-2005, 06:14 PM
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#34 | | "Shooter"
Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Moorpark, CA
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Country:  | If it helps, here are some shots of the remote control gunsight from the B-29. There is an operating manual there as well. I will thumb through it on my next trip out there. I knew these might come in handy at some point.
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09-16-2005, 06:29 PM
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#35 | | Senior Member
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| I enlarged the picture and came up with the designation of the radar.
SCR-726 S-Band Airborne Fire-Control Radar Galvin Corp. (later AN/APG-5). Radar set, Gun laying, Automatic range finder, 2.5 GHz, Pulse, range 150-3000 yards, used on B-17 and B-24.
I found this interesting comment at http://www.armyairforces.com/forum/m...1/tm.htm#48034
Im just curious though, where did they mount them? The turrets of the B29 were quite small. And Ive never seen a picture of them mounted in one of the gunner stations.
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09-16-2005, 07:00 PM
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#36 | | IP/Mech THE GREAT GAZOO
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Country: | This is great stuff guys, thanks for the participation! In reading some of the stuff I found earlier it made be believe that the AN/APG-8 was small and incorporated into an optical gun sight, I wonder if this was incorporated in the CFC's position?!? It also seems that if you had a MiG-15 coming out you at 600 MPH, completing the sighting process as described in the link might be a bit un-nerving!
Maybe uncle bill wasn't off the mark?!? Maybe we're not finding much on the radar sights because they were classified?!?! Uncle Bill talked about "firing the guns" as a secondary task, maybe he worked as a CFC?!? I'll show the equipment list links I found earlier....
Going off what I posted earlier (and what he told me) I vividly remember Uncle Bill saying there was a red illumiation within the site that gave the operator the cue to fire the guns. He went on to say this was difficult against the MiG-15
Great stuff guys, the -29 has always been one of my favorite planes (maybe because of Uncle Bill).
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09-16-2005, 07:02 PM
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#37 | | IP/Mech THE GREAT GAZOO
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Originally Posted by syscom3 I enlarged the picture and came up with the designation of the radar.
SCR-726 S-Band Airborne Fire-Control Radar Galvin Corp. (later AN/APG-5). Radar set, Gun laying, Automatic range finder, 2.5 GHz, Pulse, range 150-3000 yards, used on B-17 and B-24. | Sys - which picture did you enlarge?
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09-16-2005, 07:38 PM
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#38 | | Senior Member
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| That link to armyairforces has a message from Jim Peters. Hes the one who sent me the files about the radar ranged turrets on the B-17.
I still believe the 8 was a precessor to the 15. Both are pretty large and weigh around 125lbs. The CFC's position barbers chair had the same basic sight as the blister gunners except the sight was mounted on a ring.
I had never thought of it before but the 14 mentioned in that text might have been meant for the B-29 should it have been equipped with manned turrets.
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09-16-2005, 07:41 PM
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#39 | | Senior Member
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| APG_5_ONE.JPG that DaveB.inVa posted.
DaveB, if possible, could you scan them in again under a higher resolution?
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09-16-2005, 07:47 PM
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#40 | | Senior Member
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| I got those from Jim Peters. I dont know where he got them but I doubt he has them personally.
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09-16-2005, 07:58 PM
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#41 | | IP/Mech THE GREAT GAZOO
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Country: | Quote: |
Originally Posted by DaveB.inVa I still believe the 8 was a precessor to the 15. Both are pretty large and weigh around 125lbs. The CFC's position barbers chair had the same basic sight as the blister gunners except the sight was mounted on a ring. | I thought I saw one link that say the 5 weighed 40 pounds. I'll try to find it.
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09-16-2005, 10:04 PM
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#42 | | "Shooter"
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Country: | I am still digging, but I found this in the B-29 in action book:
(paraphrasing a bit here from brevity)
Bell built the B-29B. It was basically a production version that had a lot of the armament stripped out for Curt LeMay's new tactics. Quote: |
The tail mounted twin .50s were aimed and fired with the AN/APG-15B radar fire control system.
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09-16-2005, 10:22 PM
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#43 | | "Shooter"
Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Moorpark, CA
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Country: | More info from the book. It states that the APQ-13 had a thirty inch radome that extended from the bottom of the fuselage.
I also found this pic in the book (photo credit Dave Lucabaugh) of "Ding How". Are these radar antenna, or is it some sort of navigation/radio antenna? I am talking about the 4 vertical masts on the side of the fuselage. The top, bullet shape antenna is the ADF.
__________________ http://www.vg-photo.com Wherever their bones may lie, the courage of heroes is consecrated in the hearts and engraved in the history of the free. Lt Col Honner DSO MC, 39th Commander speaking of the dead from the battle of Kokoda. | |
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09-16-2005, 10:36 PM
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#44 | | "Shooter"
Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Moorpark, CA
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Country: | Little more reading and diggin through other material. The APQ-13 radar was a radar used from bombing. But on the Enola Gay site ( http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/garber/enola/intparts.htm) they also list some other nifty little wonder toys:
RAVEN racks (electronic counter measures) missing:
APR-4 Radar Search Receiver 40-1000 MHZ,
APR-5 Radar Search Receiver 1000-6000 MHZ,
APA-11 Pulse Analyzer,
APA-10 Panoramic Adaptor,
APT-2 Airborne Jamming Transmitter 450-720 MHZ
PP-32/AR Rectifier Power Unit
PP-58/APA-5 Rectifier Power Unit
__________________ http://www.vg-photo.com Wherever their bones may lie, the courage of heroes is consecrated in the hearts and engraved in the history of the free. Lt Col Honner DSO MC, 39th Commander speaking of the dead from the battle of Kokoda. | |
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09-16-2005, 10:42 PM
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#45 | | IP/Mech THE GREAT GAZOO
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Country: | Grat stuff Eric! I think those antenna are for a primative glide slope
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