Recent content by mentuhotp

They are perfectly aligned till they are in the bomb bay. In the precise moment they leave the aircraft every one of them is taken by the wind, each in its personal way. But even if they will touch earth the much scattered as possible, as a whole they will be deflected in the same direction, to...

Sighting for deflection implies consider the crosswinds. The variables could be many but the bomb will always fall in wind direction ( downwind ). If the direction of the wind reverses, just like you said, the bomb will take the new direction of the wind and it will fall downwind in the new...

But it will fall shorter of the target. And this was considered by the Bombardier, who entered the value of the wind in the bombsight before releasing.

From the moment they leave the aircraft the bombs are carried by the wind in the direction of the wind, so downwind from the point of release. They cannot be carried in the opposite direction ( upwind ). If you toss a handful of ping pong balls in a river, they might touch the water in a...

Even if they dispersed in many directions I don't think they dropped upwind .... Sorry I meant fell no dropped

Even if they dispersed in many directions I don't think they fell upwind .... And in any case, if everything was so random, why then aim ?

This topic is very stimulating. But I'll try to focus again on the question that pushed me to start it. To reorder my ideas I have partially modified the picture below. 1st problem : Plane in wind. In absence of wind the aircraft could theoretically fly with the nose pointing the target, but...

Not always and not in this case. The "train of boxes " was not the rule( the longer the train, the happier the FLAK ). In the "6 air front formation" the position of boxes could be the same in cruising and bombing. In the sheet to which my original question referred is clearly said "bombing...

I didn't mean that they deliberately miss but that they created a pattern in width just as they created one in lenght with the use of intervallometer: it increased the possibility that the central bombs hit the target, while the first and last obviously failed. Similarly, for 6 nearly paired...

Hi Jim. This target was identified visually. See the report: Note that there was only one H2X t for Group in 15th AF, that of Lead Bombardier plane and, if the bombing was done by PFF, usually nobody else of the group sighted.

Yes Geoffrey, the "six aircraft front bombing formation", as compared with the "train of boxes" formation, could completely miss the target. See below from 1945 "Air Operations Briefs" : Formations in the Fifteen ". The Boxes were stacked down with 200 to 300 feet difference in altitude. Each...

Thank You Geoffrey. So Able ( the Group Leader and Leader of the first Attacking Unit ) sighted for both range and deflection. The same did Charlie, Leader of the second Attacking Unit, because he flew behind Able and their routes didn't interfere. Baker and Dog, which flew on the right of the...

Thank You. I've got that book but it concerns the general bombing technique. My question is about a " tactic " developed by a specific Force as a result of its experiences on the field.

Hi everybody. I have a question regarding this report of Operational Analysis Section of 15th Air Force. I'm not sure it's the right place for this post. As you can see, a formation of 4 Boxes of B-24 Liberators ( 3 boxes of 8 A/C and 1 of 7A/C ) , bombed the target using the typical " 6...

Hi everybody. It's Fausto here, from Italy. From many years I'm studying air war in Italy through thousands files coming from NARA , AFHRA, NA UK, BA-MA Germany. Nice to meet you