This shot shows the T-1 head along with its computer.

These two shots show the inside of the T-1 computer

Note the aneroid bellows that sense altitude and airspeed.

"I thought I'd like to write and correct what I believe is a minor error of detail. You have a picture of what looks like a Mk VII British Bomb Sight (sometimes known as the Wimperis sight, after its inventor). The picture is labeled as a Mark VII, and the caption states that it was used in the Mosquito, Lancaster, and Wellington. I am not sure that this is true. The Mark IX is more likely to have been used. (The Mark IX'A' was used by land bombers, the 'C' by Coastal command, and the 'B' by the Fleet Air Arm) The Mark IX is almost exactly the same as the Mark VII, except that it is geared for the higher airspeeds of the faster aircraft. The Mosquito and the Lancaster would have taken the sight off the end of its calibration, I'm pretty sure. British and Canadian crews typically trained with slower aircraft like Battles and Oxfords, and in the early stages of the war the slower bombers certainly used the Mark VII.

I do not think I'm in error here. My father's log book clearly mentions when he first used the Mark IX sight, and it was when he transferred to the faster Bristol Beaufort after having trained on Battles, etc.

One way to check would be to read off the top-most airspeed setting on the Mark VII and then compare that to the usual cruising speed of the bomber concerned. I only have examples of the Mark IX or I could do this for you.

Respectfully, Allan Hunter"

"The main difference between the Mark IX and the Mark VII is that the IX has a raised front sight and a longer front 'arm' so that the bombaimer can cope with the higher speeds and also can use the front quadrant more easily to let the target 'run down' the wires on approach. (Raising the sight allows for a more acute angle, and one can sight further ahead.)

This meant that the Mark IX had a maximum speed setting on the front arm of 310 mph groundspeed, and was geared for a maximum height of 14,500 feet (these are the settings on two of mine). These are the most important settings. I don't knowexactly what they are onthe Mark VII asI don't have one to compare. I think this is where the major difference lies. Perhasp you can correct me if I'm wrong, here.

Applications: the Mosquito had a top speed of 392mph, so it wouldn't have used anything except a Mk XIV sight. The Lancaster went up to 287mph, less when fully loaded, so the Mark IX would have beenthesight on that, unless it had a Mark XIV - which was often reserved for Pathfinders, I believe. The Stirling (270mph tops), Halifax (265 tops), Beaufort (260mph), Blenheim (240-278 tops) and even the Hampden (254 tops) would all have used a Mark IX since their attack speed would be lower than their top speed. Most planes -as you know better than I - wouldn't come in to bomb at their top speed, especially on long runs when fuel would be carefully used.

The Mark VII was, therefore, probably used on the Avro Anson (188mph), the Airspeed Oxford (182mph), the Sunderland (213mph), the Battle (240 mph, max.), the Whitley (cruised at 185, top speed 220), and planes like the Vickers Stranraer and the Walrus (160 and 135, respectively). The early Wellingtons were slow at 230mph top speed, but later versions were faster, sovariantswould have used both sights in the course of the war. The Hendon Museum has a Supermarine Walrus with a mark VII sight hung over the right side of the front gunner's position, in the breeze. In fact the Mark VII usually came equipped with a long leather lanyard that clipped onto the left hand side of the sight (yours will have a small ring on the main body, behind the attaching place) so that bomb aimers could be in the open breeze of various aircraft and not risk losing the whole thing out of the open hatch....

WellI hope this helps in some small way.

Best, Allan"

My name is William S. Bowser. I was employed by the Lukas Harold Corporation, operators of the Naval Ordnance Plant Indianapolis, from Oct 1941 to 1945. I initially was an instructor at their training center prior to the completion of the building at NOPI. I setup a number of the manufacturing sections, worked in the laboratory under L.T.E. Thompson, did research on gimbal bearings at Carl L. Norden in New York where I met both Norden and Barth, and eventual ended up in the Engineering Dept at NOPI doing a production redesign of the Norden Bombsight and the production design of the Mark 18 Computing Gunsight. I received the United States Navy, Bureau of Ordnance Naval Ordnance Development Award for Exceptional Service to Naval Ordnance Development 10 Dec 1945.

Over the years because of security and politics it was not advisable to set the records right on a lot of things that happened. In researching current info on the Internet there are a number of things that could be cleared up as to what happened back then. The Norden Bombsight had a great concept but the production drawings were inadequate. At NOPI after I supervised the total production redesign the production at the plant jumped from 80 units per month to 800 units. The Navy, Norden or Barth never admitted that. Prior to the redesign parts were made to very tight tolerances but many parts would not assemble properly and were polished by hand to fit in assembly generally in a degraded condition. I had 5 rejected sights dismantled and found that 25% of the precision parts were modified from production by assembly workers.

The head of Engineering at NOPI was the Naval Officer who hit the pickle barrel at Dalgren. He reviewed the bombing runs he had made with the same bombsight and aimed at a offset point that corrected the consistent error and did hit the barrel set at the center of the aiming circle. It is to be noted that the Norden Bombsight was really accurate when it left the test stand but it required exact info to be set into it to be accurate and a couple of typical bomber landings would put ball dents into the gimbal bearings and gyro precession would result from friction. If you have any questions send me an email.

Bill Bowser

My experiences as a Norden bombsight mechanic
By Thomas Hurry, 13077443
(Please excuse any omissions or inaccuracies, my memory has dimmed over the years.)

BACKGROUND:
Enlisted--28 March 1942
Discharged--11 Dec.1945
ETO--27 months-England,
France & Germany
Basic training--Keesler Field
Biloxi, Mississippi
Bombsight school--Lowry Field
Denver, Colorado

As a bombsight mechanic, we were required to make major repairs on the sight. These repairs included bearing changes, rotor balancing, lapping and polishing of discs, cleaning components and most importantly calibration of the sight. The most important part was the gyroscope rotor balancing so that the natural precession of the cross hairs was maintained.

When we arrived in England our Service Squadron set up shop at the Stanstead Air Base, which was located North of London. This was the time when the Luftwaffe was bombing London nightly. Our field was primarily a B26 bomber base, there were also British Horsa and American gliders on the base US & British heavy bombers as well as B26 bombers were conducting heavy raids both day and night. This resulted in a heavy workload for the bombsight shop.

Because of the violent maneuvering after a bomb drop and rough landings due to damaged air craft, the sights were out of adjustment generally. There was a caging device that was used to protect the sighting mechanism and gyroscope, but this was not a 100% effective.

REPAIR & MAINTENANCE PROCEDURES

When sights came in from Bomber Command for repair, the procedure was to visually inspect the exterior. Damage was assessed to determine if they warranted further inspection. If exterior damage was so great and could not easily put in order, the sight was shelved for possible use for parts.
The sight would now be tested for accuracy by putting it on a calibration stand. The stand was very heavy and was made of cast iron. The base was flat and had a vertical column about three inches + in diameter. The column had a flat surface on top of it on which the sight was mounted. The height was such that a technician could lean over slightly to put his eye on the padded eye piece,

CALIBRATION

The sighting telescope indices would be set at zero and a look down the telescope at the calibration stand base would tell us where a small mirror (about two inches in diameter) should be placed. The mirror had three adjustable legs. Using them and a tiny, high bubble resolution level, the mirror was made to be level in all 360 degrees
This was a difficult procedure and was hard to maintain due to vibrations from heavy trucks and planes taking off and landing nearby. But a miracle took place, someone, I don't think from our shop, had a brilliant idea. A small deep saucer type dish had several pounds of mercury put into it and it became an ever level mirror. Give that man a medal.

When a telescope sighting was taken, the bottom of the telescope was seen inside a series of several small circles. The image of the bottom of the telescope and the circles had to be concentric. If they were not, the telescope had to be manually adjusted until they were. The indices was set on zero and now the real work began.

As a natural law the vertical axis of a gyroscope preceses in an orderly North-East direction. As the sighting telescope with its cross hairs is connected to the gyroscope, the precession has to be within acceptable limits. The power to the gyro is turned on and a cross hair sighting is taken with the cross hairs centered on a grid located on the base of the precession stand. Two minute readings ,using a stop watch are taken and the N-S precession of he cross hairs must be within acceptable limits. If they are not an adjustment to the gyro rotor must be made.

This was generally done by adding weight to appropriate spots on the rotor, sometimes just the marking of a soft lead pencil would be sufficient, if not paper thin washers were applied. When the result of this procedure was deemed correct, sometimes a second pair of eyes checked for absolute accuracy. This calibration insured that the cross hairs would stay on target despite the movements of the plane while on the bombing run of about forty five seconds. A spring powered hand operated device attached to the sight assured that the cross hairs stayed on target at all times during the bombing run. The coiled spring on this device sometimes had to be re bent, we had special pliers with bent jaws. My nomenclature has not been good during this explanation, please excuse my dimmed memory.

The gyroscope rotor was heavy and cup shaped. Inside the cup area was a tiny elec. motor which supplied the power to spin it. The power to the motor was supplied by two very thin wires, we called them pig tails. When all checks and tests were made and found to be correct, the bombsight was now operational. The log book was signed and it was put in storage.

After the invasion on D-Day and an air field in Cambrai, France was secured, our service was deployed from Stanstead England to Cambrai. There was a civilian technician from the Norden Co. that could be consulted if it was necessary.

Now, I shall relate some incidents that happened along the way. When in Lowry Field, Colo. we were called mess kit repairmen.

In Europe the elect current was 220 volts, this meant we had to use a rectifier to get the 12 or 24 volts needed for our repair work. In England, we had a fairly large apparatus with a glass (ten gallon size) container which glowed violet when turned on. This was lost in transit when we shipped to France. We absolutely had to have a rectifier. There was a British base close by and after going there and telling them our tale of woe, a generous supply Sgt. loaned us one. Now get this-- it was about the size of a DVD player and weighted about four pounds and we could dial any voltage we desired. When ours finally turned up a hoist was required to put it in place.

When changing stations, I goofed off to spend a night in London; this was the first night that the buzz bombs came in. Guess who left London the next morning. Because the shop had to be warm in order to calibrate to calibrate the sights (metal expansion) Bomber Command always made sure that we had coal to use.

The war is over, a helluva experience but one not to repeat. After a relatively short length of time, I lost contact with my bombsight buddies. The bonds between repairmen are not like the bonds between soldiers who experienced combat together

During WWII I was assigned to the 22nd Bomb Group. 408th Bomb Squadron, as a Bombsight Mechanic. The 22nd was equipped with B-24 bombers, with Norden and C-1 installed. I joined the 22nd after it was dispatched to New Guinea, and spent 18 months maintaining the equipment on 12 B-24's. Our Group, after I joined it, went island hopping from New Guinea to the island of Biak, the Halmaheras Islands, Palau, Manila, and Okinawa,where we were stationed at the end of the war. Our planes were equipped with the M-7 sight, and my clearest memory (I'm now 87 years old) was fighting the rust on the stabilizer clutch. Also the mud, mosquitoes and the lousy food we ate. For a year and a half - no milk, fresh vegetables, fresh meat or fruit - everything came out of a tin can. Just before I got on the boat to come home (Liberty ship) a big hurricane hit Okinawa that wiped out our camp area.......... I sure enjoyed your website - brought back a lot of memories - some good, some bad.

August 7th 2017

Just a note on behalf of my father S/SGTWilliam Smith 573rd Bomb Squadron. He was inducted on OCT 19 1942 and was put into active service

on NOV 2ND 1942. My father was of the generation that didn't talk much about his service , he as one of the thousands that did what was expected of him and was proud of his service. He was extremely proud too have served as a bomb site mechanic for the norden bomb site.

He would later in life tell some of the stories of having to install the bomb site right before takeoff and would have to run out and remove the site as soon as the planes would return and have to at times be locked in the vaults with the sites because of their importance .

He was awarded six bronze stars for the Europe ,Normandy ,France , Rhineland, Ardennes, Central Europe campaigns. He was discharged NOV 1945. We unfortunately lost him June of this year at the age of 94 years old. But he lived to be a great and proud American and a wonderful father and husbandto all his family.He worked hard and made a wonderful life after his servicefor all of usas a Union electrician taking care of his family.

Sincerely,

James W Smith

Thanks for your hard work on developing the Norden Bombsight website. I don't see any mention of the Navy's use of the sight. A lot of people are unaware that the Navy used the Norden bombsight on the PB4Y Liberator in the Pacific. In 1944 I was a 19 year old AOM 2nd class (Aviation Ordinance Man) in the Navy and was sent to the Norden Bombsight training school in Jacksonville Florida. Our class was trained in both maintenance and as bombardiers. We flew training runs in a Beechcraft twin engine plane equipped with the Norden sight and Sperry automatic pilot. The nose was Plexiglas for the sight and the bombs we dropped were water filled bombs. The target range was somewhere in Georgia, fairly close to Jacksonville. As I recall the results were pretty accurate...we could see the dust fly when they hit.

I don't recall what our altitude was on these runs, but probably 8,000 feet or so. After training we were designated AOMB 2nd class. the "B" for bombsight. From Jacksonville I was sent to Alameda, California and assigned as an instructor in training pilots and bombardiers bombing run procedures. We jury-rigged a couple of Link trainers with the bombsight stabilizer and Sperry automatic pilot for on the ground training. The stabilizer was quite heavy and to counterbalance it, we put heavy window weights (salvaged from the salvage yard) in the tail of the trainer. It worked fine as long as the trainer was flown fairly level...if the trainee put the nose down too far, the Link would nose dive. During my stay at Alameda, I was sent to El Segundo, California to a Sperry Automatic Pilot school, then returned to Alameda. The pilots and bombardiers we trained were assigned to PB4Y Liberators in the Pacific.

In 1945 I was transferred from Alameda to Wold Chamberlain Naval Air base in Minneapolis, Minnesota where I continued as an instructor in bombing procedures using the Norden Bombsight and the Sperry Automatic Pilot. IBM had developed a rather sophisticated simulated high altitude bombing trainer that another fellow and I assembled. The war was almost over at this time and I don't know if it was ever put to much use. It simulated terrain, motion of the plane and was even refrigerated. It was a lot more realistic than the motorized four wheel platforms with the sight mounted on the top we had used in Alameda for bombing training runs. (The platform was guided by the bombsight and stabilizer and it dropped a plumb bob on a paper bulls eye on the floor.)

As a note of interest, bombardiers in the navy were non-commissioned. I've been told the Air Force insisted bombardiers be commissioned because during a bombing run a non-commissioned officer could not be in command. True or not, I don't know.

I was discharged from Wold Chamberlain in March of 1945. I had service manuals for both the Norden Bombsight and the Sperry Automatic Pilot, but being a 20 year old anxious to get out of service, I left them behind. (To my regret.)

After discharge I attended the Minneapolis School Of Art for a short time and have been a working artist (commercial and fine) ever since.

Mel Vincent

You asked about some of my history. I became enamored with aviation when at about 10 years of age my Dad took me for a ride in atwin engine biplane which was originally used as a transport, name eludes me, about 1933.

I volunteered for The Air Corps as I wanted to be near airplanes. I was sent to Bombsight maintenance school at Lowery Field, Denver. From there took some armament training and ended up at Hunter Air Force base, Savannah, Ga. We received bombers from all over but mainly B-17's from Wichita. Most were flown in by a group of civilian ladies. They were a dedicated bunch. We put the crews and equipment together and then the crews flew them to England. While the bombers were at our base we had to store the bombsights at our vault, picture sent. We handled B17, 24, 25 and 26 also A26 and other too numerous to mention. I made sure a sat in the cockpit and bombardier's seat of all the planes. One Mosquito Bomber was my favorites even if the cockpit was a tight squeeze.

While there the first B29 made landed at our base, WOW! With the war winding down in Europe my Sgt. asked if I would like to go to the Pacific. My answer was NO, so I got sent to Libya in the Air Transport Command. Spent nearly a year there till I became ill and had to be flown back to the states in a hospital C54 from Cairo, Egypt. Was discharged on VJ Day. I have the original issue of Stars and Stripes proclaiming the Victory in Europe. I also have 8 "Desert Observer", the camp paper of the Benghazi, Libya Air Base. The B24's flew their raid on Ploesti from our base. Oh, I have a copy of"War Monthly" Issue 23. It has a very good story on the Norden Bomb Sight. Did I bore you?

Paul Woodnorth

Hi,

I just found your interesting site via a Google search and enjoyed the photos and descriptive articles about the Norden. I was surprised however, to see no mention of it's role as part of some B-36 equipments.

My first assignment after being commissioned as a 2/Lt Navigator in 1955, was to the 99th Bomb Wing ( H ) at Fairchild AFB in Spokane, Washington. The 346th, 347th and 348th Bomb Squadrons were equipped with RB-36F aircraft ( with the 348th selected to be part of the FICON project carrying and launching F-84 fighters ). I was in the 347th. Our 22 man crews had four Navigators aboard: the table Navigator ( dead reckoning, celestial, pressure pattern, ETA control, etc. ), the Radar Navigator ( radar bombing and navigation ), the Weather Navigator (weather observations, Drop Sonde coordination with the rear gunner dropping them, and manning the nose 20mm cannon turret ) and the Photo Navigator ( steering the aircraft during Photo Flight line runs, operating camera systems in conjunction with Photographers in the Photo Compartment and visual bombsight releases of Photo Flash or Explosive bombs ).

In our RB-36F models, we had the APQ-24 Radar Bombing System with it's APS-23 mapping radar and the Norden Bombsight, used by the Photo Navigator. Other B-36 models had the K-System installed which was a much more modern Analog Computer System integrated with it's Radar system and an Optical Periscope type Bomb Sight ( the latter being the standard equipment in B-47E bombers and some early B-52 models ).As a youngster, really wet behind the ears, I had great instructor Navigators ( some WW II recallees for the Korean War ) who checked me out in the operation and use of the Norden and radar bombing systems. I even had a few opportunities to drop some small practice "marking bombs" with the Norden on training ranges ( one north of Guam in the Mariana Islands chain ).

Good memories and good experiences, that did me well as I progressed on in my flying career in B-47E, B-58A, SR-71A and AC-130A aircraft. Eventually I became more accustomed to Astro-Inertial Nav Systems and sophisticated computer systems than in my early days of adjusting Disk Speed settings, but I still remember my Norden Bombsight experiences with fondness and nostalgia.

Can't tell which other RB-36 models or units were also equipped with the Norden, but I'll bet that info is out there in cyberspace somewhere, if it's of interest to you and your great website.

Thanks.

David P. Dempster

Colonel, Retired, USAF

Mr. Ramey,

I have recently completed my research on Frank S. Milburn, who I believesecretly manufactured acomponent of the Norden bombsight in his machine shopin Burlington, KY, during WW II. Mr. Milburn died in 1984 but Ihave interviewed a number of folks who said that Frank told them that he made this part during the war. Two weeks ago, I finallyspoke to one of the woman who worked in the shop makingthe parts.

During the war,Milburn employed Mrs. Irene Scott and her daughter Pat in the shop. They lived on an adjacent farm and were the only employees. As Pat (now in her mid-70s) recalls, one day a naval officer showed up and had a long talk with Frank. After he left, Frank came out and told her and her mother that they were going to start machining some precision parts but that he could not tell them what the parts would be used for. Frank designed and built the machine himself. During the day, Irene used the machine to make the parts. Patspent a couple of hours after school measuring the parts with a gauge. She described the part as being the size ofa nickel with a keyhole slot cut into it. That description jogged my memory and I realized that I actually have film footage of Irene Scott making the parts! I'm attaching a screen capture from the film, showing a close up of the part in question. Every couple of weeks, Mr. Milburn would take box of the completed parts and drive them to the Gruen Watch Factory in Cincinnati in the middle of the night, a pistol at his side.

My hope is that someone who has worked on the Nordenbombsight or dismantled one will be able to identify the part fromthe photos. That will solidify the argument that Frank Milburn was indeed secretly making a part for the bombsight here in (then) sleepy Burlington, KY.

Best Regards,

Matthew E. Becher, AICP
Rural/Open Space Planner
Boone County Historic Preservation Review Board

Sir,

I just found your Norden Bombsight pages and I am very impressed. I am a retired Air Force Navigator (53-75). I was a Navigator Instructor at James Connally AFB, Texas flying the Convair T-29 from 54 to 59. The T-29 had a Norden Bombsight mounted at the very rear of the aircraft. Ihave never figured out what the purpose of the Norden was because the T-29 was not configured to drop bombs. Do you have any idea what it was used for?

God Bless,

James G McGinnis, Lt. Col., USAF Retired

The T-29 was a radar sited bombardier and navigator trainer. The Norden bombsight had a Bosley B-2 35 mm camera mounted on the eye piece and recorded bomb strikes by the radar. Ron Fullmer

The Norden bomb sight has taken a lot of flak over the years, some warranted and some not. I wasn't there so all I have to go on is what I have heard from the folks who were. Here is an e-mail from someone who was there: Brad who was a gunner in the 8th AF.

Maybe you would like to comment on my thoughts...I was a gunner who flew 35 mission with the 8th Air Force back a few years ago...I had the opinion then and still do that the Norden Bomb Sight was not as good as it was touted to be....

I know on several occasion we dropped bombs that came no where near their targets...We even took a shot at the Remagen Bridge and missed completely...I always wondered why on many mission there was a lead ship with a bombardier who targeted the target and when his ship dropped its bombs, the rest of the flight would do likewise...As near as could tell the bombardier hit the toggle switch when he saw the lead ships bombs drop and that is about all...

Let me know your thoughts if possible...Thanks...

Brad

Hello Brad,

Since I wasn’t there I am hardly in a position to judge the effectiveness of the sight. I have talked to many bombardiers over the years and I have heard many say that it was a very effective system. Many have also said that the Sperry system was just as good.

I have also heard that the Norden bomb sight was only as good as its operator and its maintenance technician. There are certainly many factors that can lead to poor results especially in combat. You would know more about this than I ever will.

I know that the Norden bomb sight has come under heavy flak lately and I am at a loss to understand why. If it was such a poor system then how did the German war machine come to a grinding halt? Why did their production facilities have to move deep under ground or get dispersed into forests and homes? Why did their fuel production and reserves dry up? The same questions can be asked about the Japanese. What about the use of the Norden in the Korean War and even in Viet Nam?

I sometimes wonder if it is the revisionist historians who are pointing the finger at Norden and are saying that it was all a hoax or a joke. They have even said that it was just a big public relations campaign. I know that Norden’s PR was good because we are still talking about the “Top Secret Norden Bomb Sight” to this day. If there was a boost to morale during WWII because we had the secret Norden bomb sight, that was going to help with the war, then great! Maybe the people back home took comfort in knowing that we had a great secret weapon.

I am probably biased but it seems to me that it did work. Maybe it didn’t work all the time and lord knows there were problems developing such a system but it seems to have done the job at the time. Look at the results in Germany and Japan. What else did we have to use to drop bombs with any precision? How much did the Norden program cost back then when compared to any of today's black or secret projects?

I wasn’t there so all of this is my lowly opinion. I tend to defend the sight as I like to celebrate that it was a marvel of technology for its time. Many things were learned from the Norden and other bombing systems that has contributed to the “smart” weapons of today. Video cameras in remote controlled bombs were being developed and used 60 years ago in WWII. I find it humorous when the American people are amazed at the video from a bomb flying into a window during the gulf war when I have seen the same videos from WWII.

You all sure did amazing things back then. I want to thank you for what you did for our country. Seeing the country pull together to fight to help save the world is something that we will probably never experience again. You truly do belong to our greatest generation and we are all in your debt for your sacrifices and those of your brothers and sisters.

Thanks again, Brad.

Taigh Ramey

November 7, 2006

On a recent visit to my mother, she showed me your Norden website. She was referred to it by her neighbor who worked on the bombsight during the war & who was amazed to discover that my mother's father made the diamond tool that inscribed the bombsight. This etching by diamond tool apparently replaced the human crosshairs or spider web filament that had been previously used. Charles Hans died shortly after I was born in Nov. 1953. It would be an honor to have him mentioned in the next update of the website, if you think there is merit in the information.

Thank you, Beth Knowlson

Hello Taigh,

My name is Martha Kmetz, mother of Beth Knowlson. Maybe I can give you a little of my memory of how the cross hairs were cut into the glass.

It was my father, Charles [Carl] Hans, a diamond cutter from Germany who started a diamond tool company back in the early 40's, called Larco Diamond Tools. He invented many diamond tools to use in the boring of gun barrels, no matter what the size. Also many grinding tools used to dress down other grinding wheels. He told me the story of the original bomb site that used spider webs and then human hair, all of which did not hold up very well. He invented a diamond chisel that would do the job to perfection. He never made time to become a citizen so he needed special clearance to enter the defense plants during the war to be able to show them how his tools would do the job better than what they were doing at that time.

As a young 20 yr. old I learned the diamond cutting skills and the tool making from my father and went on to become a diamond sorter for a large import house in NY.

Most of my fathers knowledge died with him at the age of 52. He never made the time to document any of his work.

If my memory comes up with any other interesting tidbits I'll write again.

Sincerely,

Martha Kmetz

Incidentally, Mary Babnick's hair was indeed used during the war, but as the humidity sensor in radiosonde hygrometers, not for any bombsight.

Al Pardini and I had a joint crusade going to squash this myth, but never succeeded. There's a saying something to the effect "a lie travels around the world while the truth is just getting out of bed."

Regards,

Ross Whistler

I rummaged around and all I can find is a couple of New York Times articles that cover the need and the apparently generous response:

New York Times
July 6, 1941, Sunday
HAIR OF BLONDES IS SOUGHT BY ARMY; Good Payments Will Be Made for the Proper Texture for Use in Instruments 12-INCH STRANDS NEEDED Girls of Scandinavian Descent on Farms in West Believed the Best Supply Source

May 12, 1943, Wednesday
OWI BIDS BLONDES KEEP THEIR TRESSES; Need for Hair in War Production Is More Than Met

I still think that TIME may have done a postwar article, but I don't know when.

This is a hard myth to kill; it's been written up and vouched for so many times.

The crosshairs in the Norden sight are etched on a glass plate and filled with black ink/paint?

Ross

January 2, 2008

Hello!

I just came across your website and thought you might find the attached interesting.

My name is Robert (Rob) Gates. My father, Ordway Gates, was a bombardier in the 95th Bomb Group (336th Squadron).

I spent 37 years as a physicist working on Navy strategic systems at the Dahlgren (VA) Division of the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC). I'm currently the Technical Director at the Indian Head (MD) Division of (NSWC). I had heard stories of Norden bombsight development at Dahlgren (then the Naval Proving Ground) with Carl Norden dating back to the 300s. I did some research and wrote an article for my father ("The Norden Bombsight and the U.S. Naval Proving Ground"). It was excerpted in the NSWC newspaper and my father used it in the 8th AF Historical Society Virginia Chapter newsletter.

I've attached the article for you.

Regards, Rob Gates

January 6, 2008

Here is an e-mail that I received today:

Hello,

I visited your Norden Bomb Sight website today and found it very interesting. I am interested in this since recently I came across a small collection of letters my grandfather (Marvin K. Clark) wrote, and in one of them he is telling his wife, my grandmother, that he has gained employment with a company in Elmira, NY as a machinist, (which he was by trade), and that he will be working on what he refers to in his letter as the "Norden Bomb Site." This particular letter is dated May 11, 1944 and is postmarked Elmira, NY. In none of his letters before or after this letter does he refer to his work or what he is working on.

I thought this might be of some interest to you and others as a small bit of Norden Bomb Sight historia, and am attaching scans of the envelope and the three pages of the letter itself.

A Postscript to my grandfather's story:

As of some time in 1946 my grandfather disappeared off the face of the planet...; Social Security Number and all. Presumably by that time, he was out and about in the western states in parts unknown but was never heard from after 1946. I have a small collection of pay stubs that he was issued up through 1945, and at the top of each stub under his name was printed his SS#. A search of this number at the Social Security Death Index Interactive Search webpage returns ZERO matches when his number is keyed-in... Interesting.

Mike Clarke

Pennsylvania

P.S. The 'e' on the end of Clarke in my name is a 1946 Army typo that stuck to my father's name upon his enlistment in Feb. of 1946. My father was the son of Marvin K Clark.

July 4, 2008

Good Morning -

I was thrilled to stumble across your web site! I have been researching and collecting information on the B-26 for quite some time. It was a relief to find that your site does mention the B-26 as an aircraft that used the Norden. I have been at several museums that have a Norden on display, and they mention every plane except the B-26 as having used it. I know the B-26 has its reputation, but I've read that by the end of the war it did have the best safety record of any plane flying - less than 1% lost - it seems like they should have mentioned it.

My interest in the plane is personal as my grandfather was a bombardier on a B-26 over Europe toward the end of the war. He flew 19 missions before the war ended aboard "My Louisiana Baby"; a plane named after his first child who was born two weeks after he left forEurope. My grandfather was 2nd Lt. Everett Glenn Hanes 2071967, and the enclosed photo is of him next to his bomb site in the nose of their B-26. He was in the 9th Air Force, 344th Bomb Group, 497th Squadron. I've also included the only shot I have of the aircraft named after his son, John.

I believe we do have his yearbook from Childress, as well as some other paperwork you might be interested in. I'll make sure I forward anything on that seems relevant.

Please feel free to use these photo's on your web site, and credit them to E.G. Hanes, 8/26/1917-3/7/2007. My father, his second son Albert Hanes, has given me permission to pass these photos on as is appropriate - as long as they get used to honor the memory of what these men did and not for profit.

My father and I thank you for the ongoing effort to honor these men and their amazing service to their country.

William Hanes

December 19, 2008

Here is an e-mail I just received from Bill Pearce:

My Father had always told me stories while I was growing up about his being on the design team for the Norden Bomb Sight. His primary concern was the "bombardier to target" portion of the sight. He was stationed at McClellan Field. I have this "going away" cartoon from his co-workers before he left for home. I don't have a lot of information, just the old stories about base security, etc. I have enclosed the cartoon with signatures. He was very proud of his work, and was disappointed that it didn't work well with the Flying Wing.

Happy Holidays,

Bill Pearce

October 27, 2009

Hi there,

It was with intense interest that I scrolled thru your informative web site. And I would much like to contribute a few words to the history that surrounds this marvelous instrument.

I joined the Marines in Sep't of 1941, and after boot camp, was assigned to duty at the Marine Air Base in Quantico, VA. The war started shortly after my arrival there. I then was picked to attend Navy bombsight school at the very secret Navy Proving Grounds at nearby Dahlgren, VA.

Our primary MOS in Aviation Ordnance would be that of a Bombsight Mechanic.I would be accompanied by three other picked Marines for this all-Navy school. We would also undergo a stiff bombardiering course, starting with a Link ground trainer, and then graduating to a real ancient Navy single engine, fabric coveredbiplane, the TG-1. However, the course finished with the use of the then modern Navy torpedo bomber, the TBD-1.

I shipped overseas in December of 1942, and landed on the American Samoa main island, where we were to try to set up an advanced aircraft repair base, as close to the front lines as possible.

While there,it was discovered that there were no otherbombsight mechanics inour large area of the Pacific.We flew several PBY's fromour airfield, mostly on rescue missions. But each plane was equipped with a Norden. I became a busy man. I had no manuals and no spareparts. The bombsight was mainly used for setting a precise course, this by locking in on the drift of the plane. We would simply take a "bombing run" on a breaking wave. It was an expensive tool forthe simple task ofdrift calculation. But, of more importance, we found that the autopilot was almost a necessity for pilots flying typical five-hour flights in thisflying boat with its over-sized rudder control surfaces. Without the aid of the autopilot, theMarine pilot would be leg-exhaustedby the end of his flight. Sometimes, we would have to help-carry him out of the plane.

After return to the States in 1944, I was assigned to a MarineAirbase in the Imperial Valley desert, near El Centro, CA. As the war seemed to be cranking down, we had a Lt. Buskirk who thought it would be dandy to start a bombardier school right therein the open desert wherebombs could be dropped without the danger of damage or casualties to humans. At the bombsight school in Dahlgren, no bombs were ever dropped due to proximity of civilization. The student readily learned his mistakes by following the movement of the bombsite'stelescope, after thepoint of release of the imaginary bomb.Our students would be freshly graduated Marines out of Navy Navigator school.

Here is where I would like to make my pitch for applauding the magnificent nature of this complex instrument, truly man's first real calculator. Here, at El Centro, I took on the role of flight instructor on the moving target course. As all bombardiers know, the Norden accurately calculates and sets the proper course for any moving target, providing that target moves in a fixed direction and at a fixed speed. However, if the target moves in an arc as do all Navy ships under attack, then the bombsite has its "hands tied". I'm sure most of your readers have seen films of Naval battles, showing a warship under attack from the air, and its wakeclearly outlineing the course that it is on, by thatof an arc. Then, one can see thedropped bomb exploding exactly where the ship would have been had it stayed on a straight course.This scene was played over and over in the Pacific. In the battle of Midway, the squadrons of B-17's never made a single hit on the Japanese fleet. This same scene was played in the New Guinea area, with the use of B-24's, or the Navy equivalent.

In this above scenario, you might want to fault the Norden, and scorn its inaccuracies. However, our school at El Centro taught the student how to overcome this shortcoming of theNorden.

To this veteran, it was, in every way, our secret weapon of WW11. For the most part, its manufacture was held to extremely high tolerances. I doown my own bombsight. I bought it from a man who worked in a factorymaking them. Hetalked endlessly about how rigid the factory's specs were. Sure, there were several areas that the bombsight could not do a perfect job. One was in the ballistic coefficient of the dropped bomb. This was a value that would be preset into one of the dials on the bombsight, and dealt with have fast the bomb fell, or travelled through the air to the target. There were two othersettings that could be in error. One was wind drift at different altitudes. The bombsite accurately calculated the wind drift at the altitude the plane flew. However, it is very common to have different wind directions at different altitudes. This would certainly put a plane off course if this pattern existed at any other altitude below the oneit was last flying. And last, but not least, was the altitude-temperature correction. Air weighs differently as temperature changes. The altitudereading then, is subject to error. All barometershave a correction factor with temperature. The bomb dropping through different air temps could have different ballistic coefficients.

All in all, the Norden bombsite did a marvelous job with the "tools" with which it was equipped.

Thanks for listening,

Walt Augustyniak

September 22, 2010

Hello, I just viewed all the Photos and verbage you have on the Norden Bomb Sight. Back in the Early 40's, My mother used to build and rebuild Norden Bomb Sights. She has told me she aost count a about 100 of them. My mom is gone now, but I remember how proud she was to tell "us Kids" of the experiences she had, with her Team Members.

Just thought I'd share this with you, Thanks, William Weaver

On a recent trip to the national air space museum with my father and son I found out an interesting fact about My Grandfather Lewis Chester Sargent. When we came upon the Enola Gay father said to my son Connor who was 5 at the time “see that thing right there (pointing to the norden) your great grandfather used to make those”. He then went on to tell me my grandfather was a machinist at the navy yard in Washington DC during the war and every day an armed marine would open a safe and pull out blue prints and he would stand by for 8 hrs. while my grandfather worked on the norden. I had no Idea what he did at the Navy yard but now I do! Just something I thought you might find interesting.

Greg Sargent

March 13, 2019

My dad, Robert Harper, was one of 2 men at Honeywell who worked on engraving the stabilizer and bombsight described here.

During World War II, Honeywell mass-manufactured tank periscopes, gunner's quadrants, mortars, and other artillery, while engineers continued to expand the uses of variable feedback-control, including the development and deployment of the C-1 automatic pilot. The same basic Honeywell system was used to keep an entire plane level for the top-secret Norden bombsight, an analog computer designed to predict the exact moment when a bombadier should relase their load of bombs onto the target below. This is no easy task even when the plane is flying at a constant speed and remaining perfectly level, but most pilots cannot achieve such a feat, and this was where Honeywell came in. By the end of the war, they had built 35,000 stabilizing autopilots with built-in bombsights. The autopilot was so successful that similar systems were adopted for a variety of aircraft deployed in the war.

Each man engraved half of the device so that they could not give up the entire secret if kidnapped. Each man had an FBI guard when not at work. During WWII, this was about as secret as the Manhattan Project.

I hope you can find room on your page for this information.

Nicki D. Harper, PhD