In article ,
"Kevin Brooks" writes:

"Peter Stickney" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Charles Gray writes:
Numerous bombers and heavy fighters, especially thowse that entered
service post 1943 have reference to remote controlled weapons.

Now, the remote control part should be fairly easy, but how were
they aimed? I'm assuming that you linked the gunners controls in such
a way thatthe gun always fired at the point where he was aiming,
making allowences for the location of the gun-- but how effective were
they? How hard was it to keep them in repair, as that sounds like a
fairly complex and advanced system for the 1940's.

There were quite a few implementation of remote-controlled weapons
during WW 2. The level of sophistication varied greatly - from fixed
light machine guns pointing directly behind some bombers that couldn't
cover that area with aimed gune - (HE 111, and, IIRC, the Martin
Maryland - it worked about as well as could be expected, which is to
say, not very well at all) - to the U.S. A-26 and B-29's computer
controlled systems that automatically computed lead, jump, drop, and
the effects of altitude and temperature on the gun's trajectory, and
could aim several gun turrets from a single sighting station. (Oh,
yeah, it corrected for parallax errors for having the turrets adn the
sights in different locations. A B-29 gunner only had to place the
pipper of his sight on the target, and adjust the stadiametric range
circle as he tracked. The Fire COntrol System did the rest.

I just got off the phone with my eighty year old father. While he was fuzzy
on the specifics these many years later, he said that they had to input the
wingspan of the target into the computer at the gunner's station (otherwise
your system could not compute the range). The navigator input the B-29's
current airspeed into the CFC system from his location. The gunner then
tracked the target in his reticle, adjusting the stadia as you indicate. He
could not recall any requirment for temperature to be input.

I should have been more clear, I guess. The computer used an OAT and
barometric pressure reading in its solution, but that was read by its
own thermometer and anaeroid. The Gunners didn't have to dial it in.
They did have to set the baseline for the range reticle, as you
describe.


--
Pete Stickney
A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many
bad measures. -- Daniel Webster