Recent content by WATU

Agreed. He is the only lead I have but as yet the records do not link him to the sight. Cannot be that many Lamplughs with an aviation connection.

In 1940 a hand held low level bombsight was being issued to the RAF. It became known as the Low Level Bombsight Mk I. In August 1940 Portal, then CinC of Bomber Command, issued a review of bombsights currently in use and under development. This lists a hand held sight which is labelled as a...

More great info. The training aids sound interesting. I do have some papers on the more sophisticated torpedo sights but I have not paid much attention to them to be honest. The one thing I took away was that the main problem seemed to be the movement of the target, speed and course (the...

That triple shot is amazing. I wonder what the relative merits were between the three types? Complicates training. Great picture, many thanks.

Thanks again. Think that is nailed. I have been looking at Coastal Command low level sights for ASW but never strayed into torpedo sights but the rake image caught my eye.

Thanks, very helpful. I found a mention of a "rake" sight which is clearly this. Was it a formal sight designed at RAE, for example, or something developed within the Middle East as theatre mod?

Hi There are many examples of simple bomb and torpedo sights often designed by squadron aircrew. They mostly are variations of a rifle with a foresight and backsight to assist the pilot and sometimes the 2nd pilot to allow approaches from both sides. I am attaching two pictures of Wellington...

Spot on. That is exactly the sort of title I expected. Many thanks.

You lost me there?

Worth an email, thanks.

The MAP oversaw UK aircraft production for most of WW2. As well as the obvious actual production it included a range of technical departments involved in the design and development of aircraft systems and armaments. Collectively these technical departments might have come under the umbrella of...

Agreed. Very much one piece of the complex ASW jigsaw that came together so effectively by May 1943.

There is a case for the VLR Liberator in Coastal Command. Certainly its impact was far greater on the Atlantic Campaign than the number deployed for that aircraft type. Closing the air gap in the central Atlantic was a crucial part of tipping that balance in favour of the Allies in the ETO.

In 1941 Ware of 228 Squadron designed a simple low level bombsight for ASW. It was manufactured in squadron workshops and fitted locally to the aircraft of at least five squadrons. It consisted of a front sight bolted on the front hull/nose and a rear sight inside the cockpit. Two were offset...

Peenemunde was my reserve answer. I thought that would be a suitable target for a mass attack at, say, 8000 feet, as you describe. Maybe they hoped a precision high level attack would catch the scientists in the labs and more vulnerable rather than in shelters given more notice from air raid...