DaveB.inVa
Airman 1st Class
- 225
- Dec 20, 2004
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DaveB.inVa said:Heres a good one about radar!
Basically APQ means
A=aircraft
P=radar
Q=special or combination type
http://www.gordon.army.mil/ocos/Museum/an.asp
There is also some decent discussion going on now on the B-29 Yahoo group about the AN/APG-15 being pretty crappy and if someone reported it actually working good then they and their gunnery set were looked on with curiosity!!!
B-29's were credited with 27 MiG-15's in Korea. All were credited in daylight, before the B-29's switched over exclusively to night operations in areas with serious MiG risk which happened at the end of October 1951 after some heavy losses; of course the don't shoot first tactic applied to night operations only. Once the switchover was ordered, FEAF bombcom scrambled to equip all B-29's with SHORAN radio navigation gear which previously only a few in each of the three groups had (after 1950: 19th 98th and 307th BG's). With SHORAN, bombers flew in stream (at night) along an arc of equal distance from one SHORAN transmitter, releasing bombs when the bomber reached the correct intersection of that arc and another arc from a second transmitter. CEP's with this form of bombing were eventually reduced to under 1000', with goals of around 400' expressed, not much if any worse than was feasible in daylight.Dave, great information! Now I'm wondering when the "no-fire" order was issued. I believe B-29s claimed about 20 or so MiG-15s but were these kills before this order?
1. Yes, the B-29's had to settle for chaff only v S-band radars like P-20.1. Regarding the ECM issue, the Soviets had deployed a P-20 "Token" Vee-beam 3D radar to Antung and it was directing MiG intercepts. A jammer against this radar was available but was not used for the reasons mentioned above.
2. The Chinese also admitted losing a MiG-15 to B-29 defensive fire. The commander of the 4th Division, 12th Regiment, Zhao, Da-hai, was killed July 9th, 1951. After being frustrated by unsuccessful firing passes against the B-29 due to a high rate of closure, Zhao throttled back to slow down on his final pass and was shot down.