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Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't know it was 100 yards.That V-bomber drop test was one time, and it was a nuclear weapon that exploded at 500 feet in the air.
It was estimated, not measured, to be 40 feet right, and 100 yards downrange of the target. That's not 40 by100 feet.
Wasn't the explosion recorded on film?What method of measurement is there that can estimate to the foot where a air burst nuclear explosion takes place ?
I'm curious what kind of bombing systems the USAF's B-47's had throughout it's life
How did the V-Bomber systems compare in reliability to the B-47 and B-52?I read today that the B-47's BNS (bombing-navigation system) "often went on the blink" and "while improved, never completely eliminated all of it's bugs".
When did he serve on the B-52D?When I went through B-52 Navigator Initial Qualification in 1995 the pilot on my crew was a Lt.Col. who was requaling after a staff tour. He was a former D model Nav and he told me that they had an astrotracker that was tied into their bomb/nav system. He said it was the best heading system on the jet and better than the AHRS system we were using on the H model.
Well we were going through the FTU in 1995 and he was a Lt. Col at that point, so I am going to guess it was in the mid to late 1970s.When did he serve on the B-52D?
I don't recall our B-47's and B-52's using a star-tracker (I know our B-58's did), though I do remember some B-47 variants using an optical sight which could be overlaid over the radar image for terrain mapping. I would assume the BNS had some form of doppler device...
The heading vertical reference combines pitch with heading?Referring to my old bomb-nav maintenance manual 1B-52G-2-26, "The overall AN/ASQ-38(V) system on B-52H aircraft consists of AN/ASB-9A BNS, MD-1 automatic astrocompass, AN/APN-89A Doppler radar, and the AN/AJN-8 heading vertical reference system."
So you set the vertical gyro to match the clinometer, so it gets an exact read of where up/down is? And by extension left/right?This fixture had a flat surface where you could set a clinometer. This provided the official pitch and roll attitude of the plane. When our own vertical gyro needed alignment, it was adjusted to match this "gold standard."
And the telescopic sight helped you ensure the radar antenna is lined up the way it's supposed to be?Also, a telescopic sight attached to the fixture gave you the official centerline of the fuselage. By reference to the scope, a test transmitter could be positioned accurately ahead of the aircraft in order to boresight the radar antenna.
I'd almost swear there was some kind of device the B-36 had, which served a function. It mentioned something about moving the reticle to correct for the airplane movement or something.the BNS could "dope" the wind with a mode called "Memory Point". You set the radar crosshairs on some distinct return from the ground, press the Memory Point button, and wait for the MP light to come on. When it does, move the crosshairs back to the same return (if they drifted off) with the crosshair control (joystick), then press the button on top of the crosshair control to exit the mode.
Don't worrySorry about the 2 years late reply. I was browsing old threads and noticed, oh wow, they're talking about a topic where I have some first hand knowledge.
I don't have any personal experience with the MD-1 since it was the responsibility of "those other guys" in the shop next door. However, we in Bomb-Nav did utilize it as a reference to align our stuff. You would go up on top of the B-52 to the little glass astro tracker dome, and fasten a fixture on top of the dome. This fixture had a flat surface where you could set a clinometer. This provided the official pitch and roll attitude of the plane. When our own vertical gyro needed alignment, it was adjusted to match this "gold standard." Also, a telescopic sight attached to the fixture gave you the official centerline of the fuselage. By reference to the scope, a test transmitter could be positioned accurately ahead of the aircraft in order to boresight the radar antenna.