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I'm confused: If it used a gyro, how is it that
1. The gyro never toppled as on the Norden?
2. The sight remained in operation long after the Norden?
The time the Norden took to set and needed to fly straight and level was, probably, too long in WW2. Post WW2 with jets coming into service the time was way too long.
Also, how accurately do you need to drop nukes?
It was better in terms of the ability to stabilize after 5-10 seconds, and could tolerate greater bank/dive angles; at 12000-16000 feet it was similar to the Norden, above 20,000 feet it's accuracy was considerably less.wuzak said:It was a better design?
That would explain something!Britain was broke after WW2
That probably did affect the decision making process, except the problem is that dropping nukes becomes really undesirable when other nations have them that aren't your friends, and both you and they are willing to use them.Also, how accurately do you need to drop nukes?
Wait, if I recall correctly, the distance to the horizon isOptical sights become redundant when dropping ordnance at speeds, from altitudes and at ranges which mean the aimer can't see the aiming point.
So, it would topple, just took more to do it? The Norden if I recall was limited to 18-degree banks and, eventually, dive-angles from what I was told of 18-degrees.The gyros in the XIV would topple if you exceeded a 60 deg bank or a 40 deg dive.
How long did it take to re-erect the Norden?Re-erection of the gyros took about 15 minutes.
Wait, if I recall correctly, the distance to the horizon is
That's quite some distance even at 65000 feet...
- 312.6 statute miles / 271.6 nmi at 65000 ft
- 287.5 statute miles / 249.8 nmi at 55000 ft
- 274.1 statute miles / 238.2 nmi at 50000 ft
- 260.1 statute miles / 226 nmi at 45000 ft
- 245.2 statute miles / 213.1 nmi at 40000 ft
- 229.3 statute miles / 199.3 nmi at 35000 ft
- 222.7 statute miles / 193.5 nmi at 33000 ft
- 217.5 statute miles / 189 nmi at 31500 ft
- 201.7 statute miles / 175 nmi at 27000 ft
- 193.8 statute miles / 160.4 nmi at 25000 ft
- 181.8 statute miles / 157.98 nmi at 22000 ft
- 168.9 statute miles / 146.8 nmi at 19000 ft
- 150.1 statute miles / 130.4 nmi at 15000 ft
Was there a caging function? I remember hearing something about the corkscrew maneuver producing some rather steep dive and bank angles...The Mark XIV or Sperry T-1 had two gyroscopes. One was in the computer, to adjust for climb and dive in the pitch axis, and the other was in the sighting head, to adjust for roll. The sighting head gyroscope was geared so that the mirror rotated at half of the bank angle. The computer gyro would topple at a dive exceeding 40 degrees, and the sighting head gyro would topple at a bank exceeding 60 degrees. It would take twenty minutes for them to erect.
Isn't drift a skid of sort?The Mark XIV was not superior to the Norden in accuracy, although it did have some advantages in that it could function in climbs, dives, and turns (although not skids).
OkBoth gyros have a caging knob.
What I was trying to get at was if you were drifting while rolling, I figured the effect would be the same as a drift...A skid is the result of turning with too much rudder input relative to the roll axis.