yosimitesam
Airman 1st Class
Attached is an obscure late WWII Navy manual for "toss bombing". Dive bombing was always dangerous due to ground fire, and the steady improvement of automatic AA weapon control (20mm, 37mm, 40mm, etc.) during the later part of the war made it even more dangerous. The USAAF was never keen on dive-bombing and was more or less "forced" to use the A-24 (an Army version of the Navy SBD Dauntless dive bomber) for a short time but gave up on it early in the war due to high casualties in the Pacific. The Navy had to use dive bombing (and the equally dangerous torpedo bombing) since these were the only ways to obtain enough accuracy to give a reasonable chance of hitting a small, moving ship on the ocean. The AN/ASG-10 was an attempt to improve the accuracy of glide bombing at shallower angles and greater speeds, thus reducing the automatic AA danger. It appears to be similar to the German Stuvi-5B + BZA-1 computer, but I'm not certain of this. A quote from the ASG-10 manual says: The purpose of this equipment is to make possible the use of a "toss" technique to release bombs accurately at longer ranges and at greater speeds than is possible in ordinary dive or glide bombing. The "toss" compensated for some of the gravity during its time of flight and, thus, increased the release range. I assume this meant one did not have to fly directly over the target either during or after the bomb release. It could be used from about 11,000 ft (3333 m) down to 1700 feet (515 m). (See page 8 of the manual.) The manual is dated April 1945 but I cannot determine if it was used in either theater of WWII before the end of hostilities.
For the real hard core who need a bigger thrill, the mathematical and engineering principles involved in toss bombing can be found in the document here: http://traktoria.org/files/NDRC/Airborne_Radar.pdf in Chapter 12, page 139.
If any of you have any info on this device please shout it out. Thanks.
For the real hard core who need a bigger thrill, the mathematical and engineering principles involved in toss bombing can be found in the document here: http://traktoria.org/files/NDRC/Airborne_Radar.pdf in Chapter 12, page 139.
If any of you have any info on this device please shout it out. Thanks.
