After a weaving period of development the RAF ended with three main bombsights in WW2. In Bomber Command it was the Mk XIV as general purpose sight and the Mk III low level sight in reserve. In Coastal Command it was the reverse with the Mk II as the fitted primary sight and the Mk XIV held in stores. The third sight was the specialist precision SABS II used by two specially-trained squadrons for targets such as capital ships and bridges. The variation on that was the T1 sight but this was functionally a Mk XIV but engineered to suit US manufacturing methods and raw materials.
I was surprised to read in the RAF Signals Vol VI P193 that Liberator GR V aircraft were arriving in the UK fitted with the Norden sight. The book says no more about their deployment. If used operationally that would have involved a lot of training and maintenance issues. I know that some Lend-Lease aircraft arrived with undesired kit and that this was stripped out at the Maintenance Units before the aircraft were passed to operational squadrons. The section was about U-boat attacks so must have referred to Coastal Command. Coastal had the policy of the Mk III as default sight and the Mk XIV (or T1) as reserve at base. Coastal had said it would not be involved in high level bombing plus it always emphasised the need for tactical flexibility during the bombing approach. So the Norden really does not fit in at all.
I would have expected the T1 to be fitted in Lend-Lease aircraft, the type of thing that the BAC in Washington would have been on top of.
Anyone know if they were supplied and, if so, why and what did the RAF do with them on arrival in the UK? Stripping out and passing to the US units is a possibility.
I was surprised to read in the RAF Signals Vol VI P193 that Liberator GR V aircraft were arriving in the UK fitted with the Norden sight. The book says no more about their deployment. If used operationally that would have involved a lot of training and maintenance issues. I know that some Lend-Lease aircraft arrived with undesired kit and that this was stripped out at the Maintenance Units before the aircraft were passed to operational squadrons. The section was about U-boat attacks so must have referred to Coastal Command. Coastal had the policy of the Mk III as default sight and the Mk XIV (or T1) as reserve at base. Coastal had said it would not be involved in high level bombing plus it always emphasised the need for tactical flexibility during the bombing approach. So the Norden really does not fit in at all.
I would have expected the T1 to be fitted in Lend-Lease aircraft, the type of thing that the BAC in Washington would have been on top of.
Anyone know if they were supplied and, if so, why and what did the RAF do with them on arrival in the UK? Stripping out and passing to the US units is a possibility.
