discussion Dambusters question

[AlanG]

My son caught my out today with a question i couldn't answer after he saw the Revell Lancaster 'Dambuster' in my stash. He asked how could the bomb aimer see the lights on the water if they are behind him? Now normally i can explain some things for him but to be honest i didn't know this one.

Any ideas guys? One puzzled 10 and 45 year old awaits

 

[Ian M]

The lights where projected down onto the water below the aircraft so that the bombardier could see them from his position.

 

[AlanG]

So they were slightly forward of the bomb bay then?

 

[Steve Jones]

If I remember Al, one light was at the front of the aircraft and the other near the rear. Once the rear beam met up with the front beam that was the correct height. So the bomb aimer was pretty much right above where the two beams met. Great question by the way

 

[AlanG]

Cheers Steve and Ian. Found on t'net that one light was in the bomb bay and the other at the front. They met side by side and that was the correct height.

 

[Guest]

I read somewhere there maybe a remake of The Dambusters. When the 1955 version was made some of the particulars of the tech was still classified. Gibson apparently shouldn't even have flown in his condition. (had not heard of this previously)

 

[AlanG]

I read somewhere there maybe a remake of The Dambusters

Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings and Wing Nut Wings models) is trying to make the remake. He has enlisted Stephen Fry to help with the script. There are 13 full scale lancs mad up for it already but as of yet no date for the start of filming

 

[Guest]

Hi there is a little bit about how the lights worked in my Toon GB build if have the time to have a look, the bomb aimer would see the beams though the window in bottom of the bomb aimers bay there is a picture of it a bit further down the blog.
Pete.

 

[rtfoe]

Alan, your son is smart. The beams were definitely too far behind for the bomb aimer to see so the navigator played that role to spot the two light beams becoming a figure eight. The Bomb aimer meantime had a contraption made of a flat wooden board with two markers on each side which was either hand held or mounted in the front of the bomb sight. While the pilot kept the right height, the moment the markers coinsidered with points on the dam for instance the two towers on one of the dams the bombadier would release the bomb. True British ingenuity. The same marking system is used on Swordfish and Albacores for torpedo release.

Now if you don't have a computer you're screwed. :smiling2:

Cheers,
Richard