Bombing With the Beam

摘要

Success in wartime depends heavily on proper training in peacetime. In pre-World War II training drills, B-17 bomber crews with Norden bombsights could drop bombs into a "pickle barrel" some 25,000 feet below. The skies were clear, targets were visible, and bombers were unmolested by defenders. However, this was unrealistic. In actual combat over Germany, bombing accuracy was often abysmal. and no wonder. Faced with cloudy European skies, smoke-shrouded targets, enemy flak, and air defense fighters, America's incoming bombers often were unable to see the ground or pick a target out of the clutter below.