There was also a psychological problem in that the crews wanted to be shut of their bombs and off back home as quickly as possible. So there was a tendency to drop the bombs slightly short of the aiming point. Then the following bomber would drop just short of the previous pattern and so on. This was called creep-back and was eventually mitigated to some extent by dropping the initial markers well beyond the target. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creepback On 7 July 2014 17:45, Gordon Williams wrote: > > On 14-07-07 11:21 AM, RussellMc wrote: > > On 8 July 2014 02:34, Gordon Williams wrote: > > > >> There was a lot of talk about precision bombing but that was more abou= t > >> politics and funding rather than performance. Throughout the war and > >> for many decades later if they could just hit part of the city they we= re > >> doing as well as they could. Trying to hit a factory was just shear > >> luck rather than skill. > >> > > While there is merit in the claim it also does a grave disservice to bo= th > > the skill of the best and the results achieved. > > There is much written by many > > > > > The successes are always written about, the failures brushed under the > carpet ... > > There were many, many more failures than successes based on post war > analysis. > > There is a difference between dropping something at roof top vs dropping > it at 10,000 - 20,000 feet. > > Have a look at strategic bombing. > > "In reality, the day bombing was "precision bombing" only in the sense > that most bombs fell somewhere near a specific designated target such as > a railway yard. Conventionally, the air forces designated as "the target > area" a circle having a radius of 1000 feet around the aiming point of > attack. While accuracy improved during the war, Survey studies show > that, in the over-all, only about 20% of the bombs aimed at precision > targets fell within this target area.[152] In the fall of 1944, only > seven percent of all bombs dropped by the Eighth Air Force hit within > 1,000 feet of their aim point." > > While 7% or 20% actually got inside the circle of 2000 feet, many fewer > would do the desired damage. In fact the 80+% that fell outside the > target area were very damaging to the allied cause. > > Navigation was a big problem, but figuring out the bomb trajectory after > release with all the variables in play was just as large. > > Gordon Williams > > > > -- > http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > --=20 __________________________________________ David C Brown 43 Bings Road Whaley Bridge High Peak Phone: 01663 733236 Derbyshire eMail: dcb.home@gmail.com SK23 7ND web: www.bings-knowle.co.uk/dcb --=20 http://www.piclist.com/techref/piclist PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .