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Night Bomb

Discussion in 'Air War in Western Europe 1939 - 1945' started by denny, May 16, 2014.

  1. denny

    denny Member

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    Will be happy to read any links, but.....how exactly did the RAF identify targets at night.?
    Was it all navigation...or were they somehow able to see...for example... a 40k square foot tire factory from 10k feet in the air at night.?
    Thank You
     
  2. KJ Jr

    KJ Jr Well-Known Member

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    It came as a series. The Pathfinders would light the target area, the next wave would drop target indicators and the main bombing force would complete the job. There are many members that have vast knowledge of RAF bombing campaigns and can shed more light and give more detail.
     
  3. Martin Bull

    Martin Bull Acting Wg. Cdr

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    The only certain way for the RAF to target individual buildings at night in WWII was to mark and attack from very low level ( eg Dams Raid, Cheshire-era 617 Squadron, late-war 627 Squadron 'dive' marking, etc ).
     
  4. Commodore

    Commodore New Member

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    Does anyone know what ways the Germans had to identify targets in London during the Blitz? Could they have targeted, say, Westminster with any accuracy?
     
  5. lwd

    lwd Ace

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    At night no. During the day perhaps but that doesn't mean that they could hit it..
     
  6. Martin Bull

    Martin Bull Acting Wg. Cdr

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    Yet again, the only way the Luftwaffe could target anything with accuracy at that stage of the war was by low-level attack ( eg the Ju88 raid on de Havilland at Hatfield, the Erprobungsgruppe 210 low-level raids on Croydon and Kenley, etc etc ). These were very hazardous and suffered high losses due to AA defences ( the Hatfield Ju88 was immediately shot down, Erpro 210 lost their commander at Croydon, etc ).
     
  7. Fred Wilson

    Fred Wilson "The" Rogue of Rogues

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    1. Blind Navigation - Star shots, etc...
    (Used in the early years of the war, and for low flying Navigation.)
    http://www.ww2f.com/topic/49334-raf-training-films/?hl=navigation#entry546698

    2. Oboe
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oboe_%28navigation%29

    3. H2S Airborne, Ground Scanning Radar System.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H2S_%28radar%29

    4. Plan Position (Radar) Indicator:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_position_indicator

    5. Gee Hyperbolic Navigation System
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gee_%28navigation%29
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbolic_navigation
    ___________________

    The Battle of the Beams: X-GERAET, Y-GERAET
    http://www.vectorsite.net/ttwiz_07.html
     
  8. Fred Wilson

    Fred Wilson "The" Rogue of Rogues

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    The Luftwaffe raid 14 November 1940 on Coventry had an initial wave of 13 specially modified Heinkel He 111 aircraft
    of Kampfgruppe 100, which were equipped with X-Gerät navigational devices, to accurately drop marker flares.

    The RAF developed effective counter measures very quickly indeed. It is, IMHO, one of their technological feats of the war.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Beams
    http://www.cvni.net/radio/nsnl/nsnl124/nsnl124ww2de.html
    http://s374444733.websitehome.co.uk/beams/beammain.htm
     
  9. Commodore

    Commodore New Member

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