Subject: Fly tight for tight bomb patterns on the ground.
From: (buf3)
Date: 8/24/2004 4:46 AM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:
(ArtKramr) wrote in message
...
The tighter the formation you fly the tighter the bomb pattern on the
ground
and the more damage you do to the enemy.
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer/stripes.htm
Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer
When I arrived at Andersen AFB on Guam in the summer of 1969 with my
RTU (Replacement Training Unit) B-52D crew we got a personal briefing
by the Third Air Division Commander. He had a lot of slides on BDA
(bomb damage assessment). In the beginning the Buffs were dropping in
trail formation. BDA showed that the first one was digging a trench
with his 108 five hundred pounders, then the following drops were just
digging the trench deeper and deeper. The tactics had changed to a
system they called DASK (drift angle station keeping). This was an
echelon formation to the right, stacked up with 500 ft, and half mile
separation. Sometimes we dropped off the lead aircraft. Sometimes we
dropped individually using radar offset aiming points. At times we
dropped at the direction of ground based radar. This system was RBS
(radar bomb scoring) in reverse. The ground controller would give
heading changes and then initiate a count down to release. At that
time we usually flew in three ship formations.
Gene Myers
Thank you for that fact filled very interesting post,.which are all too few in
this NG. Of course as you found out the trail formation was idiotic. No
offense to the Brits who used it all the time. The mystery is that with all we
learned in WW II about formations and bomb patterns, as late as Nam the USAF
was still droping in trails. The mind boggles. In WW II we flew tight
formations. As tight as possible and we got dense football shaped patterns on
the ground. This was done with such precision that by examining the shape of
the bomb pattern we could spot planes out of formation at the drop, or planes
that triggered late. What interests me about your post would be the shape of
the bomb pattern that resulted from the DASK formations. Got any strike photos?
Any at all? Can you describe these patterns in detai?. I am very interested.
Thanks again for a good post.
Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer