Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military From: mayse@cs.uiuc.edu (Chip Mayse) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: B-29 gun turrets (response) Message-ID: <12925@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 9 Jan 90 02:20:11 GMT Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Lines: 23 Approved: military@att.att.com From: Chip Mayse Supposedly, the GE CFC (central fire control) system on the B-29 not only enabled remote aiming (from the plexiglass bubbles), but also attempted to compute proper lead and elevation to compensate for target trajectory and range. Obviously trajectory could be estimated from the movement of the sighting apparatus, but I don't know how range was estimated unless from some combination of assumed values for target speed and range at initial engagement plus sensed gunsight motion. An acquaintance of mine who was a B-29 technician on Saipan during WW II once told me that the CFC computer, which was located aft of the wings where the three "bubbles" are, was "quite large." The only book I've seen containing narratives of the use of this system is "Hellbirds," by Wilbur H. Morrison. He was a B-29 bombardier, and sometimes fired the forward turrets against head-on attacks. His accounts of these incidents gave me the impression that the CFC system was accurate if given a few seconds' tracking time, which engenders the suspicion that the computing process was slow by modern standards. Chip Mayse cmayse@ncsa.uiuc.edu