Precision bombing
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Precision bombing is the attempted aerial bombing of a target with some degree of accuracy, with the aim of maximising target damage or limiting
Precision has always been recognized as an important attribute of weapon development. The noted military theorist, strategist, and historian
World War II
In the early days of World War II, bombers were expected to strike by daylight and deliver accurately in order to avoid civilian casualties. Cloud cover and industrial haze frequently obscured targets so bomb release was made by dead reckoning from the last navigational "fix"—the bombers dropping their loads according to the ETA for the target. Some airforces soon found that daylight bombing resulted in heavy losses since fighter interception became easy and switched to night bombing. This allowed the bombers a better chance of survival, but made it much harder to even find the general area of the target, let alone drop bombs precisely.
The Luftwaffe addressed this issue first by using a series of radio beams to direct aircraft and indicate when to drop bombs. Several different techniques were tried, including Knickebein, X-Gerät and
The RAF later developed their own
By 1941, precision
For the USAAF, daylight bombing was normal based upon box formations for defense from fighters. Bombing was coordinated through a lead aircraft but although still nominally precision bombing (as opposed to the area bombing carried out by RAF Bomber Command) the result of bombing from high level was still spread over an area. Before the war on practice ranges, some USAAF crews were able to produce very accurate results, but over Europe with weather and German fighters and anti-aircraft guns and the limited training for new crews this level of accuracy was impossible to reproduce. The US defined the target area as being a 1,000 ft (300 m) radius circle around the target point - for the majority of USAAF attacks only about 20% of the bombs dropped struck in this area. The U.S. daytime bombing raids were more effective in reducing German defences by engaging the German Luftwaffe than destruction of the means of aircraft production.
An example of the difficulties of precision bombing was a raid in the Northern Hemisphere summer of 1944 by 47
See also
- Surgical strike
- Laser-guided bomb
- Precision-guided munition
- Revolution in Military Affairs
- Bomber Mafia
References
- Notes
- ^ "Drone warfare: The death of precision". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 2017-05-11. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
- ^ The following is an abridged transcript of a speech given by Dr. Richard P. Hamilton, SES, at Eglin AFB, for the USAF Air Armament Summit, on 26 May 1999.: This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Air Force
- ^ Paul Brickhill, The Dam Busters, 1951, pp.160-161.
- ^ T. Correll, John. "Daylight Precision Bombing". airforcemag.com.
- Bibliography
- Hastings, Max Bomber Command Pan (1970)
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Air Force