8 ms·

They came up with an ingeniously simple way to tell if the plane was at the correct altitude over the water http://www.thedambusters.org.uk/height.html http://

They came up with an ingeniously simple way to tell if the plane was at the correct altitude over the water http://www.thedambusters.org.uk/height.html http://www.thedambusters.org.uk/height.html

sirwolfgang 10y ago
I always thought this was the more nuanced but clever part of the operation. That said, I would hate to have been one of the test pilots for the barrels. One of them bounced too high, and ripped the plane in half.
- DanBC 10y ago
  Bomber command had horrific rates of death. Of a total of about 125,000 men about 55,000 died.
cyberferret 10y ago
This is what surprised me about the Wikipedia article - you would think they would have mentioned the simple yet clever way that the crew could ensure that they were at the correct release height over the water using spotlight beams.
- cheiVia0 10y ago
  Well why don't you add it yourself then? :)
  - bbarn 10y ago
    Because some bot will automatically moderate it away? That's what's happened every time I've made even minor spelling corrections on wikipedia.
- tra_eng_u_let 10y ago
  ...because it's not all that clever. Clever, sure. But not profoundly so. It is simply a manner of triangulation. Sine, cosine, tangent. Basic trig. Once they knew the optimal altitude, they probably whipped the rest up in 5 minutes with a slide rule back then. Put some lights here, set the angle. Whamola.
- moioci 10y ago
  From the article: "Height was checked by a pair of intersecting spotlight beams, which, when converging on the surface of the water, indicated the correct height for the aircraft - a method devised for the raid by Benjamin Lockspeiser of MAP," I didn't look to see when this was added.
  - cyberferret 10y ago
    I searched for the phrase 'light' on the article when I looked at it, but didn't see this. Someone may have seen this thread and added it perhaps? Useful addition in any case, and I hope it stays. EDIT: Actually I may have searched for 'lights', which would have returned no results, so perhaps my bad after all.
    - cooper12 10y ago
      If you look at the page history, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bouncing_bomb&action=history https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bouncing_bomb&act..., the last edit was on November 6.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
jgw 10y ago
I was told that the inventor came up with the idea while at the theatre with his wife. As the spotlights converged on a performer, the idea sprung to mind, and he yelped "I've got it!" Quite possibly embellished, but plausible that should be the inspiration.
- dghf 10y ago
  That's certainly how the film The Dambusters depicts it.
DanBC 10y ago
It's really interesting to read the history of Bomber Command. Max Hastings has a good book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bomber-Command-Pan-Military-Classics/dp/0330513613/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bomber-Command-Pan-Military-Classic... I mention it because the book talks about the problem they had with targeting, and refinements they made. It also talks about the change in attitudes about targeting civilians, from being a war crime that must be avoided at the beginning, to being the only thing that could stop the war at the end.

They came up with an ingeniously simple way to tell if the plane was at the correct altitude over the water http://www.thedambusters.org.uk/height.html http://www.thedambusters.org.uk/height.html

sirwolfgang 10y ago

I always thought this was the more nuanced but clever part of the operation. That said, I would hate to have been one of the test pilots for the barrels. One of them bounced too high, and ripped the plane in half.

DanBC 10y ago
Bomber command had horrific rates of death. Of a total of about 125,000 men about 55,000 died.

cyberferret 10y ago

This is what surprised me about the Wikipedia article - you would think they would have mentioned the simple yet clever way that the crew could ensure that they were at the correct release height over the water using spotlight beams.

cheiVia0 10y ago
Well why don't you add it yourself then? :)
- bbarn 10y ago
  Because some bot will automatically moderate it away? That's what's happened every time I've made even minor spelling corrections on wikipedia.
tra_eng_u_let 10y ago
...because it's not all that clever. Clever, sure. But not profoundly so. It is simply a manner of triangulation. Sine, cosine, tangent. Basic trig. Once they knew the optimal altitude, they probably whipped the rest up in 5 minutes with a slide rule back then. Put some lights here, set the angle. Whamola.
moioci 10y ago
From the article: "Height was checked by a pair of intersecting spotlight beams, which, when converging on the surface of the water, indicated the correct height for the aircraft - a method devised for the raid by Benjamin Lockspeiser of MAP," I didn't look to see when this was added.
- cyberferret 10y ago
  I searched for the phrase 'light' on the article when I looked at it, but didn't see this. Someone may have seen this thread and added it perhaps? Useful addition in any case, and I hope it stays. EDIT: Actually I may have searched for 'lights', which would have returned no results, so perhaps my bad after all.
  - cooper12 10y ago
    If you look at the page history, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bouncing_bomb&action=history https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bouncing_bomb&act..., the last edit was on November 6.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

jgw 10y ago

I was told that the inventor came up with the idea while at the theatre with his wife. As the spotlights converged on a performer, the idea sprung to mind, and he yelped "I've got it!" Quite possibly embellished, but plausible that should be the inspiration.

dghf 10y ago
That's certainly how the film The Dambusters depicts it.

DanBC 10y ago

It's really interesting to read the history of Bomber Command. Max Hastings has a good book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bomber-Command-Pan-Military-Classics/dp/0330513613/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bomber-Command-Pan-Military-Classic... I mention it because the book talks about the problem they had with targeting, and refinements they made. It also talks about the change in attitudes about targeting civilians, from being a war crime that must be avoided at the beginning, to being the only thing that could stop the war at the end.