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In the 'See also' section: "Mary Babnik Brown, whose hair was used for the bombsight crosshairs." The wikipedia articles on Mary Babnik Brown says: "In 1944 Br
by guiomie 10y ago
In the 'See also' section: "Mary Babnik Brown, whose hair was used for the bombsight crosshairs."
The wikipedia articles on Mary Babnik Brown says: "In 1944 Brown was the first woman to have her hair used for military aircraft bombsights.[6] She saw an advertisement in a Pueblo newspaper in 1943 that said the government was looking for hair from women for the war effort, although no details were given as to how it would be used. The ad said only that they wanted blonde hair that was at least 22 inches long (56 cm), and which had not been treated with chemicals or hot irons. The women's hair collection for use as bombsight crosshairs was a clandestine operation even though they found the hair through a newspaper advertisement."
I wonder if only her hair was used? Or other peoples hair was used too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Babnik_Brown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Babnik_Brown
- vwcx 10y agoThis is the coolest historical fact I've learned in the last 365 days. Thank you.
- verylittlemeat 10y agoApparently not the entire truth: >There have been some claims and counter-claims regarding what the human hair was used for. While its use in meteorological instruments such as radiosonde hygrometers is acknowledged, there are disputed claims regarding human hair use in bombsight crosshairs, particularly the Norden bombsight. While anecdotal accounts of human hair in bombsights exist, verifiable accounts only indicate it was used in precision weather instruments. Surviving Norden bombsights reveal that the cross hairs were etched in glass by diamond cutters. http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/hair-today-gone-tomorrow-all-for-the-war-effort/ http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/hair-today-gone-t...
- jat850 10y agoThis is exactly what I, too, found the most interesting part of the article. Wow. Contributions to the war effort came in any number of unusual forms.
- 40acres 10y agoI cannot believe that crosshairs actually used hairs. Mindblowing.