How did WW2 planes communicate with the Ground?

[FourWheelDrift]

Marcellus said:

How did WW2 planes communicate with the Ground?

Communicating with home.


Communicating with the enemy.

[eharding]

FourWheelDrift said:

I think you'll find that is in fact an early 'life-style' publicity shot for one of the earliest Remington electric shavers - sadly, the amount of high-frequency noise the damned things used to give off required ear protection for the user, and everyone else within 30 yards.

[Eric Mc]

Must have been a complicated razor because that's a hefty looking set of instructions.

[eharding]

Eric Mc said:

Must have been a complicated razor because that's a hefty looking set of instructions.

Yes, but if look carefully, those are instructions on the use of the tail-wheel balancing wrench for a P-47D - it was a tricky wrench to use, hence the instructions run to well over 200 pages.

He's just using it to shield his nads from the god-awful shaver noise.

Edited by eharding on Friday 30th October 22:55

[Eric Mc]

I bet it's noisy because he has to run the the 2,000 hp Pratt and Whitney radial up front to generate enough electricty for the shaver.

[Simpo Two]

Oddly, the bombs falling out of the two furthest B17s are in EXACTLY the same pattern and spacing - in fact I just stuck it in Photoshop and the two patterns (adjsuted for scale) coincide. I find it hard to believe that two bombers would synchronise bomb release to such a split second, and that the bombs would fall identically - could this be a photo tweaked for PR puroses to look better?

[Tunku]

Marcellus said:

Please settle a discussion, did they use; voice comms or morse code?

Actually, it was pigeons, and if they were close to HQ, a hastily scribbled message tied round a brick.

[Eric Mc]

Simpo Two said:

Oddly, the bombs falling out of the two furthest B17s are in EXACTLY the same pattern and spacing - in fact I just stuck it in Photoshop and the two patterns (adjsuted for scale) coincide. I find it hard to believe that two bombers would synchronise bomb release to such a split second, and that the bombs would fall identically - could this be a photo tweaked for PR puroses to look better?

The order to release bombs was usually called out (over the voice radio - using VHF by the master bomber. So, in theory, all the bombs should start falling at the same time. If the bombs were loaded in the same manner and in the same configuration in each aircraft in the squadron, then there is no surprise that the drop pattern should be virtually the same for each aircraft.

[Simpo Two]

Eric Mc said:

The order to release bombs was usually called out (over the voice radio - using VHF by the master bomber. So, in theory, all the bombs should start falling at the same time. If the bombs were loaded in the same manner and in the same configuration in each aircraft in the squadron, then there is no surprise that the drop pattern should be virtually the same for each aircraft.

I agree it's conceivable - but has anyone seen a similar photo of 2+ planes bombing and the falling bombs being identical to the point of superimposition?

Was it just us who watched the lead plane and released the bombs when it did - ie a visual cue? (Obviously wouldn't work at night though! - in which case they bombed independently on target marker flares)

[Eric Mc]

Simpo Two said:

Eric Mc said:

The order to release bombs was usually called out (over the voice radio - using VHF by the master bomber. So, in theory, all the bombs should start falling at the same time. If the bombs were loaded in the same manner and in the same configuration in each aircraft in the squadron, then there is no surprise that the drop pattern should be virtually the same for each aircraft.

I agree it's conceivable - but has anyone seen a similar photo of 2+ planes bombing and the falling bombs being identical to the point of superimposition?

Was it just us who watched the lead plane and released the bombs when it did - ie a visual cue? (Obviously wouldn't work at night though! - in which case they bombed independently on target marker flares)

The RAF did conduct daylight raids as well - although the main effort of Bomber Command went into the Night Bomber Offensive.
In daylight, the Master Bomber technique became the norm for both the RAF and the USAAF.
At night, of course, as you say, a different system had to be used using marker flares.

[dr_gn]

Tunku said:

Marcellus said:

Please settle a discussion, did they use; voice comms or morse code?

Actually, it was pigeons, and if they were close to HQ, a hastily scribbled message tied round a brick.

That's true - I was looking through a book last night, and (at least during some operations) Lancasters did indeed carry Homing Pigeons, such that in the event of a forced landing, the co-ordinates of the aircraft were scribbled on a paper, secured within a tube strapped to the pigeon, and off it went.

Pigeons were also dropped by parachute behind enemy lines so that agents could send information back on the enemy.

Found some more interesting stuff on Pigeons here:

http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=2&in...

Love the parachute Pigeon in the photo!

[Simpo Two]

dr_gn said:

Lancasters did indeed carry Homing Pigeons, such that in the event of a forced landing, the co-ordinates of the aircraft were scribbled on a paper, secured within a tube strapped to the pigeon, and off it went.

If mobile phones hadn't been invented, there'd be people wandering about with 20 pigeons on their backs, every so often writing a note that said 'I'm almost home, where are you?' and letting a pigeon go.