OT: WWII tv camera smart bomb

[corporalcripp]

Last night PBS had an interesting documentary which got to the truth behind the bridge over the river Kawai.Now, what got me intrigued was that in '42 the army air force put together the first ever smart bomb.They actually installed a tv camera in the nose of a regular bomb.It transmitted images back to the bombardier who,while watching the image on a monitor,guided the bomb to it's target.Actually did work but,with all the vacuum tube technology crammed into the bomb,there was little room left for explosives.Soon afterward a radio-guided bomb was deployed instead-this one worked quite well,taking out half of the Japanese-Burma railway bridges.Anyone here know any AAF vets with experience with these gadgets?-Bob

There were a number of applications for TV guided weapons developed both by our country and the Germans. The GB-4 glide bomb is probably what is being referred to in the documentary. It was dropped from a bomber and using a TV camera and 300 mhz transmitter,it gave the remote control operator in the bomber an image to aim for with his radio controls.
War weary B17 and B24 bombers were also fitted with the camera/transmitter package and, laden with explosives, were taken airbourne by a pilot who was supposd to bail out after reaching a certain altitude and the plane sent to it's target by radio control from a chase plane some mile behind it. JFK's oldest brother was killed on such a mission when the plane he piloted blew up before he was able to bail out.
The majority of thes setups,called Block, used RCA Iconoscope cameras and RCA transmitters but Farnsworth also built cameras,too for the military.

[bgadow]

There have been some good articles in "Radio Age", the Mid Atlantic Antique Radio Club Newsletter. You should be able to pull up an index from here:

http://www.maarc.org/

[corporalcripp]

I hadn't known the full story behind JK's wartime accident.Now that's extremely interesting.Guess he'd go to any length to impress the old man.