AID FOR BRITAIN

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 244, 2 December 1940, Page 2

AID FOR BRITAIN

USE OF SPERRY BOMB SIGHT lil-MARK ABLE CLAIMS MADE; Persistent rumours during tile past iew weeivs inat tlie United, slates nas released the Sperry oomb sigiu for use by British pilots against lie. man has causcd c.jnsternation on both sides of the Atlantic. The. diehariis who ciing to American isolationism fear

tnac if the rumour is true it means that their cause is sunk beyond salvage. '1 he Nazis fear that Sperry sights on British bombers will more than counter-balance numerical disparity and give the British bombers far greater range without structural alteration or greater engine power. For the Sperry bomb sigh! is probably the gVeatest indiAnduai military secret in tlie Avorld to--day, writes Maros Gray in the Melbourne Sun. United States Air Force experts claim that it is so completely reA 7 olutionarv that its use enables bombers to dominate everything 800 miles from their bases. Uncanny Accuracy. 'Amazing performances are Claimed in official tests. Experts soberly declare that, given perfect conditions and time for a l'ew trial runs, a bomb sighter skilled in the use of the device can drop a bomb into a pickle barrel from a height of feet; that direct hits can be obtained from 16,000 feet while tlie 'plane is banking or rolling. Although most other nations have secret bomb sights, this accuracy cannot be even remotely approached elsewhere. For really destructive bombing, an attacking forcte must rely chiefly on dive bombing or pattern bombing. DiA'e bombing has proved too expensiA'e in the face of aacll organised defences, and pattern bombing is highly Avastefu*— in that it means that a large proportion of the bombs must inevitably be dropped off the target. Possession of an absolutely accurate sighting device means, therefore, that bombers sent out to do any job can reduce their bomb load and thereby increase their range. Axiomatically, fewer bombers can be sent. No one knows Avliat makes the Sperry bomb sight so good—not eA r en the men who operate it. United States Army and Navy authorities go to extreme lengths to guard the instruments day and night from theft or unauthorised examination. In the early days of the Avar there was a first-class scare when a rumour Avent round that a Sperry sight was not Avhere it should be at Mitchel airfield. This Avas said to be the cause of the sailing of the Bremen being held up Avhile Secret Sendee men searched her from stem I to stern. Inventor of Gyro Compass. Elmer- Sperry, the man Avho presumably invented the sight, or upon Avhose Avork the perfection of the 1 device depended—died in 1930. But he contributed more to the science of modern Avar, and as much to the modern age of robot gadgets, as anyone Avho has eA r er • lived, not even excepting Edison,. Born in Cortland, New York, in 1860, he first invented the electric arc light and reA'olutionary electrical mining machinery. He next turned his attention to transport and principles discovered by him are incorporated to-day in every electric tram-car

and train. In 1915 he announced his highintensity electric searchlight, which has since became the world standard. Later iie invented the gyro compass, which has replaced the magnetic compass completely on ships and aeroplanes, and on which the complicated system of modern naval gunnery depends. Sperry also invented gyros for torpedoes, aerial torpedoes with automatic con trol, a gyro pilot for steering ships, an automatic gyro pilot for aero# planes, and finally, a gyroscopic ship stabiliser.