JB-2 Loon Ready January 1944

Carl Schwamberger said:
S...t bro. 100 meters Circular Probable Error from aim point, thats just dandy for firing a mass of these at things like the coastal resistance nests defending the beaches. Beats the hell out of the USAAF heavy bomber strike that missed the Omaha beach fortifications by 1000+ meters.

100 meters PE @ 25 miles is comparable to heavy very long range artillery PE, even at lesser ranges :cool: I recall the very best the 80cm Schwer Gustav cannon could do was a 65 meter PE at its maximum range. When training for spotting Naval guns were were told to expect PE along the range line of 300+ meters under many circumstances.

Even a 400 meter PE if launching from the south coast of the UK is acceptable if pounding the German garrisons while moving from their barracks to the gun positions overlooking the beaches at 0300 on 6 June.
Agreed. If all you want is to blanket the defenses in Normandie, 400m is plenty. For "pinpoints" on the sub pens & such, you really just need to be closer--& that kinda follows, with the right launch platform.

That said, the reliability of that CEP bears checking...;)
 
Andras said:
active radar homing system from August 44.

Combine an early Loon with that and would could have radar guided ASMs for all of 45 in the Pacific.
Personally, I prefer Felix IR guidance. That, if you read the missile gunboat thread, is claimed to have issues of lack of sensitivity...
 

Pangur

Donor
There maybe one way you could use them. Instead of a high explosive war head how about napalm and fire them into wooded areas? Would make not great differnce where they land just as once its on things that burn? It would surely cause no end of disruption behind German lines
 
Pangur said:
There maybe one way you could use them. Instead of a high explosive war head how about napalm and fire them into wooded areas? Would make not great differnce where they land just as once its on things that burn? It would surely cause no end of disruption behind German lines
That's going for a very, very indirect effect.:eek::eek: If you want ripples, attack railyards or canals, not forests...
 

Pangur

Donor
That's going for a very, very indirect effect.:eek::eek: If you want ripples, attack railyards or canals, not forests...

Granted however if the weapon is not that accurate then surely you try and hit some thing large where if you hit give or take a few miles - no big deal
 
You do realize that those forests are PRIVATE PROPERTY.

I too would take issue with the CEP

The question would probably be the economic cost of mass deployment of these vs manned bombers/FGA. More of an issue in 44 than 45 and a shot down crew over Europe stands a reasonable chance of survival.

Manned bombers are always more flexible and generally more reliable.

But there are all sorts of games you could play with say a half dozen air launched loons fired off and on a time fuze dispensing Window blooms at different intervals.
 
You do realize that those forests are PRIVATE PROPERTY.

So what? A great many houses, factories and vehicles destroyed during the war were private property also. It didn't noticeably impede the Allies desire to bomb them to rubble.
There are plenty of reasons why bombing forests isn't a good idea. The fact that they belong to someone is not one of them, however.
 
There must be accuracy data from German & US tests of the V1 & JB-2. Anyone have that at hand? :rolleyes:

There maybe one way you could use them. Instead of a high explosive war head how about napalm and fire them into wooded areas? Would make not great differnce where they land just as once its on things that burn? It would surely cause no end of disruption behind German lines

That makes sense if you are certain a enemy unit is using the woods as cover. In 'Death Traps' there is a passage describing how the author observed a series of air strikes on a woods where a collection of retreating Germans were hiding. After three hours or so of air attacks the senior German came out & surrendered his group. Casualties were actually very few & little equipment was hit but the scale of the air attacks broke the morale. Maybe during a preinvasion preperation adding the JB-2 to the attacks on any know assembly areas of the German reserves would be productive?

The question would probably be the economic cost of mass deployment of these vs manned bombers/FGA. More of an issue in 44 than 45 and a shot down crew over Europe stands a reasonable chance of survival.

Manned bombers are always more flexible and generally more reliable.

Oh sure, but thinking of them as long range artillery rather than a 'bomber' might be a bit more flexible way of thinking about these. In any case the PoD has these already in production & the question how to use them best.

But there are all sorts of games you could play with say a half dozen air launched loons fired off and on a time fuze dispensing Window blooms at different intervals.

I wonder if 1944 tech allowed for radar homing. Have the Pathfinders try to suppress the German air defense radars with a few volleys of them? Tho somehow the term Wild Weasel just does not stick to a Lancaster or B24.
 
Well the Radar sites were known so a timed bloom of chaff in the right place would temporarily blind the radar, and certainly confuse things.

Wild Weasel pshaaw, we are talking Lone Badgers here.

And for those that did not get it the UK Air ministry objected to a 1939 plan to firebomb forests in Germany because they were private property.
 
And for those that did not get it the UK Air ministry objected to a 1939 plan to firebomb forests in Germany because they were private property.

There was a similar story about a Lt in the BEF of August 1914. I may have seen it in Tuchmans the guns of August. When the subaltern was asked why his sections were not deployed among some farm buildings he replied that 'It is private property sir'. Any way that was the story. We had one of a similar tenor in the US Marines back in the 1980s concerning a Lt of artillery in Lebanon refusing a fire mission - because 'the safety limits have not been issued' :rolleyes:
 
Anyone have a opinion as to the best online sources for German use of the V1? Aside from the accuracy question some info about RoF for each launch rail, failure rate during & after launch, ect... might be of some use here.
 
There is - but I suspect you have to pay for it a database for every V1 landing in SE england (actually every bomb landing for the UK) which is of current value in planning new construction. I doubt if there are data from the German end, complete data anyway. RAF does that to ya.
 
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