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  • 6 months ago
Illustrates the use of radar on a dramatized mission over Japan.
Transcript
00:00The End
00:30It's early morning at a B-29 base in the Marianas.
00:43The big bombers are getting ready for a mission, and the men are getting ready.
00:49In the essentials, the briefing differs little from others.
00:52There's a target that will be bombed.
00:55They will proceed to this point in space above the Earth, drop their bombs, and return, without ever seeing the target.
01:04These are the instructions. The men are ready for the takeoff.
01:24Six hours aloft, the huge armada of superforts has spanned over a thousand miles of trackless waters.
01:35The weather bears out the forecast. Clouds, heavy overcast, all the way to the target.
01:44At 23,000 feet, they're above it.
01:52Below and beyond lies the Japanese mainland, and somewhere beyond that, the target.
01:57If the enemy took comfort in the thought that the bombardier sees nothing more than this, they were living in a fool's paradise.
02:05For in a calculated instant, tons of high explosives, and yes, even the atomic bomb, would be sent away to the target, aimed by the miracle of radar.
02:16Before you now is the radar scope, a small, circular screen, giving x-ray-like vision to the mysterious 11th member of the crew, the radar operator.
02:31Until recently, we've known little of what he does, and even less about the instruments he uses.
02:36Basically, radar equipment consists of a radio transmitter and receiver.
02:43The transmitter sends a radio beam earthward.
02:46If it strikes water, the beam is not reflected.
02:49The receiver picks up nothing, and the scope appears dark, as it is now over the Pacific Ocean.
02:55But if the beam strikes a solid object, such as land, it's reflected, and shows light on the scope.
03:02Watch, something's coming in now at the upper left.
03:09Adjusting the receiver control sharpens the picture.
03:12There they are, two islands, both with mountains on them.
03:15That should make them easy to identify.
03:19According to the charts, only two islands of this shape and contour lie off the southern coast of Honshu.
03:24The little one, Kojima, the other, Hachijojima.
03:30Two tiny dots on the face of the globe point the way for a cargo of destruction.
03:35Seven hours, ten minutes, elapsed time.
03:47Almost a full day's work for most, but to the crews, a mission less than half sweated out.
03:54The picture on the scope warns of entry to the critical zone.
03:57The return shows a large land mass, Japanese coast, over a hundred miles of it.
04:02You see that bright spot at the top of the peninsula?
04:06Not exactly the picture in travel folders, but that's beautiful Fujiyama.
04:11Mount Fuji.
04:13Nature's wonder.
04:14The tourist's delight.
04:16Now, a beacon inviting disaster.
04:19A reference point for final calculations.
04:23Bombardier, this is radar operator, over.
04:26This is Bombardier, go ahead.
04:27The wind is from two, six, eight degrees at one, three, eight miles per hour.
04:34Ground speed on the bomb run.
04:36Three, nine, four miles per hour.
04:39Data taken from the electronic wonder instruments is converted to precision aiming.
04:43Pinpoint bombing.
04:45One, seven degrees right.
04:46Radar operator, this is Bombardier, over.
04:49Go ahead, Bombardier.
04:51The site's set up.
04:52We're ready to bomb.
04:53The bomb run begins with a turn directly over Fujiyama.
04:56When the bright spot that is Fujiyama, touches the black line, the instructions are...
05:03Pilot, start one quarter needle-width turn.
05:05Rolling out on the heading of...
05:0631 degrees.
05:07Roger.
05:08Bombardier, open bomb bay doors after turn.
05:11Roger.
05:17The moment for decision has arrived.
05:19The moment when the target must be singled out from hundreds of other invisible targets.
05:23Coastline with a large city.
05:26A peninsula jutting out in a bay.
05:29The city?
05:30Tokyo.
05:32This is the general target area.
05:35Northwest of Tokyo lies the specific target.
05:38The Kyoshi Aircraft Factory at Kawaigo.
05:40A flick of the switch isolates the target image.
05:46And here it is.
05:47One tiny speck of light.
05:49The focal point for hundreds of giant bombers.
05:53For a thousand tons of bombs.
05:56Pilot, correct nine degrees right.
05:58Roger.
05:59Ready on 70 degrees.
06:04Ready.
06:07Mark.
06:19Mark.
06:20Mark.
06:21At the split second before the bombs are released, the radar operator sees this.
06:27Bombs away.
06:29And this is what the Jap sees.
06:50His cities, his factories, in ruins.
06:54A lot of you out there are probably asking, well, why show us this?
07:01The war's over.
07:03Well, we wanted to let you in on one of the big secrets of the war.
07:07Thought you might be interested.
07:09Yes, you're right.
07:11The war is over, and we won it.
07:14And by we, I mean the foot soldiers, the men at sea, the crews who flew the missions, you men and women who worked in the factories, the scientists who gave us radar and the atomic bomb, and every last man, woman, and child who bought war bonds.
07:32That was all part of winning the war, but now there's a matter of the peace.
07:39Most of the men in uniform will be returned to civilian life.
07:42Likewise, factory workers will go back to producing civilian goods.
07:45But our scientists must go on perfecting old inventions and developing new ones for the security of our nation at peace.
07:55And you who bought bonds in support of the war effort can buy a share in the peace by investing in bonds today.
08:02How about it?
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