# Bombing run on a bridge, best way? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 30, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699 "2009-10-30T04:21:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699/41 "2009-10-31T05:26:19Z")
> [@Chickenwrangler](#): > > how would a an aircraft flying a tight circle over the bridge above the range of AA have worked? Not real well, I expect. A reasonably tight circle by a WW2 bomber would have had a diameter of something like a quarter mile. Because the plane is tightly banked with an airspeed around 70 kts or so, bombs dropped from it would spread out considerably wider than that. Then there is the wind to worry about. I suspect this is not much more than a way to dispose of bombs. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699/42 "2009-10-31T13:50:30Z")
> [@si\_blakely](#): > > George Lucas has apparently claimed inspiration from the fjord attack scene from [633 Squadron](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/633_Squadron) - which fits better with the trench attack on the Death Star. > > However, 617 Squadron (the Dam Busters) used a gyroscopic bomb sight that gave them unprecedented accuracy for the time. Several times, Tallboys hit impossibly small targets like bridges and the Tirpitz. > > Si It’s pretty obvious Lucas had seen the Dam Busters at least once, because a number of lines from the Death Star Trench run scene are practically identical to those from the attack on the dam scene. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699/43 "2009-10-31T15:16:10Z")
Here’s the link to **CalMeacham** ’s Teemings article: [Use the Force, Luke](http://teemings.net/issue03/force.html) ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699/44 "2009-10-31T15:37:15Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > I wish I knew what this video was called. A couple years ago I watched a special on PBS where they followed everything that was involved with bombing a dam in Germany. At least one of the original crew was in this show and it went over how they handled sighting for the run and other concerns. They made a special low tech sight for the bomb runs. This would be a very informative video to watch if anybody knows what it was called. I think the low tech part was the method used to achieve the optimum altitude for skipping the bombs. IIRC they set up two spotlights on the bombers. When the bombers were over the water the spotlights would shine on the water and the pilots would descend until the two ‘spots’ converged into one and that was the altitude they should be at. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699/45 "2009-10-31T15:50:47Z")
From XEMA > [@](#): > > It is something of a scandal how its effectiveness was badly inflated, and the money and men that were expended in a surprisingly wasteful way. One quote I recall is that “Two percent of bombs hit within 2 miles of the target.” Second this. I have read that the actual cost, to the Allies, of the WWII stratigic bombing campaign against the Germans exceeded the monetary cost of the damage that was done. And no, I don’t have a cite for this, but it sounds about right. Regarding the controversy about the call sign for the dam Busters and the subsequent editing, it seems to me that our rewriting of history to meet the demands of PCness is pretty much what the old Soviet Union did to meet the demands of communism. Zealots are all the same, whatever their political persuasion ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699/46 "2009-10-31T16:21:50Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > Regarding the controversy about the call sign for the dam Busters and the subsequent editing, it seems to me that our rewriting of history to meet the demands of PCness is pretty much what the old Soviet Union did to meet the demands of communism. Zealots are all the same, whatever their political persuasion Yes, the government controlling the media to hide historical facts is equivalent to trying to not insult people with one of the most offensive words in the English language. I was trying to jew down some dagos the other day when a spic came in and complained about a bunch of hillbillys that gyped him and then accused him of being an Indian Giver and welshing on his debts. No offense intended. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699/47 "2009-10-31T17:27:01Z")
How about they do the same that was done to the original version. The American release can be a censored version with the dog’s name changed to Trigger, or Rex, or Pooch. The rest of the world can see the accurate version. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699/48 "2009-10-31T17:30:04Z")
Like I said, zealots are the same in any era. Suggest we immediately ban Mark Twain, Fletcher Pratt, etc.etc.etc. Although I guess a lot of PC folks have been trying to ban Twain for some time. Suspect they will eventually be successful. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699/49 "2009-10-31T18:33:00Z")
Perhaps I should apologize to the Board, but I confess that any attempt to rewrite history to conform to current mores basically infuriates me. History is what happened, not what somebody now wishes had happened. Some of it is good, some bad, some sublime, and some just horrible. But it is what happened at one time, and nothing can change that. For heaven’s sake, maybe we can even learn from the mistakes of the past. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699/50 "2009-10-31T18:38:25Z")
Just thought. Isn’t it interesting how a thread on bombing procedures can metamorphis into a thread on revising history. And almost seamlessly, too. Could this be called an inadvertent hijacking? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699/51 "2009-10-31T19:42:18Z")
> [@DanBlather](#): > > …I was trying to jew down some dagos the other day when a spic came in and complained about a bunch of hillbillys that gyped him and then accused him of being an Indian Giver and welshing on his debts… So then the pigs arrived and put 'em in the paddy wagon, right? 😉 Thank you for not being niggardly in your use of offensive ethnic terms. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699/52 "2009-10-31T20:26:53Z")
> [@](#): > > Thank you for not being niggardly in your use of offensive ethnic terms. Splendid use of THAT word. It wasn’t too long ago that some government employee here in Seattle got in all sorts of hot water for using “niggardly” to express dislike of some funding policy. He either got fired or almost was. I found it quite amusing that here in Seattle, one of the bastions of PC, most folks education wasn’t of a level that they knew what the word meant. And for those Dopers who might be disturbed by it’s use, here is a copy, from [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com), of the definition. niggardly Show Spelled Pronunciation [nig-erd-lee] adjective 1. reluctant to give or spend; stingy; miserly. 2. meanly or ungenerously small or scanty: a niggardly tip to a waiter. However, it’s was evidently a lot more fun to go off half-cocked. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699/53 "2009-11-01T00:09:40Z")
> [@Daylate](#): > > Splendid use of THAT word. It wasn’t too long ago that some government employee here in Seattle got in all sorts of hot water for using “niggardly” to express dislike of some funding policy. He either got fired or almost was… There was a similar tempest-in-a-teapot over a Washington, D.C. city budget official’s use of the term a few years back. The black mayor of the city came to the white official’s defense, fortunately. In this day and age, better just to say “stingy,” methinks. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699/54 "2009-11-01T01:23:12Z")
So people get upset over a word that _sounds_ like an offensive word? Perhaps we should also stop saying “country” because of the “cunt” in it. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699/55 "2009-11-01T03:18:32Z")
Sorry to interupt the hijack, but the problem of the OP is such that neither approach works well at all. This prompted the Germans to develop the Friz X guided bomb, and the Americans the [AZON](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azon) guided bomb. The Azon bomb had a magnesium flare in the back, and the bombardier literally flew it to it’s target by radio control. ---
**Author:** ![Chickenwrangler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chickenwrangler/32/91_2.png) [@Chickenwrangler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chickenwrangler)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699/56 "2009-11-01T05:37:20Z")
> [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](#): > > Airplanes miss targets long and short, not left and right. Attack runs are made along the long axis, unless that would put friendlies in the way. Cheers Paul, Did you used to be in Saudi? or is that a different Paul? > [@mack](#): > > I think the low tech part was the method used to achieve the optimum altitude for skipping the bombs. IIRC they set up two spotlights on the bombers. When the bombers were over the water the spotlights would shine on the water and the pilots would descend until the two ‘spots’ converged into one and that was the altitude they should be at. According to the movie they also had a Y shaped piece of wood with two pins stuck in it and as they approached the dam when the pins lined up with the towers at each end they were the right distance to release the bomb. All very Hi-Tech 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bombing-run-on-a-bridge-best-way/515699.md?page=2)