America's Pursuit of Precision Bombing, 1910-1945

Download or read book America's Pursuit of Precision Bombing, 1910-1945 written by Stephen Lee McFarland and published by Smithsonian Books (DC). This book was released on 1995 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: McFarland (history, Auburn U.) traces the development of two interrelated technologies, bombsights and automatic pilots, from the first efforts in 1910 to stabilize aircraft during bombing to the atomic bombing of Japan. Drawing on primary documents he explains how the US government and the public wanted to hone bombing into a precise and effective instrument to end wars quickly with the fewest number of civilian casualties, and how the famous Nordon bombsight contributed to most of the destruction of military and industrial targets in Japan and Germany during World War II. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR