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Article Excerpt
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The A-1C(M) lead-computing sight was the first fighter gunsight to employ radar ranging. It was widely used in Korea where it received a mixed reception by the F-86 pilots who depended upon it. Many of the younger, less experienced pilots found it a godsend, while the veterans, particularly some aces of World War II, considered it unreliable and much too complicated--particularly its radar. Nevertheless, the introduction of the A-1C gunsight was an important milestone in the development of sophisticated fire control equipment for air-to-air combat.
The story of the A-1C provides evidence of the importance of the heterogeneous engineer in developing new technology and the impact of "innovative departure" on the users of a new weapons system. It also provides insight into the non-technical problems that often arise when a new weapons system is introduced.
Ever since the early days of flight, seasoned pilots have often objected to the introduction of new flight instruments. The Wright brothers found it difficult to get their own student pilots to utilize such aids because of the negative connotation that the reliance on instruments elicited from the early birdmen who preferred to fly "by the seat of their pants." (1) Though the Sperry turn indicator had become standard equipment on most large aircraft by the mid-1920s, many pilots refused to rely on it. (2) Nor did most pilots trust the artificial horizon when it was first introduced a few years later. It took more than a decade before a majority of pilots had learned to trust these devices. The jet age brought new problems for pilots, especially with regard to air combat, which now took place at a pace much greater than ever. It also brought about a widespread reliance on radar and other electronic aids. As was the case in earlier years, the most experienced pilots proved to be the least receptive to the new technology.
Genesis of the A-1C(M) Lead Computing Gunsight
Lt. Col. Leighton I. Davis was nearing the end of his second tour of duty at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, in April, 1943, when he received orders to command a fighter-bomber group composed of North American A-36s that was about to deploy overseas. He flew to Alabama in advance to meet his new boss and to look over the A-36--the ground attack version of the P-51 Mustang. "I was amazed to see that they still had ring and bead sights in the middle of the damn thing," exclaimed Leighton when he recalled the event in later years. (3) It was the same sight used in the P-12s that he had flown in 1936. Nothing new had been added to assist the pilot in his main mission: gunnery and dive bombing.
After returning to West Point, Davis journeyed to Norfolk to meet with Dr. Charles S. Draper of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to discuss the possibility of adapting the Navy's Mark-14 gyroscopically-controlled gunsight (developed by Draper) to dive bombing and aerial gunnery. (4) Davis knew about the work being done on gyroscopic sights having studied under Draper while completing his Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering at MIT in 1940-1941. With input from Draper, Davis prepared a technical report on how a gyro computing gunsight could be used as a dive bombsight. His commanding officer, Col. John M. Weikert, who just happened to be a friend of Gen. Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, sent the report to Wright Field, Ohio, where it was analyzed by John E. Clemens. Davis's report must have been favorably endorsed by Wright Field, because Arnold, Commanding General of the U.S. Army Air Forces (AAF), had Davis's orders changed, sending him instead to the Armament Laboratory at Wright Field to work on a lead computing gunsight for dive bombers. (5)
The Education of an Engineering-Oriented Pilot
Leighton I. Davis was born in Sparta, Wisconsin, on February 20, 1910. He graduated from high school in Dawson County, Montana, in 1927 and entered the U. S. Military Academy in 1931. Davis graduated on June 12, 1935, and received a commission as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. Next, Lieutenant Davis was detailed to the Air Corps and sent to Randolph Field, Texas, for flight training. He proceeded to Kelly Field for advanced training in P-12s, earned his wings, and transferred to the Air Corps on October 1, 1936. (6)
Davis's first tactical assignment was as an engineering officer with the 6th Pursuit Squadron stationed in Hawaii. The squadron was equipped with the Boeing P-12, an open cockpit biplane with fixed landing gear that was the primary fighter in the Air Corps inventory in 1936. In addition to his flying and engineering duties, Davis was also assistant trial judge advocate, assistant athletic director, and assistant communications officer. The latter would later prove to have been a serendipitous assignment for the young officer, for it familiarized him with the cathode ray oscilloscope: a state-of the-art electrical device that provided a picture of an electrical signal plotted against time. As assistant communications officer, Davis ran across a corporal who had brought his personal electrical equipment with him, including the oscilloscope. Davis doesn't tell us what the corporal had done as a civilian, but it is likely that the corporal had been involved in some sort of electronic endeavor before he was forced to join the Army to support himself. This situation was not uncommon during the Great Depression, when all sorts of people enlisted in the armed forces in search of a living.
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"Tell me how all those radios and things work," Davis asked the corporal.
"Well, the best way is [to] build one," he replied.
So, Davis scrounged up some parts from a local repair shop and built an RF-tuner, plus a hi-fi push-pull triode circuit. He had a lot of fun building the equipment, which was then hooked up to the oscilloscope in order to show Davis how the various circuits worked. (7)
After two years in Hawaii, Davis received orders to attend the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field, Alabama. His orders were changed after someone in charge of assignments discovered that Davis had achieved good grades in the mechanics course at West Point, making him the ideal candidate to replace Maj. John Weikert, who had been teaching the course. (8) Air activities were on the rise at West Point and Weikert, the senior Air...
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