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Re: Norden Bomb Sight--Curiosity Only
On the case of it's "classified" status. It was considered the Second most
secret weapon of the war, next the the Manhattan Project. Ironically, a man
named Lang, a Norden worker, stole the plans in 1937 and sold them to the
Nazi's for $3000 (good money in 1937). They decided against using it
prefering dive-bombing to the high-altitude bombing for which it was
designed. We have one on display here at the AMSE, in conjunction w/our
Enola Gay Exhibit.
Tom Anderson; Collections
American Museum of Science and Energy
300 S. Tulane
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
(865) 576-3228 (Voice), (865) 576-6024 (Fax)
-----Original Message-----
From: James Stimpert <James.Stimpert@JHU.EDU>
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
Date: Tuesday, January 16, 2001 11:11 AM
Subject: Re: [ARCHIVES] Norden Bomb Sight--Curiosity Only
>On Tue, 16 Jan 2001, Kurilecz, Peter wrote:
>
>> If I'm not mistaken isn't he required to carry a sidearm when
>> transporting it? (Preferably a 45 cal). Of course it will come in
>> handy when he wants to toss a pickle into a barrel. :-)
>
>As Peter indicates, during the war, the Norden was "Top Secret" and
>subject to extreme security measures. Apparently, whenever it was
>being transported to or from an aircraft, it had to be accompanied by
>an armed guard to protect it from spies or saboteurs.
>
>When Doolittle led his raid on Japan from USS Hornet in 1942, his
>B-25s did *not* use the Norden because they knew they would lose most
>of their aircraft and many of them would fall into enemy hands, and
>they didn't want to risk losing the secret that early in the war. Of
>all the bombers shot down over Europe 1943-45, at least a few of them
>had to be carrying the Norden, so the Germans must have gotten their
>hands on the Norden and figured out why it was, allegedly, so
>effective.
>
>Presumably, the Norden has since been declassified, otherwise you
>might expect a visit from several government representatives, and I
>don't mean NARA :-)
>
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>
>James Stimpert E-mail: James.Stimpert@jhu.edu
>Archives (Arts and Sciences)
>MSE Library
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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
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Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
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Problems? Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>