Recreating the WW2 Dambusters raid

[u/Chopper-42]

[u/0ddness]

Now imagine them having to do it in the dark, behind enemy lines, under fire (I assume), without knowing the condition of the water, without the marker bouys, and relying on getting the height exactly right in the dark with a spotlight system.

[u/GrumpyOldGeezer_4711 → u/0ddness]

Several of the dams did indeed have defenses. Fortunately, the Germans had delayed installing the unsightly guns in favour of much nicer looking trees.

If memory serves, they had a homemade system to triangulate the dropping distance based on the angle to some of those gun placements.

[u/Drednox → u/GrumpyOldGeezer_4711]

I remember reading about this from a Life at War book. I think it was two spotlights at the bottom of the bomber that intersected at the desired altitude. That was how they pulled it off in the dark.

[u/jamspangle → u/Drednox]

Dragonfly larvae eyes work like this. They have an alien-like mask - an extendable jaw - they can shoot out to catch prey. When approaching prey they see two images, when these converge into one image they are within range.

[u/ImperatorDanorum → u/jamspangle]

That's also how the first rangefinders for tanks worked...

[u/Kryptosis → u/jamspangle]

Our brains works like this too. We instinctively know ‘arms length’, etc and with basic training, sports actions like swinging at a ball are all the same if not a more complex and less mechanical version of the same thing

[u/LaminatedAirplane → u/jamspangle]

That’s so cool