8th Air Force 185 OBOE TEST

14 January 1944

Description

2 B-17s from 482BG are despatched on a night operation to Wesel, Germany to test the OBOE MkII navigation system.One aircraft aborted the mission because of radio failures of the test equipment.



Oboe was a British aerial blind bombing targeting system (also experimented with by the USAAF) in World War II, based on radio transponder technology.[1] Using triangulation to determine relative location, the system consisted of a pair of radio transmitters on the ground, which sent signals which were received and retransmitted by a transponder in the aircraftt (typically a De Havilland Mosquito or Avro Lancaster). By comparing the time each signal took to reach the aircraft, its location could be calculated to a fair degree. In this way, an aircraft could be directed blindly over a specific target, all of which were pre-calculated and kept on file. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oboe_(navigation)

Mission Details

WESE

Description: OBOE TEST

Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress

Notes: Night test of OBOE Mark II. One aborts, one drops two 1000 HE bombs on city. 305th Bomb Group/422nd Bomb Squadron

Unofficial emblem, 305th Bomb Group.
  • Unit Hierarchy: Group
  • Air Force: Eighth Air Force
  • Type Category: Bombardment

Mission Statistics

  • Tonnage Dropped: 2.00
  • Aircraft sent: 2
  • Aircraft effective: 1

Connections

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People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 390th Bomb Group 568th Bomb Squadron
  • Role/Job: Tail Gunner

Revisions

Date
ContributorLee8thbuff
Changes
Sources

Lee Cunningham 8-Jan-2016. Corrected Mission Title and added Detailed Description based on "The Mighty Eighth War Diary" Roger A. Freeman. OBOE facts from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oboe_(navigation)

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Lee Cunningham, 8th Air Force missions research database / Stan Bishop's 'Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces', the Combat Chronology of the US Army Air Forces and the work of Roger Freeman including the 'Mighty Eighth War Diary'.