Notable achievement of the fuze included (1) defense from Japanese kamikaze attacks in the South Pacific (2) neutralizing the German V-1 buzz bomb attack on England, and (3) killing Germans on the ground during the Battle of the Bulge in Dec. Both were shot do by 5-inch (diameter) projectiles armed with the proximity fuze. The first successful use of the proximity fuze in combat occurred on Janujust south of Guadalcanal, when two Japanese dive bombers attacked the light cruiser USS HELENA (CL-50).
The laboratory integrated the technical efforts of many contractors during its production and gave guidance to the Navy, Army, and England for its deployment. The design proposal faced many technical challenges: one was that the fuze components had to be ultra-rugged enough to withstand the crushing acceleration force of being fired from a gun. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) invented the concept of the proximity fuze, designed it, constructed prototypes, and field test them. A fuze is a device used to detonate an explosive charge in an artillery shell, a missile, or projectile. What was the secret that enabled the Soviets to down a 13-mile high U-2 “spy-in-the-sky”? The secret was a device within the missile that contained a tiny radio transmitter and receiver that allowed the missile to explode in the proximity of the target rather than requiring the direct hit. I remember saying to myself, maybe aloud, I don’t know, Good Lord, I’ve had it now.” In his prison journal, Powers wrote: “A tremendous orange flash lit the cockpit and the sky. He confessed and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The wings ripped off the plane causing it to spin out of control. One missile had exploded just behind Power’s plane. Thirteen MIG-19 Russian fighters were scrambled to intercept the U-2, but they were unable to come close in altitude because it was flying 70,500 feet above the Ural Mountains.Ī salvo of 3 surface-to-air missiles fired from the ground battery produced a fiery display that prompted cheers from the ground crew. Russian ground radar system began tracking the U-2 15 miles before it even reached the Soviet border with Afghanistan. The 9-hour flight plan had Powers taking off from Peshawar, Pakistan, to Bodo, Norway, which included a 2,900 mile incursion into Soviet airspace. On May 1, 1960, Francis Gary Powers piloted a U-2 spy plane on a mission planned by the Central Intelligence Agency to assess Soviet military strength before an east-west summit conference scheduled to be held in Paris.
0 kommentar(er)
