Norden - Thermite Bullet - Jeff Shaara Novel?
Jim H.
Shaara usually sticks pretty close to the real world for the settings
of his war novels. I took a quick glance at "No Less Than Victory" in
the bookstore. About p. 15, he's relating the experiences of a B-17
bombardier. He mentions a small pistol loaded with a 'thermite
bullet', to be used to destroy the Norden bombsight to keep it out of
German hands.
I've read a fair amount of WWII history & fiction, and don't recall
having never come across any mention of this, and a quick internet
search didn't turn up anything. Can someone point me to some factual
information on this?
Jim H.
Dave
explosive charges to be detonated by the bombardier. The control was
two recessed buttons that had to be pressed simultaneously. And I've
never heard of a thermite bullet. I would question the efficacy of
something of that sort intended to destroy a bomb sight.
For a work of fiction the intended effect is to emphasize the need to
keep the bomb sight from falling into enemy hands as well as a bit of
color.
Don Phillipson
news:7ea67522-0b50-4159...@o28g2000yqh.googlegroups.com...
> I realize that this question comes from a work of fiction, but Jeff
> Shaara usually sticks pretty close to the real world for the settings
> of his war novels. I took a quick glance at "No Less Than Victory" in
> the bookstore. About p. 15, he's relating the experiences of a B-17
> bombardier. He mentions a small pistol loaded with a 'thermite
> bullet', to be used to destroy the Norden bombsight to keep it out of
> German hands.
This author may have been influenced by wartime propaganda
about the Norden bombsight, believed by many Americans during
WW2 to be unmatched in the world, thus an Important Military
Secret. In actual operations, the Norden sight did not appear to
make Americans bomb with more accuracy than German or
British bombsights. Only after the war did information leak out
that spies had already secured Norden blueprints and sold them
to both (IIRR) Germany and Russia even before the USA entered the war.
--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)
Dave
> "Jim H." <ironduff...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:7ea67522-0b50-4159...@o28g2000yqh.googlegroups.com...
>
> This author may have been influenced by wartime propaganda
> about the Norden bombsight, believed by many Americans during
> WW2 to be unmatched in the world, thus an Important Military
> Secret.
One thing to remember about historical fiction is that not only does
an author seek to relate history, but the characters need to
experience the history as they perceive it. Some of these perceptions
include the myths that later historians dispel such as Japanese plans
to invade the west coast. I enjoy reading fiction both for the
entertainment of a good story with compelling characters and for the
information. If I see something new to me, I will often check it out,
both to learn and to acknowledge the author's good or bad work.
An origin for the pistol with the thermite bullets, for the author or
the character, could be the feature film Bombardier (1943) in which
the dying airman struggles to fire into his bomb sight as his aircraft
noses over into the earth. Artistic license and wartime propaganda.