"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
Chrysler was given task of taking the hand-fit 40mm Bofors
anti-aircraft gun and mass producing it for WWII. They gave each
division a main part and used over 1,000 sub-contractors for the
small
parts. Drawings were translated from Swedish so the shopmen could
read them. I imagine the entire process took months so our ships
could
be better protected for the war. One aircraft carrier shot down 32
Japanese planes in under half an hour with these things. Thinking
back to my yout, I called these "pom-pom guns".
http://tinyurl.com/y9o6m25b


America took the slogan that the Great War had ended all wars
seriously and didn't want to prepare for another, so we had to turn to
Europe for modern weapons.
http://www.guns.com/2013/04/17/the-o...mikaze-killer/

Radar control gave our AA deadly accuracy.
http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-107.htm
"...but it was not until the planes reached a range of 6,500 yards
that the after two port mounts were out of their danger sectors and
fire could be opened up with the five-inch battery. Mount #10 firing
Mark 32 fuzzed projectiles was the first to fire and the leading plane
received a direct hit from what was believed to be the first
projectile fired. It disintegrated in the air, and the Rangefinder of
Sky 4 reported that at one instant he was looking at an airplane and
the next instant all he could see was a propeller and radial engine
flying through the air with no plane attached to it."

Reportedly the rationale behind kamikazes was that attacking US ships
was suicide anyway. The Zero's controls locked up in a high speed dive
and it would stay on course after the pilot had been killed.
http://www.pacificaviationmuseum.org...rbor-blog/p30/
-jsw