My father worked on the gun control systems in B-29 during the "battle
of Kansas" in what, late '43. The system was vacuum tube electro-
mechanical, and was giving the Army fits since failure to follow the
aiming system made the guns very dangerous to other B-29s.
He did quite a bit of work getting them functional, and was on his way
to Jacksonville, FL as a crew chief in the first wing of B-29's headed
for the European theater when the war in Europe ended. Was supposed
to then go to the Pacific, but before things got sorted out the war
was over.
He eventually got an engineering degree and sent his working career
making automated manufacturing machinery.
People tend to forget that analog computers existed for a very long
time before everything became digital, they are usually vastly simpler
and have fixed programming, but the ARE computers. Some of the fancy
ones did calculations, too -- Avro used them to design the Jetliner
and the Arrow -- basically an F-15 in 1959.
The Avro Jetliner was the first jet powered aircraft to carry airmail
in the US in 1950, long before the Comet crossed the Atlantic or
Boeing had a jet airplane.
The engine for the Arrow eventually ended up in the Concorde in a
larger version, I think.
Peter
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