Sedalia Dave Posted October 14, 2024 Share Posted October 14, 2024 The Bat is a radar-guided unpowered anti-shipping bomb developed by the U.S. Navy during World War II. It consists of a standard 1,000-pound bomb encased in a fuselage with wings and a radar in the nose that was built by the National Bureau of Standards. Development of the bomb was overseen by the Navy’s Bureau of Ordnance and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. More than 2,500 of them were built. The Bat was used in combat in the Pacific beginning in early 1945 with some success against Japanese shipping. An ASM-N-2 "Bat" glide bomb slung underneath of a F4U Corsair. The Bat bomb featured active radar homing capabilities and combined a gliding airframe with a 1,000lb general purpose bomb. The Bat saw combat starting in April of 1945. It was almost entirely an anti-shipping weapon as it's primitive radar guidance system was easily confused by clutter over land. However, at sea it proved to be an effective weapon. They damaged or sank several Japanese merchant ships and even a few warships. The bulky weapon was at first operated from PB4Y-2 "Privateer" patrol bombers, but it was later deployed from smaller single-engine aircraft like the Corsair and Grumman Avenger. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted October 14, 2024 Author Share Posted October 14, 2024 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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