Friday, April 17, 2020

Nice Ballistics Calculator

Here.

1 comment:

  1. Tres Cool!

    In Vietnam we used something called the FADAC, Field Artillery Digital Automatic Computer, a general purpose transistorized computer programmed for the guns and rounds of the time. I just learned that all but on example were destroyed because they used radium in the dials. I had a short course in using it at Ft. Sill in the Fire Direction Control AIT course.
    Recently I watched a bunch of videos about the old analog computers used on warships for setting the guns. Fascinating stuff and used throughout the life of the Iowa Class Battleships. Replacing them with digital alternatives late in their lives was deemed not to be needed. Ship speed, course, range to target, windspeed and direction, target speed and course, etc. we’re all cranked into the device. The inputs moved various types of cams. The firing solution would specify the angle and elevation as well as the number of bags of propellant. One issue they had later on was that the propellants were WWII vintage and aging had changed their characteristics. This old powder may have been implicated in the tragic explosion aboard the Iowa in 1989.

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