HOWTO drop bombs: WWII paper notebook with instructions

By at 2:41 pm Thursday, Oct 5

BoingBoing reader Mckenzie found a notebook maintained by his grandfather during World War Two.

"He ran a hardware store after the war until big box retail happened," says Mckenzie. "Bonus points to someone who can tell me what this means on Image15 -- 'C-1 Standard Settings'? Enlighten me someone! =) "

Link to images.

Reader comment: Darren Bedwell says,

I have a manual for the B-29 (probably not too different) that explains how to operate the C-1 autopilot. The "A" and "R" refer to aileron and rudder.
Update: A previous iteration of this post included Mckenzie's assertion that these notes related to the B-52 bomber. BoingBoing reader Kevin Pratt of the University of South Florida's Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue Institute for Safety, Security, & Rescue Technology (holy hell that's a mouthful) says,
In your recent post about the World War II how-to drop bombs notebook, the title refers B-52s. The B-52 was not around during WWII (first flight April 15, 1952).

There are a few references to the British and Germans in the notebook (page 3, item VI "Axis At[tack]" and page 5 "Offset Bombing: RAF - 1941 - Ruhr" , so this was likely from the European theatre (eliminating the B-29). That said, the two most likely candidates are the B-17 "Flying Fortress" or the B-24 "Liberator", both of which saw lots of use during the air war in Europe. Maybe the submitter has some more details about his Gandpa's service and can clear this up?

As for the mystery picture, no idea ;-)

Lindsey Smith says,
I believe that C-1 is the autopilot part of the Norden bombsight. See the link below and search for C-1: Link More on the Norden bombsight: Link
Danny Brice says,
In your article "HOWTO drop bombs: WWII paper notebook with instructions ", I found the following picture after image googling C-1 autopilot: JPEG Link. It looks very similar to the diagram on your article. It is an Autopilot commonly used in B-17's and B-24's.

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