Benefactors of Malmstrom AFB, Mont., donated a rare Norden Bombsight to the base’s museum collection in memory of their father, a B-17 bomber crewman who trained at the base during World War II. “The first mission of what is now Malmstrom Air Force base was training B-17 groups, and part of this was using a new optical sighting system called a Norden Bombsight,” explained museum director Curt Shannon during the presentation ceremony. “It’s quite an astounding feat to get one because there [are] not a lot of them out there,” he added. Highly classified during WWII, the bombsight revolutionized accuracy by allowing the bombardier to stabilize, compensate, and guide the aircraft through the bomb-run via linkage to a bomber’s autopilot. Brothers Bill Selling and Mike Hanlen presented the family heirloom, Aug. 19. (Malmstrom report by A1C Katrina Heikkinen)
The Air Force plans to conduct more intensive training—and Congress is set to help by boosting funding for exercises and so-called “campaigning” by hundreds of millions of dollars, particularly in the Pacific.
