American version of the DH-4....which crew member controlled the bomb release?

[Larry R.]

Regarding the American version of the DH-4, which crew member controlled the bomb release?

[predhead]

I really want to say the observer, but really do not know, and my Google-Fu is not strong today.

[Baxter]

Hmmm ... We always play the observer as the bomb aimer in our games and if he gets wounded or killed then the bombing does not happen. In Rise of flight there is an adjustable bombsight in the rear cockpit so that is down to the observer too I guess. BUT given the difficulty of communicating up there then I would think that maybe the pilot would be the one dropping the bombs most of the time in WWI as the bomb aimer traditionally has control of the aircraft leading up to release. Good question though and thanks for posting it. Just for interest:-

https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Drift_Sight

https://riseofflight.com/forum/topic...t-re8-and-dh4/

[Larry R.]

Here is a good explanation (with diagrams) of the drift sight that was used on the DH-4. One photo shows the mechanism mounted on the fuselage side of the observer's cockpit.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drift_Sight

[Teaticket]

Here is a good explanation (with diagrams) of the drift sight that was used on the DH-4. One photo shows the mechanism mounted on the fuselage side of the observer's cockpit.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drift_Sight

Thanks for the link to the article on the Drift Sight. Quite interesting!

[Jager]

Here is a good explanation (with diagrams) of the drift sight that was used on the DH-4. One photo shows the mechanism mounted on the fuselage side of the observer's cockpit.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drift_Sight

Interesting. Though without an intercom and significant space between pilot and observer (gas tank is between them ), one has to wonder how the
observer told the pilot how to aim the bomb run.
This alone makes me think most bombing was done by the pilot. Hand tossed bombs are different, but they were mostly at low altitudes (German Schlachtflieger, for example), or harassment only.
Karl

[Teaticket]

Interesting. Though without an intercom and significant space between pilot and observer (gas tank is between them ), one has to wonder how the
observer told the pilot how to aim the bomb run.
This alone makes me think most bombing was done by the pilot. Hand tossed bombs are different, but they were mostly at low altitudes (German Schlachtflieger, for example), or harassment only.
Karl

One would think on tandems the pilot who was in control, would do the drop but we do see a lot of observers with that job. The American made DH.4s put the fuel tank in front of the pilot so the crew could communicate.