The Stabilized Automatic Bomb Sight, or SABS, was a Royal Air Force bombsight used in small numbers during World War II. The system worked along similar "tachometric" principles as the more famous Norden bombsight, but was somewhat simpler, lacking the Norden's autopilot feature. The system remained hand built throughout its history and was produced in small numbers. In the end, the 617 would also be the only squadron to see operational use of the SABS, using it with the Tallboy and the larger Grand Slam. Some Avro Lincolns also featured the SABS, but saw no service use.
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| - Stabilized Automatic Bomb Sight
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| - The Stabilized Automatic Bomb Sight, or SABS, was a Royal Air Force bombsight used in small numbers during World War II. The system worked along similar "tachometric" principles as the more famous Norden bombsight, but was somewhat simpler, lacking the Norden's autopilot feature. The system remained hand built throughout its history and was produced in small numbers. In the end, the 617 would also be the only squadron to see operational use of the SABS, using it with the Tallboy and the larger Grand Slam. Some Avro Lincolns also featured the SABS, but saw no service use.
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| Reference
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- -1945.0
- -1940.0
- SD719, "Armament, Volume I; Bombs and Bombing Equipment", Air Ministry, 1952
- AP1730, "Air Publication A.P.1730A, Volume 1: Bomb Sights", Air Ministry, April 1945
- Fire Control, "Naval Ordnance and Gunnery, Volume 2, Chapter 23: Aircraft Fire Control", Department of Ordnance and Gunnery, United States Naval Academy, 1958
- Peter Hore, "Patrick Blackett: Sailor, Scientist, and Socialist", Psychology Press, 2003
- David Zimmerman, "Top Secret Exchange: the Tizard Mission and the Scientific War", McGill-Queen's Press, 1996
- Henry Black, "Major Bomb Sights Used in WW2 by RAF Bomber Command", RAF Bomber Command Association Newsletter, 2001
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| abstract
| - The Stabilized Automatic Bomb Sight, or SABS, was a Royal Air Force bombsight used in small numbers during World War II. The system worked along similar "tachometric" principles as the more famous Norden bombsight, but was somewhat simpler, lacking the Norden's autopilot feature. Development had begun before the War as the Automatic Bomb Sight, but early bomber operations proved that systems without automatic stabilization of the bombsight crosshairs were extremely difficult to use under operational conditions. Before a stabilizer for the ABS was complete, the simpler Mark XIV bomb sight, also stabilized, was in widespread use and the SABS was not ordered into production to replace it. The SABS briefly saw use with the Pathfinder Force before being turned over to No. 617 Squadron RAF, the famed "Dambusters", starting in November 1943. This squadron's Avro Lancasters were undergoing conversion to dropping the Tallboy bomb as a precision weapon, and required the higher accuracy of the SABS for this mission. In this role the SABS demonstrated superb accuracy, routinely placing bombs within of their targets when dropped from about altitude. The system remained hand built throughout its history and was produced in small numbers. In the end, the 617 would also be the only squadron to see operational use of the SABS, using it with the Tallboy and the larger Grand Slam. Some Avro Lincolns also featured the SABS, but saw no service use.
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