LIAISON WITH THE ARMED SERVICES I59 



Liaison by Committees 



After the first year of the war and perhaps in growing recognition of the 

 value of OSRD, there came into existence occasional committees composed 

 of both officers and scientists, which were organized to meet special prob- 

 lems. This was an important development in the relations of OSRD with 

 the Services. Thus there were formed in 1943 two committees under the 

 Chairmanship of Dr. J. A. Stratton of the Office of the Secretary of War, 

 to survey developments and to recommend Army policy in the use of radar 

 for aerial gunnery and blind bombing. Professor Samuel H. Caldwell, Chief 

 of Section 7.2, Airborne Fire Control, sat on both committees; and the 

 survey was carried out by a group consisting of him, Dr. Harold L. Hazen, 

 Chief of Division 7, and A. L. Ruiz, a member of that Division of NDRC. 



Some rather general confusion in the field of aerial gunnery came to a 

 climax in early 1944, and at the request of the Army Air Forces NDRC 

 set up a committee to survey the problem. Under the terms of the request 

 NDRC furnished the Chairman, Dr. John B. Russell, of the Airborne Fire 

 Control Committee and the Vice-Chairman, Dr. Saunders McLane of the 

 Mathematics Panel. Because of the pressing importance of the subject and 

 the competence of the personnel this Committee attracted strong interest 

 and soon became a joint Army and Navy project. Its membership included 

 representatives of Wright Field, Eglin Field, the AAF Training Command 

 and the Navy. The Committee set out to co-ordinate developments in gun- 

 nery devices, and to establish effective test and evaluation procedures. It had 

 no authorization to impose its conclusions on the using Services; but the 

 interest in its work was so strong and its presdge was such that the Com- 

 mittee became the highest authority and a most important factor in resolv- 

 ing problems in the field of airborne fire control. 



At the request of the Bureaus of Ordnance and Aeronautics, NDRC 

 entered into a co-operative undertaking with the Navy at the Patuxent 

 River Naval Air Station in the autumn of 1943 with the objective of im- 

 proved quantitative understanding of aerial gunnery. An NDRC group at 

 Northwestern University worked on the design of computing mechanisms 

 and measurement equipment. An elaborate synchronized camera system 

 was devised with radio links to tie in the cameras in the fighter and in 

 the bomber. Another group worked with the Navy at the Air Station. 

 There eventually resulted at Patuxent a complete air measurement system 

 and a ground computation system. This undertaking was highly co-operative. 

 The Navy participation gradually increased until in early 1945 a Naval 

 officer took over Chairmanship of the directing committee, as originally had 

 been planned. 



There were many such committees formed during the war, having mem- 



