36 Dahlgren 



He later became the so-called "Atomic Admiral." 

 He also worked with the sensitive fuze. 



The VTfuze, sometimes called proximity fuze. 



When I came back here in 1934, the next series of horizontal bombsights 

 made by Norden was starting through — the MARK 15. * It was called the 

 pickle-barrel sight because of its accuracy. 



Testing of the MARK 15 was conducted at Dahlgren. 



That's right. We had to drop eight bombs with every bombsight that came 

 through and make adjustments when the bombsight failed to meet the pre- 

 scribed standard for accuracy. 



And you did the dropping in the area now called Pumpkin Neck? 



No. The Air Detail office was down at the seaplane hangar, and we had a 

 target right off there. Later, we put one up the river because the bombsights 

 were coming through in such numbers we had to have several planes testing at 

 one time dropping bombs. 



Much of the credit for teaching and instructing the bombsight mechanics 

 goes to Mr. C. C. Middlebrook. He had been a Chief Electrician's Mate in the 

 Navy and was assigned to the Naval Proving Ground at the time Mr. Norden 

 commenced his work here. He was an outstanding and capable man, and the 

 meritorious work performed by the bombsight mechanics afloat is an excellent 

 testimonial to the perseverance and ability of Mr. Middlebrook. Every 

 bombsight which went to the aircraft squadrons was given a rigid and thorough 

 inspection by Mr. Middlebrook before it was shipped. 



Did you ever meet Dr. L. T. Thompson? 



Yes. Dr. Thompson was here as Senior Physicist when 1 was here. In fact, he 

 was here when I went through the postgraduate course, and he was still here 

 when I left in 1937. 



He was our primary civilian scientist. 



He was really the brain down here for the mathematics work because the 

 naval officers — we never had a genius in mathematics and physics that gave us 

 the knowledge that he had, so we depended on him for a lot of the analysis. Of 



*Tbe Naval Historical Center's archives offer extensive coverage of the Norden Bombsight in 

 The Navy's Mark 15 (Norden) Bomb Sight: Its development and procurement. 1920-1 945. April 1 946, by 

 LCDR Robert V. Brown. 



