Target Invisible (ca 1945)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] e [Music] it's early morning at a b29 base in the Marianas the big bombers are getting ready for a mission and the men are getting ready in the essentials The Briefing differs little from others there's a Target it'll be bombed they will proceed to this point in space above the Earth drop their bombs and return without ever seeing the target these are the instructions the men are ready for the [Music] takeoff 6 hours a loft the huge armade of super forts has spand over a thousand miles of trackless waters the weather Bears out the forecast clouds heavy overcast all the way to the Target at 23,000 ft they're above it below and Beyond lies the Japanese Mainland and somewhere beyond that the target if the enemy took comfort in the the thought that the bombarder sees nothing more than this they were living in a Fool's Paradise for a calculate an instant tons of high explosives and yes even the atomic bomb would be sent away to the Target aimed by the miracle of radar before you now is the radar scope a small circular screen giving x-ray likee vision to the mysterious 11th member of the crew the radar our operator until recently we've known little of what he does and even less about the instruments he uses basically radar equipment consists of a radio transmitter and receiver the transmitter sends a radio beam earthward if it strikes water the beam is not reflected the receiver picks up nothing and the scope appears dark as it is now over the Pacific Ocean but if the beam strikes a solid object such as land it's reflect Ed and shows light on the scope watch something's coming in now at the upper left adjusting the receiver control sharpens the picture there they are two islands both with mountains on them that should make them easy to identify according to the charts only two islands of this shape and Contour lie off the southern coast of honu the little one coima the other hao two tiny dots on the face of the globe point the way for a cargo of Destruction 7 hours 10 minutes elapse time almost a full day's work for most but to the crews a mission less than half sweat it out the picture on the scope warns of Entry to the critical Zone the return shows a large land mass Japanese Coast over 100 miles of it you see that bright spot at the top of the peninsula not exactly the picture in travel folders but that's beautiful Fuji armor Mount Fuji Nature's Wonder the tourist Delight now a beacon inviting disaster a reference point for final calculations Amer this is radar operator over this is Bombadier go ahead the wind is from two 68° at 138 mph ground speed on the bomb Run 3 94 mph data taken from the electronic Wonder instruments is converted to Precision aiming pinpoint bombing 7° right radar operator this is Bombadier over go ahead Bombadier the site set up we're ready to bomb the bomb run begins with a turn directly over fujiama when the bright spot that is Fuji touches the black line the instructions are pilot start one quarter needle with turn rolling out on a heading of 31° Roger Bombadier open Bombay doors after turn Roger the moment for decision has arrived the moment when the target must be single out from hundreds of other invisible targets Coastline with a large city a peninsula jutting out in a bay the city Tokyo this is the general Target area Northwest of Tokyo lies the specific Target the kyushi aircraft Factory at Koo a flick of the switch isolates the target image and here it is one tiny Speck of light the focal point for hundreds of giant bombers for a th000 tons of bombs pilot correct 9° right rder ready on 70° ready Mark Mark at the split second before the bombs are released the radar operator sees this arms away and this is what the sees his cities his factories in Ruins a lot of you out there are probably probably asking well why show us this the war's over well we wanted to let you in on one of the big secrets of the war thought you might be interested yes you're right the war is over and we won it and by we I mean the foot soldiers the men at Sea the crews who flew the missions you men and women who worked in the factories the scientists who gave us radar and the atomic bomb and every last man woman and child who bought war bonds that was all part of winning the war but now there's a matter of the peace most of the men in uniform will be returned to civilian life likewise Factory workers will go back to producing civilian Goods but our scientists must go on perfecting old inventions and developing new ones for the security of our nation at peace and you who bought Bonds in support of the war effort can buy a share in the Peace by investing in bonds today how about [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it