Crosley’s Secret War Effort
The Proximity Fuze
http://www.navweaps.com/index_tech/tech-075.htm
“On January 5,1943 Lt. “Red” Cochrane, commanding the aft 5” battery on the light cruiser Helena, shot down a Japanese Val dive-bomber with the second of three salvos of VT-fuzed shells, near Guadalcanal. The fuzes were manufactured by the Crosley Corporation and this was the first kill of enemy aircraft.”
James V. Forrestal, Secretary of the Navy said, “The proximity fuze has helped blaze the trail to Japan. Without the protection this ingenious device has given the surface ships of the Fleet, our westward push could not have been so swift and the cost in men and ships would have been immeasurably greater.”
Scroll down and you will find comparison tables that show kamikaze kills, by proximity fused munitions and other means.
“Generally speaking, Kamikaze actions were at very close range with the aircraft closing fast upon their intended target. These sort of engagements were very difficult for weapons firing time-fuzed ammunition, as the rate of change in the ballistic range to the aircraft also meant that the fuze settings needed to have large changes from one round to the next. Any lag or delay in getting a particular round into the air after its fuze had been set meant that its detonation would be too far away to reach the target aircraft. The VT fuze eliminated that problem, as noted by its far smaller rounds per aircraft rate.”
Beautifully on-point. Thank you.
One idea I had was not to try to time those fuses to coincide with the incoming fighters' trajectory at all, but rather to create a wall of exploding flak at one distance, at one area in the sky, that the fighter could not avoid. Stagger the shots' timing a bit so he'd be bracketed--he'd fly right into it.
I don't know if I've given a clear-enough description of this idea, but I'm wondering if it was ever tried. Of course, maybe this method was S.O.P. and I'm just displaying my ignorance, which I'm certainly no stranger to.