WWII development of the VT Proximity Fuse. Top secret until the 80s

My dad trained on artillery in WWII but he never told me about this!

Best I thought we had was a time delay fuse that would be set by a range finder just before firing.

The range finder was a pair of binoculars, with the lenses spaced about 30 feet apart. By focusing the 2 images to coincide as a single image, you would read off the range to target. Like these.

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Ahh, here is a big one off a battleship, the GrafSPee.
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But this thing had a tiny radio transmitter and echo receiver to determine proximity for detonation.

The video explains the importance of this little gizmo in saving London and our capital ships during the war.



Last Edited by JustmeTX on 04/07/2021 06:37 PM