Pratt-Read LBE
{{Use American English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
| {{Infobox Aircraft Begin
|name =LBE-1 |image = Pratt-Read LBE-1 Glomb.png |caption = }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type |type = Glider bomb |manufacturer = Pratt-Read |designer = |first flight = |introduced = |retired = |status = |primary user = United States Navy |more users = |produced = |number built = 4 |unit cost = |program cost = |developed from = |variants with their own articles = |developed into = }} |
The Pratt-Read LBE-1 was a prototype glide bomb, or "Glomb", developed for the United States Navy during World War II. Although there were high hopes for the concept, the limitations of the Glomb led to the production contract for the LBE-1 being reduced, then cancelled, and only four examples of the type were ever built.
Design and development
Late in 1940, the United States Navy began seriously considering the possibility of developing gliders that would be remotely controlled to carry bombs to a target, reducing the risk to aircrew. The concept called for the glider to be towed by an ordinary carrier-based aircraft to the target area, then released, to be guided via a TV camera in the glider's nose which would transmit signals to the carrier aircraft, an operator then using radio control to steer the aircraft to its target. Considered to be feasible, the project, called "Glomb" for "Glider-Bomb", became an official program in the late spring of 1941.Parsch 2005
Following trials using conversions of existing gliders that proved the concept viable, Pratt-Read was awarded a contract in September 1943 for the development of a purpose-built Glomb, designated by the navy as LBE-1.Ordway and Wakeford 1960, p.180. Intended to carry between 2,000 and 4,000 pounds (910-1,800 kg) of bombs, the LBE-1 was a fairly conventional low-wing aircraft, fitted with fixed tricycle landing gear and perforated dive brakes of the type used by dive-bombers. In addition to its radio-command guidance, the LBE-1 could be flown by a pilot for training and evaluation.Naval Aviation News January 1946, p.19.Kroger 1945, p.7.
Operational history
Although the initial contract called for the production of 100 examples of the LBE-1, continued trials of the Glomb showed that the combination of the glider's low performance and technical issues with the intended television guidance system made the concept operationally unworkable; accordingly, the contract was reduced to only 35 aircraft in early 1945. In August 1945, with the end of World War II, the contract for production was cancelled entirely; only four LBE-1s would be completed,Friedman 1982, p.201. being used only for evaluation purposes.
Specifications (LBE-1)
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See also
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References
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- {{cite journal |date=January 1946 |title=Pilotless Aircraft |journal=Naval Aviation News |publisher=Bureau of Aeronautics |url=http://www.history.navy.mil/nan/backissues/1940s/1946/1jan46.pdf |access-date=2011-01-29 |archive-date=2012-11-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105060225/http://www.history.navy.mil/nan/backissues/1940s/1946/1jan46.pdf |url-status=dead }}
- {{cite book |last1=Dryden |first1=Hugh L. |author-link=Hugh Latimer Dryden |author2=G.A. Morton |author3=I.A. Getting |title=Guidance and Homing of Missiles and Pilotless Aircraft |date=May 1946 |publisher=Headquarters Air Material Command |location=Dayton, OH |asin=B0007E4WJE |url=https://www.governmentattic.org/vonK/GuideHomingMissilesPilotlessAcft_VKarman_V9.pdf |access-date=2011-01-29 }}
- {{cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Norman |author-link1=Norman Friedman |title=U.S. Naval Weapons: every gun, missile, mine, and torpedo used by the U.S. Navy from 1883 to the present day |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TxU-AAAAMAAJ&q=%22ZRGM-59A%22 |access-date=2011-01-26 |year=1982 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |location=Annapolis, MD |isbn=978-0-87021-735-7 }}
- {{cite journal |last1=Kroger |first1=William |year=1945 |title=Aviation News |volume=4 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X28PAAAAIAAJ&q=%22LBE-1%22 |access-date=2011-01-29 }}
- {{cite book |last1=Ordway |first1=Frederick Ira |author2=Ronald C. Wakeford |title=International Missile and Spacecraft Guide |year=1960 |publisher=McGraw-Hill |location=New York |asin=B000MAEGVC }}
- {{cite web |url=http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app1/lb.html |title=LB Series |first=Andreas |last=Parsch |year=2003 |work=Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles |publisher=designation-systems.net |access-date=2011-01-29 }}
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{{USN glider aircraft}}
Category:1940s United States military gliders
Category:1940s United States bomber aircraft
Category:Unmanned aerial vehicles of the United States
Category:World War II guided missiles of the United States
Category:Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States