~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, Todd Masco wrote: ... there was a variety of smart-bomb developed in WWII that used a pigeon as its brain. The pigeon would be trained to peck at a building on a map, and then in the falling bomb it would guide the bomb by pecking at a clear panel.... I remember seeing a TV documentary that included this technology. The way it actually worked was that a special steerable bomb had a camera obscura in its nose. An image of whatever was below the falling bomb was rear projected onto a screen made out of frosted glass. The screen was somehow rigged so that it could sense where it was being pecked. The pigeon was immobilized except for its head and neck, but it could easily peck any point on the screen. They use operant conditioning to train the pigeon to peck at images of ships at sea. If the ship was off-center on the screen, the pigeon's pecking would cause airfoils to correct the bomb's aim. Just before the bomb hit, the pigeon would parachute to safety. (I made that last part up.) S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~