Dive Brakes:If, however, the bombing plane can be placed in a vertical dive and the bombs released during travel along an earth perpendicular, no lateral motion will be imparted to the falling objects, the plane's speed merely adding to the initial velocity of fall.... present high diving speeds seriously reduce the time available for sighting a plane on a target and releasing bombs therefrom ... the control devices slow the aircraft in its dive to give the pilot ample opportunity to aim

Swinging Bomb Rack:In dive bombing, the diving angle is preferably between 70 and 90 degrees to reduce to a minimum the gravity deviation of the bomb trajectories from the direction of the dive... The bombs released at the end of the dive, being aerodynamically cleaner than the airplane, tend to fall more rapidly than the plane. In high angle dives the bomb trajectory after release is nearly parallel to the flight path of the airplane. If the trajectory begins at the undersurface of the airplane, there is danger of the bombs falling into the propeller blades and breaking them or being exploded. Accordingly, devices have been employed to move the bomb upon its release from the bomb rack to a position sufficiently displaced outwardly from the fuselage that the bomb trajectory will clear the path of the propeller even in 90° dives....

Rear Gunsight:Ever since rearwardly firing guns were placed on an aircraft forward of the stabilizing surfaces it has been not uncommon for a gunner, in the excitement of combat and while following his target in his gun sights, to accidentally shoot into the empennage of his own craft. To overcome this, devices have been developed which prevent the gunner from moving the gun so that it can be pointed at the empennage or which prevent the gun being fired whenever the structural parts of the airplane come within the field of fire. Such interrupters serve the purpose for which they are intended but from a tactical standpoint the occurrence of the blind spot re quiring mere momentary cessation of fire gives the enemy aircraft an opening to attack. Accordingly, it is the principal object of my invention to indicate to the pilot of an aircraft s when his remotely located gunner wishes to shoot in a field obstructed by a portion of his craft so that he may maneuver the craft to clear the desired field of fire.