IBM Wartime Contributions
IBM Endicott and Poughkeepsie Wartime Engineering Projects
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Published August 30, 2021
Updated September 7, 2022 |
The IBM Corporation Heard the Country's Call to Service
For the benefit of the new employees, I wish to state that our company manufactured thirty-eight major munition products, that IBM inventors and engineers worked on ninety-nine developments for the war program, and that our extensive building and expansion program to meet the demands made upon us by the government was financed entirely by the company.
Watson Sr., National Telephone Conference, October 25, 1946
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Below are examples of IBM's munition's contributions to the war effort. One contribution was the creation of Machine Record Units (MRUs) that made information available to Allied commanders in the field.
This was such a wartime advantage that the German High Command gave orders to capture one of these Machine Records Units—with all their personnel alive! |
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IBM also contributed to the war effort by producing the following: (This is not a complete list. It is constantly updated as more research is completed.)
Poughkeepsie Plant
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Endicott Plant
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IBM
- In 1945, IBM receives a quality control "A" rating from the U.S. Army Air Force
- IBM installation in Richland, Washington plays an important role in the development of the Atomic Bomb. IBM equipment (the 601 Multiplier) is used in the computation of statistical data relative to the production of plutonium.
Thomas J. Watson Sr.
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Researching (claimed in print but still verifying)
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- B-29 Superfortress fire control mechanism.
- Retoflector (or Reflector?) Sight: This was a single component of the overall fire control mechanism. A small box, open at both ends and containing optical glass. The B-29 gunner registers the size of the enemy plane by ringing the image of the airplane in a circle of red dots of light. This is one part of an overall defense system against enemy aircraft.
This is a critical part of a B-29 Superfortress aircraft gunfire control system. The system employs electronic and mechanical parts that enables a gunner to target an enemy craft through one or more of five gun turrets with deadly accuracy.
The gunner sights an enemy plane through this small box (retoflector). A push on a button projects a circle of luminous red dots which the gunner only needs to keep trained on the enemy plane while pressing a trigger that fires the gun (or multiple guns) under his control. Included in this B-29 defense system are instruments that calculate the speed of the plane, the speed of the enemy aircraft, altitudes, temperature, wind velocity, and other factors that enable the downing of an enemy aircraft. As long as the gunner keeps the image of the enemy plane within the circle of red dots, he is going to hit his target.
Plant of manufacture of the sight is uncertain - possibly IBM Rochester, New York. (updated October 21, 2021)
- Retoflector (or Reflector?) Sight: This was a single component of the overall fire control mechanism. A small box, open at both ends and containing optical glass. The B-29 gunner registers the size of the enemy plane by ringing the image of the airplane in a circle of red dots of light. This is one part of an overall defense system against enemy aircraft.
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The Radiotype "Every phase of our war effort was affected by your equipment. The setting up of overseas as well as domestic wireless circuits with Radiotype, which sent and received messages automatically and typed them out on the typewriter, was one of the most important contributions.
Brigadier General F. W. Stoner, Chief of Army Communications
Excerpt from Emerson W. Pugh, Building IBM |
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Odograph: The First "GPS" Navigation Device What was an Odograph?
The Odograph was a jeep-mounted device. Its official name was "The M-1 Automatic Road Reconnaissance Device" that assisted the military in making maps that were critical to its operations—such as calling in accurate artillery strikes, controlling troop movements, performing tactical reconnaissance, or plotting enemy or friendly troop positions relative to a given base of operations.
It was an instrument used by the armed forces during World War II to automatically plot on a map the course taken by a moving vehicle. Fundamentally, it was a GPS device that functioned without satellites—a rose by any other name is still a rose, eh? |
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How did the Odograph work?
The Odograph, consisted of four principal components: (1) a compass—which monitored direction and was modified so that the "magnetic material" in a jeep did not affect its accuracy, (2) a cable—which was attached to the speedometer to monitor distance, (3) a plotting "brain"—which combined the direction and distance information to direct a plotting pencil which tracked a jeep's actual course on a map to scale, and finally, (4) a power pack. By September of 1944, the machine had been in production "for a year."
It was developed by IBM under the direction of corporate inventors and engineers. In October 1945, George F. Daly joined the IBM Quarter Century Club. At this time, he was credited with a total of 54 patents and, during World War II, he worked on a project that built an "automatic map making device" for the U.S. Army: the Odograph.
(This article was updated on September 7, 2022).
It was developed by IBM under the direction of corporate inventors and engineers. In October 1945, George F. Daly joined the IBM Quarter Century Club. At this time, he was credited with a total of 54 patents and, during World War II, he worked on a project that built an "automatic map making device" for the U.S. Army: the Odograph.
(This article was updated on September 7, 2022).
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7A-3 Bombing Trainer: Device to Speed Training A bombing simulator that trained new bombardiers in dead reckoning navigation, intercommunication procedures, evasive actions and many other problems that would be found in actual combat flights. It avoided the limitations, risks, and expense of actual bombing instruction “in flight.” The simulator could be stopped at any moment to permit further instruction or an analysis of errors—and restarted.
The simulator could be stopped at any moment to permit further instruction or an analysis of errors—and restarted. The trainer consisted of a replica of the bombardier’s compartment, as it was fitted with all of the instruments, controls, and latest bombsight found in the actual plane. The success of the simulator was proven in that students—in numerous cases—when on their first flight, dropped bombs to qualify themselves for duty. |
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If you are an IBM veteran that served during World War II or the Korean War and have a story to share, use the "Contact" menu item above or below to reach out to us. There is still so much to be researched and written about.
Here is one as an example (select image to read full screen).
"The discovery that the "brain machine" can be used in solving these complicated equations, so necessary in blade design, may prove a substantial contribution to the war effort. "It enables us to attain a greater degree of accuracy and releases our engineers to better utilize the time formerly spent in working out these problems."
Foster B. Stulen, Chief Blade Design Engineer
Curtiss-Wright Corporation Propeller Division |
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