By Christopher Miskimon
The Polaroid Optical Ring Sight greatly increased the accuracy of gunners. It is little known that the creation of this sighting system was the result of a combined effort of a disparate group of Americans, including optics experts, miners, moonshiners, Soldiers, Marines, and even an artist. Many of them worked on finding and mining the calcite crystals needed for the sight’s function. Some had to overcome personal obstacles in their efforts, but soon they were making ring sights for anti-aircraft guns, Naval vessels, aircraft and even bazookas. Postwar, they found use in camera systems, including those used by NASA in the Apollo Program.
Readers are treated to a curious and unknown story of the war in this new book. Weapons and their effects are often discussed, but the background as to how most of them are created and produced is rarely mentioned. This book is a clever mix of history and geology come together to tell a new story of the war.
Rings of Fire: How an Unlikely Team of Scientists, Ex-Cons, Women and Native Americans Helped Win World War II (Larry J. Hughes, Stackpole Books, Lanham MD, 2024, 600 pp., maps, photographs, appendices, notes, bibliography, index, $34.95, HC)
Join The Conversation
Comments
View All Comments