Azon in the United States sometimes using the B-17 Flying Fortress as the platform. Some ten crews, of the 458th Bombardment Group, based at RAF Horsham St Faith, were trained to drop the device for use in the European theater. The ability to only control the path of the bomb in the azimuth direction, made AZON bombs most suitable for long and narrow targets, such as bridges or railways. A disadvantage of using an AZON bomb was that after a bomb was dropped the bomber could not break way immediately because the bombardier had to keep the bomb in view so he could guide it. The bombardier used a BC-1156 joystick control to adjust the course left or right. The directional commands were sent to the guidance package via a special-purpose radio system. The 493rd Bomb Squadron also dropped Azon bombs in Burma in early 1945 from similarly-modified B-24s, based at Pandaveswar Airfield, India, with considerable success, fulfilling the designers' original purpose for the ordnance. Azon operations See also Bat (U.S. Navy autonomously radar-guided bomb) Fritz X GB-8 Kehl-Strasbourg radio control link, for MCLOS control of WW II German PGM ordnance List of anti-ship missiles References External links NMUSAF page about the Azon ordnance Official 1943 USAAF film describing the AZON bomb USAAF and USN guided air-to-surface ordnance of World War II The Dawn of the Smart Bomb Guided weapons of World War II GB series weapons Account of AZON Bomb Use by the 458th Bomb Group in ETO Account of AZON Bomb Use by the 493rd Bomb Squadron in CBI Theater Video account of AZON Use Against the Burma Railway bridges WW II video of AZON Bomb Drop over Burma Another video of AZONs in action over Burma World War II weapons of the United States World War II aerial bombs of the United States Guided bombs of the United States Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1944