WWII dive bombers attacking ships - GIF

[mklotz]

All those bombs exploding harmlessly in the ocean highlight the need for a guided bomb.

One would think that, even with the technology of the 1940s, one could build a crude IR sensor that controlled a set of steerable vanes on the bomb. A ship underway against the cool ocean would provide good contrast. High accuracy isn't required; all the bomb has to do is hit the ship somewhere. Guided bombs for terrestrial targets would have been much more difficult and, no, the answer is not pigeons pecking at a TV image.

The Germans understood the value of guided weapons. They built and tested a flying bomb remotely controlled by a standoff airplane. But, like so much of their late-war work, it never reached deployment.