[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 128 (Thursday, August 3, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1615]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 WILLIAMS D. EVANS: DAYTON INVENTOR'S CONTRIBUTION TO ENDING WORLD WAR 
                                   II

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                           HON. TONY P. HALL

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, August 3, 1995
  Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise to call to the attention of my 
colleagues the achievements of William Deane Evans and his contribution 
to ending World War II. Mr. Evans is a resident of Madison Township in 
the Third Congressional District of Ohio, which I represent.
  Mr. Evans developed an improvement to the bombsight that was used on 
the Enola Gay on its historic mission 50 years ago this month that 
helped bring a speedy end to World War II. The improved bombsight was 
also used on the Bockscar, which is on display at the United States Air 
Force Museum in my district.
  Mr. Evans, an innovative engineer, was responsible for numerous other 
technological developments in aviation that improved the fighting 
capabilities of our airmen during World War II and later. These 
inventions include the automatic parachute opener and a bag to protect 
downed flyers in freezing weather.
  Last year, the Dayton Daily News ran an article by Dale Huffman 
detailing some of the achievements by Mr. Evans. For the benefit of my 
colleagues, the article is reprinted here.
              [From the Dayton Daily News, Aug. 14, 1994]

                    Daytonian's Bombsight Aided U.S.

                           (By Dale Huffman)

       Things were cloaked in top secrecy, and it was two years 
     after World War II ended before William Deane Evans found out 
     he had played a strategic role in one of history's gruesome 
     turning points.
       His contribution was created in a three-car garage behind a 
     home in the 600 block of Volusia Avenue in Oakwood.
       It was there in 1944 that Evans, a 29-year-old engineer, 
     was commissioned for a special assignment by the bomb control 
     department at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. In that 
     garage, he worked for Kendal Clark, an engineer who later 
     invented the automatic washer for Frigidaire in Dayton. Evans 
     developed a bombsight. It was used on the Enola Gay, a B-29 
     aircraft, to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, 49 
     years ago this month.
       Evans is 79 now and lives on Brenton Drive in Madison Twp. 
     with Helen, 78 his wife of 55 years. Their home is cluttered 
     with possessions and mementos, and photographs that document 
     their years together.
       But there are no photos, no blueprints no prototypes, no 
     physical evidence of the mounmental contribution he made for 
     his country in the controversial atomic attack that claimed 
     130,000 Japanese lives and hastened the end of the war.
       Evans is a portly, kindly looking man with a short white 
     beard and thinning snow white hair. He has diabetes and a 
     pacemaker.
       But his mind is keen and, at request, he sat down and 
     deftly sketched a hand drawing of the bombsight he developed 
     those years ago.
       ``They took everything at the time, it was all such top 
     secret,'' he said. ``They locked the finished plans, the 
     prototype, everything up in some valut somewhere and I have 
     no idea if those items still exist today.''
       He used a lot of engineering terms as he rambled, but he 
     tried to simplify a description of his device and how it 
     worked.
       ``Often, on a fairly cloudy time of day, only snatches of 
     clear air were present for the bombardier to fix the sight on 
     the target. Time was crucial. We designed a set of optics 
     tied into the bombsight, which would in effect put crosshairs 
     on the target, instead of in the eye piece.
       ``To do this, we made the cross of light and focused it at 
     infinity. A light shone through a reticle, which was 
     projected onto a telescope mirror. If the bombardier could 
     see the target, he could swing the sight to fix the cross on 
     the target in the short time the non-clouds permitted him.''
       His device was used Aug. 6, 1945, when the atomic bomb was 
     dropped on Hiroshima, Japan
      surrendered, ending World War II on Aug. 14, after a second 
     bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945.
       It was in 1947, two years after the bombings and V-J Day, 
     that Evans read about the bombsight in a magazine, recognized 
     it as his work, made some calls and confirmed his sighting 
     mechanism had been used.
       ``So many little shops were working here in the Dayton area 
     during the war,'' he said. ``Many contributions were being 
     made to the government and to the military.
       ``The little guys did the behind-the-scenes work. We 
     developed. Then our products were tested by the government, 
     eventually used, quite successfully at least in this case, 
     and then the higher-ups would take the credit. I am not being 
     sarcastic about it,'' he said, smiling. ``It was just done 
     that way.''
       Evans has known all these years that his device played a 
     big part in the bombings. Yet, he has seldom talked about it, 
     even to family, his wife says. He has never before been 
     interviewed about it for a publication.
       As the countdown is now under way to the 50th anniversary 
     of V-J Day, Helen Evans said she thought it was time the 
     world knew about her husband's contribution.
       ``I initiated this, so that he would get some credit,'' she 
     said. ``All his life, he has been so modest. He is such a 
     fine man and such a hard worker. But he never has gotten his 
     due. He helped change the face of history. In his own way he 
     helped end a war.''
       Her husband spoke. ``I am . . . glad that Harry Truman did 
     what
      he did. He knew that if he didn't, what we would lose a lot 
     more American men . . . that their blood would flow. Sure 
     we are sorry anyone had to die. But the war had to be 
     stopped. I am behind Mr. Truman in what he did.
       ``And, quite candidly, I am . . . glad that I was an 
     engineer and able to support my country by developing this 
     bombsight. We all give as we can and we all pull together in 
     war.''
       Evans got his engineering degree at Ohio State University 
     and spent his life in the profession. From 1970 to 1984, he 
     owned and operated his own company called Plastomatics in 
     Dayton.
       ``Bill always worked hard, but always was his own man,'' 
     Mrs. Evans said. ``He also trusted a lot of people and was 
     naive in business. He would develop something, or invent 
     something, and someone else would take it and make a lot of 
     money on it.
       ``Bill has always been a workaholic. He didn't care about 
     making money or building a fortune. He just loved what he 
     did. He worked 80-hour weeks and would forget to come home. 
     He is an incredible person when it comes to dedicating 
     yourself to a challenge.''
       She smiled and added, ``We never had a lot of money. But we 
     have always been happy. We have always been comfortable. We 
     have had ups and downs, but we have survived. And I love Bill 
     so much for all that he has done. He is a wonderful man who 
     simply wants to know what makes things tick.''
       Evans smiled, reached over and lovingly tapped his wife's 
     arm.
       After a few moments he said, ``I guess I feel it's fun to 
     be fooled in this world. But it's . . . more fun to know.''
     

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