Request:drop tanks that burn!!

[Morpheus]

Originally posted by jetb123
and plus in the MA you cant really see where your DT is landing once you drop it.

Yes you can.

[AWwsky]

To answer a few questions about DT's and bombs.  I've been very close to both, actually used to sit on a Mk84 (2k bomb) on occassion since it was always next to my jet.  The ordance guys (BB stackers as we call them) would be the best ones to get the answers on bombs, but I have seen them hanging from the wings enough times, I can give a general description.

The bombs are loaded and secured to the pylon which is held by two locking hooks and then 4 adjustment screws are tightended by 2 people at the same time so as to keep the bomb from becoming offcenter.  Once the that has been accomplished, the wire that Leayme mentioned is attached to the pylon/bomb rack (The wire is routed between 2 lanyards that are attached to the pylon/bomb rack). He mentioned the safety pin as well, however, that safety pin is removed before the plane leaves the ground.   On the fuse at the front, the wire is threaded through a hole in the spinner that is just slightly larger then the diameter of the wire and is then crimped in such a way that it can't be accidently pulled out with little force while at the same time allows the wire to be seperated when it is dropped, allowing the spinner to spin which enables the bomb to "ARM".  These are typical of bombs that are used for impact detination and not penetration.  You have to understand that GP(and all other type) bombs are not armed until after they have fallen away from the aircraft.  Bombs that explode on impact are armed when the timer in the fuse winds down for the specified setting and that happens once the wire has been pulled from the spinner.  These are the type used in AH.

Not all bombs have spinners on the rear fin pack.  Not all bombs dentonate on impact.  Pentetration bombs have no fuse on the front, instead the fuse is in the fin pack, hence the spinner on the rear.  With bombers, there are many different methods used to hook the wires up that are mentioned, but the end result is still the same.  A 2000 pound bomb doesn't have 2000 pounds of explosives in it.  Todays 2k bomb is packed with approximately 940lbs of high explosive. If the explosion doesn't kill you, the flying debris will.

Now the Drop Tanks.  Yes, a drop tank can explode if it is hit by machine gun or cannon rounds.  There are plenty of pictures (gun camera footage) of external fuel tanks bursting into flames after taking hits.  Tracers tend to be a bad mix for high octane fuel.  It takes an ignition source to ignite the fuel in most cases, however, static electricity can also cause fuel to ignite, but rare for that to happen in flight.  Napalm isn't simply just fuel, it's a mix of chemicals and gasoline that cause the gasoline to become a brownish sticky syrup. Aluminum soap powder of naphthene and palmitate was added to gasoline to make napalm as we know it.  It's made differently today and is known as Napalm-B or NP2 which uses no naplam at all. If you look at the words naphthene and palmitate, you can see how they came up with Napalm.

Napalm was used during WWII extensively in flame throwers .  It was not until the Korean war you saw "Napalm" bombs used.  Therefore, it is inconciveable to have such bombs in AH.  I do believe though we should have incendiary bombs to burn down towns though.  They are not the same as napalm bombs!!!!

Hope this helps you a little.

Wsky

[SkyTex]

I have to disagree with the no napalm in WW2. Watching PBS the other night they were talking about taking b-19's (i think), on low level bombing runs at night over tokyo using napalm, freshly invented by dupont. i can look up the exacts of it tomorrow, but tonight i need sleep.

[AWwsky]

How about this: Napalm saw its first combat use during the invasion of Tinian in June 1944. During 16 days of attacks to soften up the area proceeding the invasion of Iwo Jima, B-24's dropped 1,111 drums (not bombs??) of Napalm on the Island.  This does not include the use of Napalm that was widely used in flamethrowers prior to being deployed by aircraft.

There are too many conflicting articles on when Napalm was first used in bomb form.  There is some interesting reading on the use of Napalm, but nothing concrete prior to 1944.  There's even a report that indicates it's possible that half of the bombs that fell on Dresden were filled with Napalm, but was most likely a jellied Oil, not gasoline.  The most widely used incindiary was Magnesium and during the last 6 months of the ETO White Phosphorous.  I've read a few articles and all say something different so it's really hard to say.

What I was trying to say is that what we see as Napalm like that used in Vietnam combat footage is not really a bomb.  Napalm is placed in a canister designed specifically for it.  It's casing is thin and easily broken apart on impact, causing a rapid dispersal of it's contents that was ignited by an impact fuze.  These canisters have no stabilizing fins.  They are more effective when they are tumbling then flying like a bomb.  Very effective on soft targets, but usless against hard targets as the ensuing fire burns itself out too quick to cause anything other then a large black burn mark.

You state that PBS show mentioned it was freshly invented by Dupont, which it wasn't and there again, a differing account of Napalm.  It was Louis Fieser at Harvard that invented Napalm in 1943. Du Pont was beat to the punch.

Wsky

[lasersailor184]

The bombs dropped on Dresden were incendiary bombs.

[AWwsky]

The bombs dropped on Dresden were incendiary bombs.

Read the sentence again...

There's even a report that indicates it's possible that half of the bombs that fell on Dresden were filled with Napalm, but was most likely a jellied Oil, not gasoline.

These come from Military historians.  Notice the word "possible", it doesn't say most likely.  Secondly, small bombs filled with jellied Oil were used extensively in the ETO as an incendiary device.  Bombs that had jellied Oil in them were not called Napalm.

Wsky

[Airscrew]

I recall a book I read that had story about a mission in ETO late in the war.  a group of P-47s came across a target of opourtunity, a small area of buildings, maybe a rear supply area.  They straffed the area and the enemy took cover in buildings.  The pilots then jetisioned thier drop tanks on the buildings and then straffed the buildings again to set them on fire.

[Brenjen]

The mixture for napalm was concocted by ground personel in the PTO the mixture was napthalene & palm oil with other nasties thrown in & each crew chief sort of made up his own formula as the ingredients came available. As far as exploding ordnance, if you hit the ammo (excluding bombs) or fuel with tracer rounds or high explosive rounds it will go boom. On rare occasions 88MM anti-aircraft rounds did blow in the bomb-bays of B-17's & set off the bombs inside.

[AWwsky]

The mixture for napalm was concocted by ground personel in the PTO the mixture was napthalene & palm oil with other nasties thrown in & each crew chief sort of made up his own formula as the ingredients came available.

Brenjen, you are both right and wrong. Napalm was already developed by the time it was used in combat.  The only formula that was used was the percentage of Nampam added to gasoline, which would differ depending on who filled the Napalm canisters. There were no other ingredients.  The name Napalm was derived from the two words "naphthene and palmitate" in which the Aluminum soap powder and oils from the chemicals were used to develope it.  Napalm was always mixed prior to being deployed by aircraft and this is the reason no two mixtures were the same.  Some crews used more then others, until sometime down the road, the perfect mix came along and was made standard.

[Valkyrie]

Some varient of it was used by p 47's in the final days of the war. The 367th fighter group used it to burn German Tank drivers alive. Also i would like to see the tanks carrying gas tanks behind them. Another feature that would be nice would be a method to fire 50 cal rounds into the ground and bounce them back into the tank. These were both discussed at length in a history channel special on this group that was in color.


Vlkyrie1

[Brenjen]

There were & have been too many formulas to mention. There is even a method in which it is made from styrofoam packing peanuts & gasoline.