Bombs in AH

[guncrasher]

Weren't the bombs on the heavy buffs armed manually before drpping them?


Semp

[Pigslilspaz]

pretty sure, yes. I'll need to check up on that

[Jayhawk]

Weren't the bombs on the heavy buffs armed manually before drpping them?


Semp

If my memory serves me correct, yes; it was a matter of pulling pins to allow the "fan" section on the front of the bomb to rotate.  There are people on the BBS who can tell you much more specific about this but I believe I'm correct on the basics.

[AAJagerX]

We talked to a B-17 gunner at Oshkosh in 09.  He said that before the drop 1 crewmember had to manually pull the arming pin on each bomb in the bomb bay.  He also that it was scary as hell having to do that because the bomb doors were usually open at that time and one misstep could be your last. 

[Wagger]

I would love to see a time delay feature on the bombs ranging from about 1-10 sec.

[Scherf]

Weren't the bombs on the heavy buffs armed manually before drpping them?


Semp

I believe the British bombers could drop safe or live, but there was no access to the bomb bay from within the aircraft, so the selection was made via a system in the cockpit.

[Nemisis]

I would love to be able to set the time fuse. Something on the order of ".time delay 6".

[potsNpans]

I'd love to see the torpedo driven pilot enabled 

[Imowface]

I'd love to see the torpedo driven pilot enabled 

Are you refering to the Kaiten Type 1?

[bozon]

It just a thought as well as contact bombs that have a straight detonation system that needs no Arming

It used to work like that way back in AH1. The problem was that you could not jettison the bombs on the ground without blowing yourself up and planes were being used as car-bombs, driving around the field and blowing themselves up on gv and troops (the map room was at the center fo the field back then).

[Mongoose]

It just a thought as well as contact bombs that have a straight detonation system that needs no Arming

No, they needed a way to keep the bombs safe until after they were dropped. Otherwise, a really good bump could set the bomb off while it was still in the plane.  The arming system was designed to make sure the bomb could not detonate until after it had left the airplane.

Bomb? 

[Nemisis]

And if we had a system that needed no arming, you would see a giant rise in kamakazi attacks. Honestly, if it worked like that, I would up a 190D and suicide the ord bunkers.

[mtnman]

Weren't the bombs on the heavy buffs armed manually before drpping them?


Semp

They were, and several different strategies were employed.  One system used on B17s (and others, I'm sure), was to remove a cotter pin which then allowed the "propeller" to spin, which armed the bomb.  Once the pins were removed a long wire was threaded through the cotter pin holes, which prevented the fuses from arming from jostling in flight.  When the bombs were dropped, they basically just un-threaded themselves from the wire as they fell the first few inches/feet.

Some bombs had cotter pins and fuses on the back of the bomb as well as the front.  This was done as a measure to prevent "duds", which according to some accounts may have been up to 30% of the bombs dropped.

In some cases, the fuses were actually installed in flight.  I've read that moist, humid conditions overnight, followed by the sub-freezing temps in flight rendered the fuses worthless, which then led to installing them in flight...