WW2 Fighters and Ordinance

[BreakingBad]

In WW2, if a fighter plane carrying ordinance did not find a target, does anyone know if they would land with bombs/rockets or would they drop them before landing.  I wonder about bombers as well.

Seems to me at the time considering the flimsy nature of fighter planes it would have been an unnecessary risk to keep them.  My cousin was an F-16 pilot and he said they would always land with theirs, but that is modern times.

[gyrene81]

strictly anectdotal, but i've read where fighter pilots were told to drop their bombs before attempting to land (especially on carriers) due to the way the shackles worked. a rough landing could drop the bomb on the runway/deck and potentially detonate. not sure about rockets at all.

[icepac]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeRXre_FG1w

[Widewing]

Ordinance: a law set forth by a governmental authority; specifically : a municipal regulation

Ordnance: military supplies including weapons, ammunition, bombs and rockets.

[phatzo]

Widewing beat me to it.

[Mongoose]

  That's a good question.  I would like to know, also.  My guess is that it would depend on the plane and the weight of the ordnance.  Now days the ordnance is rather expensive, and the engines are more powerful, so they need to bring them back unless they use them.  But in WWII it would be a different story.

[Ack-Ack]

There was an area in the North Sea that was used to drop ordnance by returning bombers if they weren't able to drop over the target during the war.

ack-ack

[colmbo]

There was an area in the North Sea that was used to drop ordnance by returning bombers if they weren't able to drop over the target during the war.

ack-ack

There was some speculation that the plane carrying Glenn Miller may have been downed by a jettisoned bomb.

[colmbo]

There was an area in the North Sea that was used to drop ordnance by returning bombers if they weren't able to drop over the target during the war.

ack-ack

[Slate]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeRXre_FG1w

  Bomb Accidentally Explodes on Aircraft Carrier, killing the Cameraman


   Wow he filmed his demise. 

[BreakingBad]

Ordinance: a law set forth by a governmental authority; specifically : a municipal regulation

Ordnance: military supplies including weapons, ammunition, bombs and rockets.

Learn something new every day

[cpxxx]

Yes they jettisoned any unused ordnance. Far too dangerous to try and land with it onboard. In fact failing to find a target would be rare when it came to fighter bombers. There was always something military to attack. But bombers always jettisoned their bombs, either over enemy territory or into the sea.

In fact my great uncle was bombed during the Battle of Britain by a lost Luftwaffe He111. The obviously couldn't find their original target so they tried to bomb the railway line behind his house. They missed the railway but flattened the house. Trouble was he lived in County Wexford in Ireland which wasn't even in the war. Broad daylight too.

More than one bomber made it back to base only for a hung up bomb to fall out of the bomb bay with fatal results.