Luftwaffe armour-piercing bombs - when didn't they have any?
Luftwaffe armour-piercing bombs - when didn't they have any?
There is a persistent rumour that the Luftwaffe didn't have any armour-piercing bombs, but I can find several web sites (e.g. http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/bombs.html) that show that the Luftwaffe not only had them, but it had about 20 types (including the semi-armour piercing types). Was it never true or only true at the beginning of the war? On 9th April 1940 (during the Norwegian campaign) British battleship Rodney was holed by a 500 kg aerial bomb which penetrated its deck armour but failed to explode. It seems unlikely that the Germans would prepare for attacking the Maginot line by building huge railway guns but not build armour-piercing bombs for aircraft to attack the same fortifications.
Re: Luftwaffe armour-piercing bombs - when didn't they have
Well I still haven't found a reference for it but this web page http://www.unbound-frogs.org/forum/view ... ?f=14&t=86 says the following:
at the end of the thirties Germans had well-known PC (Panzersprengbombe Cylindrisch) cylindrical armor-piercing bomb family, developed in 1937-1938 and equipped with a cast-steel body with a hardened cast-steel nose cone, filled with cast TNT and Amatol (60/40) mixture, or TNT and wax combined explosive charge. They were available in weights of 50, 250, 500 and 1000 kg and represented a standard armament of well known, standardized German level and dive-bombers (He 111, Ju 87, Ju 88, Do 17).
at the end of the thirties Germans had well-known PC (Panzersprengbombe Cylindrisch) cylindrical armor-piercing bomb family, developed in 1937-1938 and equipped with a cast-steel body with a hardened cast-steel nose cone, filled with cast TNT and Amatol (60/40) mixture, or TNT and wax combined explosive charge. They were available in weights of 50, 250, 500 and 1000 kg and represented a standard armament of well known, standardized German level and dive-bombers (He 111, Ju 87, Ju 88, Do 17).
Re: Luftwaffe armour-piercing bombs - when didn't they have
I found it! Go to http://www.afhra.af.mil/studies/numbere ... 51-200.asp and download
No. 192 "The Planning and Development of Bombs for the German Air Force, 1925-1945", by H. Heitman - see pp 149-151 for the development and specific descriptions of the use of armour-piercing bombs in 1940, including many against England.
No. 192 "The Planning and Development of Bombs for the German Air Force, 1925-1945", by H. Heitman - see pp 149-151 for the development and specific descriptions of the use of armour-piercing bombs in 1940, including many against England.
Re: Luftwaffe armour-piercing bombs - when didn't they have
Hello sitalkes,
Thank you very much for the link !
It seems to be an impressively useful and massive set of documents.
Just a precision wrt the hit on Rodney mentionned in your first post :
AFAIK, the bomb did penetrate the unarmoured main & second deck (being defused in the process), but was defeated by the armoured third deck.
Thus the bomb did not "penetrate her deck armour".
Thank you very much for the link !
It seems to be an impressively useful and massive set of documents.
Just a precision wrt the hit on Rodney mentionned in your first post :
AFAIK, the bomb did penetrate the unarmoured main & second deck (being defused in the process), but was defeated by the armoured third deck.
Thus the bomb did not "penetrate her deck armour".
Olivier
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Re: Luftwaffe armour-piercing bombs - when didn't they have
Hello,
I am absolutely no Luftwaffe bomb expert.. so.. Am i right that the bombs you are speaking of are the "PC" type bombs?
In the monthly reports of the WaA These bombs indeed start to appear from beginning of 1941 on. Before not.. which does not mean that they did not exist as These reports do list "nearly" but not all ammo types. I will look further into the documents if I find them mentioned somewhere.
/Christoph
I am absolutely no Luftwaffe bomb expert.. so.. Am i right that the bombs you are speaking of are the "PC" type bombs?
In the monthly reports of the WaA These bombs indeed start to appear from beginning of 1941 on. Before not.. which does not mean that they did not exist as These reports do list "nearly" but not all ammo types. I will look further into the documents if I find them mentioned somewhere.
/Christoph