Id. aerial bombs

[dreamk]

The French 40kg bomb....never existed.
It only appears in a post-ww2 US Intelligence document and in not any French source.
Its existence is apparently due to a confusion of the American intelligence clerk who compiled a compendium of French and Italian explosive ordnance after ww2. It seems he mixed the information on the 140kg bomb (an old bomb from ww1 design, the former "bombe de penetration de 268mm", that survived in service till ww2) with partial information about 50kg bomb type A (another old bomb from ww1 design, the former "bombe de penetration de 155mm", that survived in service till ww2) .
In practice he described a 50kg type A with some mistakes.
BTW the 2 ridges on the reinforcing strut between the tail fins, that can be seen clearly if you enlarge this photograph, are a typical feature of the 50kg DT/DT2 bomb

[Sturm78]

Thanks, again, dreamk

So, thie bomb od this other image is also a 50kg DT/DT2 French bomb....

Image from Ebay
Sturm78

[dreamk]

If it is a French bomb it is a DT2 (most DT1 were no longer in service in 1940) - If, as the Polish Bomba lotnicza 50 kg wz. 29 looked almost the same, including the struts between the fins (though it seems that there were variations on this last point between production batches - the issue is not clear).
So the context of the photograph is important.
To illustrate the issue, I have a puzzling photograph of Argentinian bombs in the 1930s that are officially designed by the national museum there as "Bofors bombs" - they are definitively not Bofors bombs - but whether they are French DT2 or Polish wz.29 is impossible to determine on the photography alone as both hypothesis are plausible - French and Poland were the main supplier of ammunition of Argentina in these very years, and the competition between them was fierce (then the American AAC entered in the game.....but this is another story )
DT2 Length 1180 mm diameter 195mm
Wz.29 Length 1158mm diameter 195mm

[Sturm78]

Thanks for your information, dreamk....

Here, two images from Ebay:

Image 1: I think SD50
Image 2: I think ZC50

Sturm78

[Grzesio]

Image 1: I think SD50
Image 2: I think ZC50

1 - You are right, as the DPr marking says, SD 50 Pr.
2 - I'd rather opt for SBe 50 A - their noses seem to be separate parts, then they are not colour marked as ZC bombs were.

[Sturm78]

Grzesio wrote
1 - You are right, as the DPr marking says, SD 50 Pr.
2 - I'd rather opt for SBe 50 A - their noses seem to be separate parts, then they are not colour marked as ZC bombs were.

Thanks for your answer, Grzesio
It is possible that you are right...It is difficult to ensure to me

Here, another image from Ebay. I think SC10 bombs, probably

Sturm78

[dreamk]

2 groups of SC10 yes but with something special lying on the ground at the right : nose extensions that seem to be in fact nose suspensions and not fuze rod extensions.


Still more interesting in the second photograph, the fact that the bombs are here without fins. Why? the fuze seems a regular AZC 10 and not a special all-positions fuze

picture hosting sites

[Sturm78]

Thanks for your confirmation and the aditional images, dreamk

Here another two images from Ebay:

Image 1: ??
Image 2: I think probably SC250 bombs

Sturm78

[dreamk]

I am looking for pictures of Czech bombs. If someone happens to have such photographs, please post them here.
After the dismembering of Czechoslovakia in 1938 these bombs were integrated into Luftwaffe arsenal and used not only for training but most probably also operationally (as the bombs from the Polish booty of September 1939) in the May -June 1940 campaign and possibly also later (there was a crisis in Luftwaffe's bomb supply in 1940 and once again in 1941 and they used what they found - as a matter of fact production of Czech 10 and 20kg bombs as well as French 10 and 50kg bomb went on all over the war for supplying the Luftwaffe).
For instance these are the remnants found in Saxony of Czech Skoda 20kg vz.34 bombs, used in bundle of 2 bombs, by the Luftwaffe

[Grzesio]

Still more interesting in the second photograph, the fact that the bombs are here without fins. Why? the fuze seems a regular AZC 10 and not a special all-positions fuze

These are SC 10 t bombs with AZC (10) (hut)* fuze indeed. The fuze was, however, a non-directional fuze and could be used in a bomb without fins.

[Sturm78]

Hi all,

Another image from Ebay. Any idea about the bomb loaded in central position ?

Sturm78

[Grzesio]

Another image from Ebay. Any idea about the bomb loaded in central position ?

Looks like an SD 500 C.

[Nanny97]

maybe an SC 2500

[Sturm78]

Grzesio wrote
Looks like an SD 500 C.

Ummhhh.. Perhaps you are right...The SD500C bomb have a more rounded nose than the rest of SD500 models...A pity that the rear part of the bomb is cannot appreciate....

I guess than the other two bombs are SC250 bombs, is it not ?

Regards
Sturm78

[Nanny97]

the one on the right is the SC 500 german bomb