Whistling Bombs And Dive Bombers

Zapfenstreich · Post by **Zapfenstreich** » 27 Jul 2003 02:53

Two questions I feel someone here can answer.

1) Many times, in movies, there is a loud whistling sound as bombs fall. Were the bombs made to whistle intentionally or is this just a special effect produced for the movie itself?

2) The Ju-87 (Stuka) is one of the better known Luftwaffe aircraft. Did the German armed forces have any other dive bombers or any torpedo bombers?

Z

grunherz · Post by **grunherz** » 27 Jul 2003 03:33

some sub-type of He-111 can use as torpedo bomber.

sorry, i forget the exact type.

Christoph Awender · Post by **Christoph Awender** » 27 Jul 2003 03:51

Hello!

1.) Bombs produced sometimes a sound but this was not designed but a normal sideeffect. The early versions of the Ju-87 had also propellers on the gear-construction which produced a demoralizing sound during the dive.
2.) The Ju-88 was another bomber also capable of diving attacks. As said before versions of the He-111 (I think version J), Ju-88, Do-217 (M- I think), He-115 were some Torpedoe bombers for example.

\Christoph

Rommel8 · Post by **Rommel8** » 27 Jul 2003 04:14

the Hs.123 biplane was a divebomber

and I think the H-6 of the 111 was a variant that carried torps

grunherz · Post by **grunherz** » 27 Jul 2003 04:16

the fuze also have some equipment like propeller, can it produces demoralizing sound just like the propeller on Ju-87?

Ardvark · Post by **Ardvark** » 27 Jul 2003 07:12

grunherz wrote:the fuze also have some equipment like propeller, can it produces demoralizing sound just like the propeller on Ju-87?

The propeller you are speaking of worked a siren, which when in a dive created the whistling or screaming sound. It purpose was to scare and demorilize those on the ground, and to be frank if I was on the ground and heard it I would be very affraid

The Ju88 was a dive bomber as well, and I think any bomber produced after the He 111 had to be built to withstand certain dive limits as part of the tactical doctrine of the Luftwaffe.

Al

Von_Mannteufel · Post by **Von_Mannteufel** » 27 Jul 2003 07:43

I always thought that sound was due to the bomb crossing the air at high speed and not due to any equipment. Mortar shells also produce a simillar sound when falling if i'm not wrong.

Ville Kosonen · Post by **Ville Kosonen** » 27 Jul 2003 11:00

Germans used whistles made of cardboard tube on bomb fins to create whistling sound. Don´t remember now any specific references, but carefully look at photos of ground crew handling bombs.
Also a friend of mine has 50kg bomb(empty, I hope) that still has those tubes left.

Ville

gabriel pagliarani · Post by **gabriel pagliarani** » 27 Jul 2003 23:34

Zapfenstreich wrote:......Many times, in movies, there is a loud whistling sound as bombs fall. Were the bombs made to whistle intentionally or is this just a special effect produced for the movie itself?...Z

During WW2 simply nobody cured aerodynamics of such devices in a "tunnel of the wind", and no supersonic shape was developed. An american 500 lbs. "block-buster" bomb dropped from 18000ft (6000 mt) could reach the ground after 35-40 secs with a vertical speed not exceeding 600-700 km/h . 40 secs of pure terror for those under the bombs.

Zapfenstreich · Post by **Zapfenstreich** » 28 Jul 2003 18:45

Thanks for your answers Gang. Especially about the Ju-88. From its configuration, I never would have imagined it could be used as a dive bomber. I'll bet its crew had to release the bombs from a much higher altitude than the Ju-87. Does anyone know how the bombs were mounted on it?

Z

Ardvark · Post by **Ardvark** » 28 Jul 2003 19:41

Zapfenstreich wrote:Thanks for your answers Gang. Especially about the Ju-88. From its configuration, I never would have imagined it could be used as a dive bomber. I'll bet its crew had to release the bombs from a much higher altitude than the Ju-87. Does anyone know how the bombs were mounted on it?

Z

The Ju88 could carry 1,100 lbs (500 kg) of bombs internally and four external racks rated at 2,200 lbs (1000 kg) for the inner racks and 1,100 lbs (500 kg) in the outer racks to a total bombload of up to 6,614 lbs (3000 kg).

Al

Witch-King of Angmar · Post by **Witch-King of Angmar** » 28 Jul 2003 19:51

gabriel pagliarani wrote:
Zapfenstreich wrote:......Many times, in movies, there is a loud whistling sound as bombs fall. Were the bombs made to whistle intentionally or is this just a special effect produced for the movie itself?...Z
During WW2 simply nobody cured aerodynamics of such devices in a "tunnel of the wind", and no supersonic shape was developed.

British very large bombs(20,000lbs Grand Slam and 10,000lbs Tallboy) had been designed specifially for supersonic speed, by Dr. Barnes Wallis.

~The Witch King of Angmar

Erik E · Post by **Erik E** » 28 Jul 2003 21:46

The Ju-87 (Stuka)

Stuka is infact a abbrevation, and not a name for a single aircraft model.

Stuka means SturtzKampf (Dive bomber) and was also used on the first Ju-88 series. I have even seen a Me-262 Stuka somewhere on the web......

Erik

Christoph Awender · Post by **Christoph Awender** » 28 Jul 2003 22:03

Erik if we are at nitpicking.... it is Sturzkampfbomber.

\Christoph

Erik E · Post by **Erik E** » 28 Jul 2003 22:35

Erik if we are at nitpicking

I could bring it even further and say that it was actually "Sturzkampfflugzeug" but I didn`t want to add to much confusions.....

My real intent was not nitpicking, but just telling that writing "stuka" instead of "Ju-87" isn`t right, even though everyone knows which plane it is! It`s more like the 3,7cm Pak36 thing

Best regards
Erik E

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