WW2 Data

[JG26_Jobbo_Fett]

Hey all,

 

It's tooting my horn a little bit, but I've had a blog for years now about various explosives, pyrotechnics, bombs, and other munitions and projectiles.

 

The website is: ww2data.blogspot.com

 

I've recently come back from a hiatus and am working on getting the German inventory fleshed out from just projectiles.  If the devs would like the source(s) for all information on there, gimme a shout whenever and I'll see what I can do.

 

Hopefully, I'm not breaking any rules.  I don't care about views, I just think it's nice to spread this info around :).

 

 

For example:

 

4-pound Frag. "Butterfly" M83

 

Quote

Overall length: 3 inches
Body length: 3 inches
Body diameter: 3.1 inches
Wall thickness: 0.25 inches

Type of filling: TNT
Weight of filling: 0.47 pounds
Total weight: 3.2 pounds
Charge/weight ratio: 15%

Fuzing: M129 Air or Ground burst, M130 Time, maximum 30 minutes, or M131 Anti-Disturbance.

 

 

 

Oh, and if anyone has any opinions, advice, questions, etc, let me know.

 

Edited March 12, 2019 by JG26_Jobbo_Fett

[JG26_Jobbo_Fett]

Operation: On release from the aircraft, an electric cap in the arming spider is fired; this, after a short delay, ignites a small charge which blows off the from spider, thus pulling out the safety pins of the individual bombs and also the safety pins which hold the band together.  The bombs then separate and arm as they fall.  This carrier gives a much closer "pattern" on the ground than could be obtained by dropping the bombs in a stick.

 

 

Filling: 5 - SC10; 5 - SD10A bombs

[Kurfurst]

Nice info. However, There is already a thread on LW/Allied clusterbombs and imo the data you have would be useful there, keeping it all in one place.

 

 

[Talisman]

Just look at the mass of all the WWII air bases in the UK recorded on this site, below:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1LaV0qaInEthrUsGkKzDgT-GSFWw&ll=52.43778437795609%2C1.869441975288396&z=7

 

It would be great to be able to fly from some of these bases in IL-GB at some time in the future.  The UK was a huge aircraft carrier off the coast of mainland Europe, a spring board for the air war and enabled the fight back from the West and support to the East.

 

Happy landings,

 

Talisman

[JG26_Jobbo_Fett]

On 8/27/2019 at 5:31 PM, VO101Kurfurst said:

Nice info. However, There is already a thread on LW/Allied clusterbombs and imo the data you have would be useful there, keeping it all in one place.

 

 

 

Thing is that my blog covers bombs and projectiles from numerous countries, I was just posting that 'cause I got to cluster bombs for the Germans.

[JG26_Jobbo_Fett]

 

Finally made it past the cluster munitions and various containers.  Today, the first update on German rockets goes up.

 

 

Quote

 

 

PC 1400 FX Radio-Controlled Glider Bomb

 



 

Overall Length: 130 inches

Length of the Control Unit Housing: 16 inches

Length of Fins at the Root: 31 and 5/8 inches

Length of Fins at Outer Edge: 18 and 1/4 inches

Length of Fin Leading Edge: 18 and 5/8 inches

 

Max. Width of Tail Unit: 48 inches

Min. Width of Tail Unit: 33 and 3/4 inches

Span of the Fins: 58 and 3/4 inches

 

Weight of Filling: 270 kilograms

Total Weight: 1,650 kilograms (approx.)

 

 

 

General Description: The PC 1400 FX is a radio-controlled glider bomb designed for attack against capital ships or similar targets.  The complete missile consists of three distinct units: the H.E. armour piercing warhead, the control unit housing, and the tail assembly.  There are four aluminum alloy fins secured ot the missile at approximately the center of gravity.  The purpose of these fins is to give the bomb sufficient lift so that the control surfaces in the tail unit can exercise adequate influence.

 

 

Warhead: The warhead is an ordinary PC 1400kg bomb to which four above-mentioned fins have been attached.  It has one transverse fuze pocket located aft the H-type suspension lug.  Two horizontal exploder tubes are centered in the warhead to insure high order detonation on impact.  The usual filling for the warhead is 50/50 amatol.

 

 

Control Unit Housing: The control unit housing, made of cast magnesium alloy, is attached between the base of the H.E. warhead and the tail unit.  This space contains the gyroscopes, radio receiver, power source, and a small demolition charge for destruction of the control unit.

 

There are two gyroscopes mounted 90 degrees to each other in the after section of the control unit.  These two gyros control the stabilizing flaps on two of the tail surfaces.

 

The directional apparatus consists of the radio receiver and the servo motors which take the impulses from the radio.  The power source is a 24-volt battery.  This equipment operates four control surfaces measuring 8 cm by 1 and 1/2 cm, which are located on the trailing edge of each of the four fins.  These control surfaces are actuated in pairs; two of them control the lateral direction of the bomb, and the other two, its trajectory.

 

The demolition charge consists of approximately 1 and 1/2 pounds of penthrite wax.  It is fuzed usually with the VZ 80 "all-ways action" fuze.  The main purpose of this charge is to destroy the directional equipment in case the fuze for the main charge in the warhead fails to function.

 

 

Tail Unit: The tail unit consists of an inner cast magnesium alloy tail cone fitted with two long and two short case magnesium alloy struts.

 

 

 

Operation.   Bombing with the PC 1400 FX is carried out in conjunction with the Lotfe 7D bomb sight.  The only extra duty of the operator being to switch on the gyroscope of the bomb some 2 minutes before the moment of release.  The aim of the bombardier is taken the same way as in ordinary bombing.  AS the bomb is released, the aircraft is throttled back and put into a climb with the flaps down.  This action is to insure not overshooting the missile.  Once the requisite reduction in speed has been effected, the pilot flattens out.

 

At this time, corrections in the course of the missile can be taken if necessary.  At the moment of release, the bombardier starts a stop-watch going.  The bomb cannot be controlled during the first 15 seconds after release.  On the 16th second, the operator takes control of the missile.  It has been estimated that the missile can be guided with a margin of error of only 50 meters from an altitude of 7,000 meters.

 

The bomb takes 42 seconds to reach the ground from 7,000 meters, and 38 seconds from 6,000 meters.  The lowest possible height for satisfactory release is 4,000 meters.  At the moment of impact, the bomb, dropped from 7,000 meters is said to have a velocity of 270 meters per second.
 

 

 

Edited October 28, 2019 by JG26_Jobbo_Fett