butterfly
HONOURED MEMBER RIP
It would certainly be very nice to see an original example of the kettenbombe - this was purely experimental - but you never know there may be an example out there somewhere!!
Here is another piece from my collection, I have shown this one before, however it has been repainted in a better colour match since then.
This is the AB23 container, which contained 23 SD2's - these were used from 1942 onwards and were developed, along with several other styles of container, following some rather nasty experiences with the rack systems. Previous to the development of containers the SD2's were released directly from the aircraft, however this was discontinued after 1941 for two reasons;
First of all the optimum release height when dropped directly from the aircraft was just 25 meters, at which height the attacking aircraft was subject to retaliation from every form of small arms fire available. Below 10 meters and the fuze wouldnt function and above 50 meters and the SD2 was not in any way effective.
The Second reason was that there was a tendency for the SD2's not to release properly from the racks when the aircraft was travelling at high speeds. However when the aircraft then slowed down to land the SD2's would then drop off - so fly-bys were then carried out to ensure no SD2's were 'hung-up' before landing was permitted. The internal racks proved just as unreliable, but in this case the SD2's would drop inside the bomb bays and several aircraft were lost due to bombs exploding within the aircraft!!
The AB23 container was developed to combat these problems. With an airburst fuze, it was possible to drop this at much higher altitudes. For instance in the Grimsby raid, the AB23 container was used, the attacking aircraft were appoximately 1,000 meters (3,000ft), this was much safer for the attacking aircraft. Any misfunction of the container thereafter, also didnt affect the aircraft.
The SD2's were held in place with an arrangement of steel discs and rods, which allowed for safe loading of the container, however such was the respect for these weapons that the loading took place as close to the airfield as possible - loaded containers were not permitted to be transported over a distance of more than 3 kilometers.
regards Kev
(The container shown is empty and totally inert)
Although the container in my collection is in very good presentable condition, it does suffer from some distortions to shape/damage and also the hinge is broken (this often was the result when dropped!!) I would however like to find one in excellent shape - if anyone has or knows of such an example I would love to hear from them!
I am also looking for other types of SD2 containers -maybe they are out there somewhere!!
