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great picture. You sort of can identify the sizes of these bombs with the men standing near them. None-the-less a very good one.
Now. if you can believe this? After WWII we kept allot of the WWII aerial bomb casings so that if we were about to fight another conventional war we could fill them and send them of to war. The fact that they would be used in the early stages of Vietnam until we ran out of them is amazing to say the least on the numbers. While during the Cold War some General had it in his mind to sell the bomb casings to West Germany for scrap metal with pennies on the pound. By the late sixties and early seventies we were buying them back from West Germany for dollars on the pound. Before that, they bought them from us for something like $.67 per pound, this is only an estimation on costs, but if anybody wants to know the exact amounts I will definately try and find that out for you.
Just FYI. Don't mean to hijack your thread Antoon. Just know if it has anything to do with Vietnam I like to throw some info out with that piece of Ordnance. Hope you don't mind or anybody else for that manner.
Here are two more examples of MK III, 50 pound demolition bombs from my collection.
They are very interesting because the one on the left has some type of trunion band, and the other has a nose fuze.
I have never seen a picture or examlpe of either type before. Does anyone have any information as to how either one of these features would have been used?
****As always, I would greaty appreciate any historically correct images that would show how these casings should be painted.*****
However, I would like to see images of the exact nomenclature; size and font, etc.
On some of my casings, when stripping off old paint, I have caught a glimpse of the orignal nomenclature. I know for certian you will have the bomb type and lot number.
However, on some you will find the manufacture's name or a pretty black and white stripe with lettering.
I have seen several from my collection and elsewhere, but I have yet to see the "standard" to a point I can duplicate it accurately.
They all seem to be different. I purchase an example of this type of casing at every military show I visit. I believe they are called "Barlow Bombs" and I refuse to believe that someone does not have an unaltered specimine somewhere.
Below is the casing with the fuze after I had stripped off the ugly OD paint someone had thoughtfully placed on it. One of my first pieces, I did not put much care into preserving the original paint beneath, nor was I aware it was there until it was too late.
Here are all of my examples, in which there are three 50 pounders and two 100 pounders.
Notice that structurally, they are all different. In the case of the 100 pounders, the one on the left has a nut welded in the nose fuze well, where the one on the right has a lug for verticle hanging within a bomb bay.
I am not happy with the paint, as I feel they look like toys.
I have absolutely zero intention somehow leading anyone into thinking my ordnance contain any type of inertia components. Furthermore, I have no intentions of being accessed of possessing any type of what is called a "hoax bomb" or the likes.
Also, regardless that the general public is indeed stupid, I feel it is just plain common sense for everyone to properly label their items in consideration of the reactions of anyone not educated in what they may see -especially first responders, fire fighters or the likes; that may be required to enter your property in an emergency.
Despite the fact that all of my ordnance is contained in a solid concrete room that is sealed by a 300 pound, locked door and flanked by a monitored security system -it gets labeled.
I dont care if it is a single hand grenade or a Mk 84.
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