USAAF Bomb Dump

[Antoon]

What kind of US bombs do we see here?

The row on the right are bombs filled with Comp B. So that has to be a 500 lb. GP AN-M64A1. This because, as far as I know, the GP 250 lb. has not been filled with Comp B explosives. Therefore I think we see from right to left:

GP 500 lb.
GP 1000 lb.
SAP 500 lb.
GP 2000 lb.


What is your opinion?

 

[SG500]

WOW what a great photo, thanks for showing it.
What are the things for at the front of the photo?
Dave.

 

[Antoon]

WOW what a great photo, thanks for showing it.
What are the things for at the front of the photo?
Dave.

Transportation bands that where placed around the suspension lugs during storage and transport.

 

[SG500]

Thanks.
Dave.

 

[navyman]

Hello,
When I was a small boy I remember huge piles of bombs, I mean HUGE, must have been many hundreds, stacked up in Gosport and other places. We were used to seeing them as we passed by bus or train. I lived in Portsmouth then and this would have been in the mid fifties. Pity I wasn't a collector then, as there were many ex-goverment stores, and scrapyards, where just about anything was available for a few shillings, (1 shilling = 5p), at most.
Cheers,
navyman.

 

[EODGUY]

I know Antoon didn't take the original photo...he's not that old. It is a great photo though. He is also correct about the Shipping Bands. In going through my drawings files I found numerous drawings of these bands and have attached one for the Mk IM1 and MK III demo bombs. Although this drawing is dated 1929, the shipping bands use and design hasn't changed much over the years. I have several thousand ammunition drawings like this. Unfortunately they are not the best of copies as you can tell and they are not indexed. I can't help the first problem, but I am slowly trying to put together an index.

 

[SG500]

Thanks EODGUY.
Dave.

 

[HalveMeasures]

Super picture, good to see a close up of the bands off the bombs.
A while back, in a WW2 USAAF forum I came across an account of Ground crew in their first UK winter sneaking over to a bomb dump to collect shipping bands to burn on fires . They were removing the bands with Axes, and one guy missed and buried the axe in a bomb. He promptly stuck his fingers in his ears!! Nearly a Darwin Award Candidate!

Who knows its probably daft enough to be true. I must try and find it again. It cropped up when I was looking for background information on the Metfield explosion.

 

[HAZORD]

Antoon,

I know the back row are M66A2 2,000 Lb. They have a distinctive blunt nose and 30 inches between lugs. The front row looks to be M64A1 500 Lb GP. Everything 1,000 Lb. and under use 14 inch lug spacing. The front row lug spacing looks to be about the same diameter as the bomb which would be 14.2 inches, which would be too big for 250 Lb. size. It looks like you are also right about the second row being M65A1 1,000 Lb GP size. It looks like the hard one to figure is row three. They are about the size of a 1,000 Lb. AP bomb, but the AP comes to a sharp point on the tip, and these are somewhat blunt. The 1,000 Lb. GP is 18 inches in diameter and the 500 Lb. SAP is 11 inches in diameter. There is a visual difference in size between row 2 and row 3, so it looks like you are right on all 4 sizes.