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US aircraft bombs used during the Korean War

Antoon

Well-Known Member
Ordnance approved
Hello,

As most people know the US Air Force and US Navy had during the Korean War all the bombs in there inventory that were in use at the end of WW-2.
What post WW-2 bombs has been dropped by the US Air Force and the US Navy during the Korean War?

I know the GP Bomb, 750 lb. M117, the GP Bomb, 3000 lb. M118, the VB-3 RAZON and the ASM-A-1 (VB-13) TARZON.

Greetings - Antoon

 
Antoon, the M117 and M118 were introduced much later. Even the "intermediate GP series" with conical tail extension was post Korean war.
These bombs were developed to address the problems of drag and bomb release of fast flying jets - the F100 being apparently the first to use them from the start, though later years F84 were also seen with these bombs (even some surviving F86 like the Argentinian ones also used them but at a much later time).
Bombs used by the US during the conflict were strictly ww2 period bombs remaining in the stocks and this posed at some point a problem of supplies. The UK on the other hand began to introduce their post-war MC bombs with their new extended tail.
 
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The National Museum of the United States Air Force says that the basic M117 dates from the Korean war.
I also found this picture of a GP bomb 500 lb. M64A1 with a M128A1 fin assembly that was used by No. 77 Squadron RAAF in 1953 on there Gloster Meteors during the Korean War

Kimpo Airfield 1953 Meteor 77 SQDN RAAF australian War Memorial.JPG
 
This photo shows one of the early models of the postwar British MC bomb - the Mk2 500lbs bomb (very similar in design to the US extended tail cone GP bombs)
(1953 is already post Korean war, but there are similar photos from 1952 with the 77th squadron meteors in Korea)
Here you have from left to Right the first generation of postwar Brtish bombs:
Tallboy bomb (12000 Lbs) - Mk2 Bomb (500 Lbs) - Mk4 bomb (1000 Lbs) - WE.177 Thermo Nuclear bomb (400 Kt)
From left to right Tallboy bomb (12000 Lbs) - Mk2 Bomb (500 Lbs) - Mk4 bomb (1000 Lbs) - WE.177 .jpg

The development of the extended tail cone indeed began as soon as the combat reports of the F84 in Korea
Concerning their date of introduction in service, it shortly followed the last step in their development: the establishment of their bombing tables
Bombing Table for 100-lb. G.P. Bomb AN-M30A1 with Fin Assembly M135 1/2/1955
Bombing Table for 250-lb. G.P. Bomb AN-M57A1 with Fin Assembly M126 13/1/1954
Bombing Table for 500-lb. G.P. Bomb AN-M64A1 with Fin Assembly M128 19/1/1954
Bombing Table for 1000-lb. G.P. Bomb AN-M65A1 with Fin Assembly M129 23/7/1957
Bombing Table for 2000-lb. G.P. Bomb AN-M66A2 with Fin Assembly AN-M116A1 or M116 4/2/1952

From these data, we can see that only the AN-M66A2 could come into the frame of the Korean war, but there is no report or photograph supporting that.

The design of the M117 began in the wake of the Korean war but no M117 were used in this conflict.
In the early 1950s, the M117 was still known as the T54 Demolition Bomb and the M118 as the T55 Demolition Bomb.
The T54E2 appears as being tested at the Aberdeen proving groiunds in March 1953.
There is a document from 1958 dealing with the metallurgical testing and penetration performance of the 750lb T54E3 demolition bomb (first series production model), after some doubts arose about the production batch of 60,000 of such bombs - the contract is mentioned as dating from early 1954.
The T54 designation still appears in the US documents from 1960 - meaning that it was still considered by then as under development.
M117 model numbers are given in documents from at least 1965 on. By 1968 or so it was the M117A1, then by 1970 the M117A1E2.

The Mark 80 series used a shape known as Aero 1A, designed by Ed Heinemann of Douglas Aircraft as the result of studies in 1946, but did not see service before the Vietnam War.

The NAVPERS 10826 from 1952 does not mention any of these bombs but only ww2 era bombs
None of them appear on the SAC of the F84B , C and D from 1950 nor on the SAC of the F84D and F84E from 1951
The extended tail cone series and the M117 appear on the SAC of the F86F and F86H from 1956 and of the F84F Thunderstreak of 1957
They appear in the NAVWEPS OP 2216 from 1960
 
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Dreamk,

Thanks for this explanation. Loud and clear. But on the picture that is taken in 1953 at the Kimpo airfield the armourers are bombing up a US 500lb. GP bomb with a M128 fin assembly?

I found also this description in the Department of the Army Pamphlet No. 310-4 "Index of Technical Manuals, Technical Regulations etc.

In TB 9-1980-55 from 1 October 1951 is mentioned the fin assembly M128 and M128A1.

Greetings - Antoon

Schermafbeelding 2020-04-22 om 17.33.41.png
 
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Its interesting as the TM-9-1980 (AFM 136-7) dated from December 1950 does not yet mention any tail cone extension GP.
Do you (or some other member of this forum) know what is hierarchy and the differences between "Technical Manuals (TM)" and "Technical Bulletins (TB)"?
 
I found another photograph of this same bomb waiting to be loaded under the wing of a RAAF 77th Sqn Meteor, and indeed it appears to be definitively a US AN-M64 with extended conical fin, and not a British Mk2

AWM Kimpo 1953 77 Sqn 3990106.jpg


I went to look into the archives of the 77th Sqn - they are online at the National Archives of Australia and they are a fantastic stuff.


It appears that bombs were...never used operationally by the 77th Squadron meteor in Korea!


In May 1953 began a series of trial to check the possibility of installing bomb racks on 77th Squadron Meteors, the bombs chosen for the trial being the US 500lb AN-M64, US 1000lb AN-M65 and the British 500lb MC.
Moreover, shortly after the start of these tests, a strategical decision was taken at this time by the RAAF that the bombs used in Korea would be from now exclusively US made and furnished bombs, to improve the logistic management of this Squadron.
It sounds indeed logical that the tests were made using the newly developed US "intermediate series GP" that were on their way to be introduced as a standard issue.
These trials were interrupted when the Korean war ended in two months later and the Squadron went to be reconverted on Vampires.
May 1953 11.jpgMay 1953 12.jpg
May 1953 1.jpgMay 1953 2.jpgMay 1953 3.jpgMay 1953 4.jpgMay 1953 5.jpg
May 1953 21.jpgMay 1953 22.jpg




Another piece of info - The RAAF switched to the US M117 750lb bomb in August 1968.
 
Dreamk,


Thanks for the info. One thing is sure. The new model tail(s) were in the Korea theatre.


Greetings - Antoon
 
Not in operational service - there is no document (written or photographic) to support this assumption, and this would contradict a basic fact: without bombing tables they could not be declared operational, as they would have been useless for the pilots, as they are needed to aim correctly and reach their intended target. This is still more critical for jets than for propeller driven slower aircrafts. And you can see the dates of the establishment of the bombing tables. .
They may indeed have been tested in the closing months of the conflict - as in this example of the RAAF intended to check the adequacies of the pylons for carrying bombs on the Meteor Mk8
 
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In the early 1950s, the M117 was still known as the T54 Demolition Bomb and the M118 as the T55 Demolition Bomb.

Years ago I found an info (probably it's copy of one page from plane manual, dated "15 January 1960") about bomb load of the B-66 Destroyer jet bomber. Even in this 1960 dokument these bombs are mentioned as T54 and T55.

BTW in this document some bombs are mentioned completely unknown to me. Maybe you have some information about them?
(Size of bomb; Type; Number of bombs on B-66; Total actual bomb weight)

DESIGN BOMB LOAD (BASIC)
5000 lb Semi-armor piercing (2) 10,024 lb - I have no idea what it would be. A cover name for any nuke?

ALTERNATE BOMB LOAD
5000 lb Semi-armor piercing (3) 15,036 lb - ????
3000 lb T55E5, Demolition (4) 12,068 lb - Now I know it's M118
750 lb E53, Cluster (14) 13,440 lb - ???? No idea
750 lb T54E2, Demolition (14) 10,850 lb - Now I know it's M117
100 lb T36, Cluster (3 unit) (14) 10,500 lb - ???? No idea
200 lb (empty line)

Maybe you have any info about these bombs, unknown for me?
 
The E53 was an incendiary quick-opening cluster containing 14 E9 incendiary bombs. It used the E26 adapter (weighing 58 lb), and the complete E53 cluster of 14 E9 bombs weight was 618 lb.
Initially classified as a 500lb-size class cluster, it was later re-classified more adequately as 750lb-class and as such it appears in a publication from 1954 dealing with its possible use for taking biological agents instead of incendiary bombs.

The T36 was a "demolition bomb cluster" developed in the mid 1950s - I have no further info on is.

5000lb SAP - the only idea I may rise is a development as a continuation of the Ruby and Harken projects. the ultimate development of this line of weapons being the prenset day bunker-buster penetartors GBU-28/BLU-113
 
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