German ELAZ 17 Bomb Fuze question

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Dave,
Your reply brings to mind another question.
When the clockwork mechanism was moved to the bottom of the fuze was there a change in the fuze head markings? If so what?
Regards,
John

[millsbomber]

The clockwork was always at the bottom of all of the 17s that i know of John.
The 17s i have are marked EL.A.Z 17 EL.A.Z 17A ELAZ 17A LZ some letter Z 17 B (Painted) these are dated as follows 17 1940 17a 1940 17a 1941 17b 1942
These as i understand are standard markings for this type of fuse, maybe some other members can add to this.

Dave

[Nismosonic]

1 of mine is 1940 dated and is marked EL.A.Z. 17 (in a circle) other is marked ELAZ 17A and has only 1 pin instead of the pair. 1940 dated also. both RHS.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Hey thank you very much. Does your 17A look like Dave's left image above?
John

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Can someone explain the differences between the:
#17
#17A
#17B

thank you,
John

[butterfly]

Ok, I will attempt to point out some of the differences,
(I hope I am accurate in the information, however if not, members please feel free to correct it!!)


El.A.Z. 17

First version of the 17 series, this had a seperate clockwork which screwed into the bottom of the fuze.
Time delay setting = 2 - 72 hours ( with + or - 10% accuracy) = 1.5 - 80 hours (1939 - 1940)

El.A.Z. 17A
The design was changed so that the clockwork was incorporated into the fuze housing (still below the electrical element of the fuze, however now within the casing)
Time delay setting = 2 - 72 hours ( with + or - 10% accuracy) = 1.5 - 80 hours (1940)

A variation of the 17A fuze exists in which the clockwork is housed in a plastic casing instead of the standard aluminium (known as the 17A,1941 pattern). otherwise as above. (1941) - short lived version as the plastic casing was not effective.

El.A.Z. 17A (Emergency Pattern)

This version was again identical to the 17A fuze in operation, however the lower outer casing was made from steel instead of aluminium....a stop gap measure. (1940)

El.A.Z. 17A*

The 17A* was identical to the 17A, except that it had a longer time delay between the time the impact switch functioned and the starting of the clockwork.
Time delay setting = 2 - 72 hours ( with + or - 10% accuracy) = 1.5 - 80 hours (1941-1942)

El.A.Z. 17B

The 17B version was exactly the same design as the 17A however the time delay was cut.
Time delay setting = 5 - 120 minutes ( with + or - 10% accuracy) = 3 - 135 minutes (1939 - 1940)
Variations in markings El.A.Z. 17 B, LEl.A.Z. 17 B* , Zt.Z 17 b* (markings were painted on the fuze head, not stamped)


The El.A.Z. 17A and the El.A.Z. 17 B could both exist without any markings on the fuze head - so any fuzes found without markings were suspected to be of the 17 type.


I hope this explains some of the characteristics of the 17 series of long delay fuzes, there are other slight variations too, but I think this is what you may be looking for.

kind regards Kev

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Kev,
you are a never ending source of information. I hope you were able to copy and paste all of that data, that is a lot of typing.
Thank you for your kind patience and interest in my questions. Perhaps others may benefit.
I thought perhaps that I may have been looking for a reason why the Earl's 17 fuze detonated his 250 kg bomb at Erith. But I guess not. Incident at Erith, although horrible, is facinating when you look at all the evidence, both real and speculative. Perhaps we will never know. Perhaps it is a well kept secret.
Take Care,
John

[butterfly]

Kev,
you are a never ending source of information. I hope you were able to copy and paste all of that data, that is a lot of typing.
Thank you for your kind patience and interest in my questions. Perhaps others may benefit.
I thought perhaps that I may have been looking for a reason why the Earl's 17 fuze detonated his 250 kg bomb at Erith. But I guess not. Incident at Erith, although horrible, is facinating when you look at all the evidence, both real and speculative. Perhaps we will never know. Perhaps it is a well kept secret.
Take Care,
John

No worries John, thats what the forums for, helping others.

I am not familiar with the incident you talk about, however there could be many reasons why, and no doubt there will be a report held somewhere on it, I hope you find your answer at some point.

regards kev

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Kev,
Charles 'Jack' Howard, the Earl of Suffolk was noted for his work with the MOS Experimental committee collecting German bomb fuzes and bombs for experimental testing to arrive at immunization and tools for same. He, his driver Fred Hards and his secretary Beryl Morden and several R.E. sappers were killed during his attempt to dispose of a 250 kg German bomb that had been left on the Erith Marshes. The bomb was fitted with a #50 and #17 had been previously immunized at its original location and brought to Erith. During his procedures the bomb detonated. An incident report is on file at the London Archives.
The three were known as "the Holy Trinity".
I have posted a summary of the Accident report in our Downloads section under 'other references'.
Regards,
John