US M124A1 Tail Fuze

**ramc181** · 29th December 2011, 03:12 PM

Apologies, I forgot to post these photos of this fuze I picked up at Beltring...

M124A1 Fuze, Bomb, Tail, Chemical Delay (36 hours in his instance) with Anti-Withdrawal Device, as fitted to US 500lb GP bombs from the last 12 months of WWII onwards.
This particular example is dated June 1954.

The anti-withdrawal device.
Any attempt to unscrew this fuze once installed would cause this ball bearing to bind against the inside of the fuze well, after a quarter-turn it would unscrew the gold-coloured section enough to release the firing pin and detonate the bomb.

I'm still looking for a locking collar and the safety pin that holds the vanes on to complete this example.

All the best,
PB

**butterfly** · 29th December 2011, 04:51 PM

Well done finding that one, looks to be in fantastic condition...
I hope someone can help you out with the missing bits.

regards Kev

**EOD** · 29th December 2011, 06:09 PM

Hardly, these were demilled and all other parts are gone for good.

**ramc181** · 30th December 2011, 12:44 AM

Cheers Kev,

I did note another one from the same production batch was up for sale in the USA a week or so later.

Regards the missing parts, the vane securing pin appears to have been a standard size industrial safety pin, which are still in production.
Unfortunately I don't know the specified size to order one.

Again, the locking collar is a pressing with a standard sized threaded hole, and quite likely to have had other uses.

All the best,
PB

**Fusse2004** · 30th December 2011, 03:44 PM

Hello PB! Thus your bomb fuze looks from the inside!!!! Greeting and good new year Harry

**Fusse2004** · 30th December 2011, 04:00 PM

Sorry! Pictures forget!!! Is a 123A1 however yours is only somewhat longer. Inner feelings are alike. Harry

**ramc181** · 30th December 2011, 07:21 PM

Thanks for the photos Harry.

**HAZORD** · 30th December 2011, 09:12 PM

The U.S. bomb tail fuzes come in 3 lengths, the lengths being proportional to the size of the tail fins that they rest inside of, when installed. The shortest fuzes are for the 100 LB through 250 LB size bombs. The medium length fuzes are designed to fit on the 500 Lb and 1,000 Lb bombs, and the longest is for the 2,000 Lb bomb.