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28Lb Practice Bomb
- Thread starter celica
- Start date
Hi Celica
The 28 lb Practice bomb is no longer in service with the RAF (it was replaced by the very similar 14 kg type). The one in your photo has wrongly been painted white; the proper colour is shown in the parts where the white paint has rubbed off - it should be Saxe Blue (BS381C Tint No 113). The markings are also painted on - from memory they are in BS 381C Chocolate Brown (I'm checking on that). The markings show the Type of bomb (No 3 Mk. 1), and the Maker, Date and Lot of the cartridge. There is also a brown hazard band around the centre of the body. The example in the photo was manufactured by Portsmouth Aviation Ltd, who still manufactures practice bombs for the RAF and other customers. The bomb is in two halves; a solid machined nose and a cast Aluminium tail unit containing a special to type signal cartridge which gives off a smoke puff and flash on impact. A striker runs down the centre of the nose section. There should be a Bakelite cone over the nose - this one is missing - to protect the striker head. This one has no suspension lug (other types of 28 lb PB have a folding lug); the bomb is gripped in the jaws of the Ejector Release Unit which open and the bomb is then pushed away from the carrier.
I hope that this helps.
Regards
eodda
The 28 lb Practice bomb is no longer in service with the RAF (it was replaced by the very similar 14 kg type). The one in your photo has wrongly been painted white; the proper colour is shown in the parts where the white paint has rubbed off - it should be Saxe Blue (BS381C Tint No 113). The markings are also painted on - from memory they are in BS 381C Chocolate Brown (I'm checking on that). The markings show the Type of bomb (No 3 Mk. 1), and the Maker, Date and Lot of the cartridge. There is also a brown hazard band around the centre of the body. The example in the photo was manufactured by Portsmouth Aviation Ltd, who still manufactures practice bombs for the RAF and other customers. The bomb is in two halves; a solid machined nose and a cast Aluminium tail unit containing a special to type signal cartridge which gives off a smoke puff and flash on impact. A striker runs down the centre of the nose section. There should be a Bakelite cone over the nose - this one is missing - to protect the striker head. This one has no suspension lug (other types of 28 lb PB have a folding lug); the bomb is gripped in the jaws of the Ejector Release Unit which open and the bomb is then pushed away from the carrier.
I hope that this helps.
Regards
eodda
If the markings or nose band were brown, it would indicate,on a 'live' round, that it contained a low explosive(usually a spotting charge).
It almost looks like you could strip the white paint off,you'll probably find the markings under it and depending what you used as a stripper it might give a better result than just repainting it.
It almost looks like you could strip the white paint off,you'll probably find the markings under it and depending what you used as a stripper it might give a better result than just repainting it.
darknightmare21
Member
Anymore pictures of the finished result?
I haven't finished it yet as i missing the centre section as shown by tomsk. All I've done is spray it Deep Saxe Blue, and got some correct grub screws to hold the sections together. Cheers Nathan
Earlier versions had a gold/yellow band as the tail had a HE fill, later more pyrotechnic thus a low explosive brown band.