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Chargeur V 32 - What was it?

.L.V.

.L.V.

New Member
Anyone happen to know what the French Chargeur V 32 dispenser actually was? A cluster bomb or a non-droppable sub munition dispenser? Whichever it was, it may well have been first of its kind in history.
 
Hello,

According to a French document, it was a non-droppable sub munition dispenser. Some trials were conducted with the chemical submunition model 35.
 
It was a device similar to the German BSK-36, (but only installed vertically as a non-droppable dispenser, while the BSK-36 could be used either as a vertical non-dropped dispenser or as a droppable cluster as on the Do-17s) used to drop 1kg incendiary bombs or 96 anti-personnel MAC grenades. It was briefly used by the French in the May 1940 campaign, and also most possibly in the Levant by Vichy airforce. Its main drawbacks were the time to refill it and its cost..
French incendiary 1 kg 2.jpgfrance-CBU2.jpgFrench grenades d'aviation cahrgeurs 96 grenaes france.jpgFrench grenades d'aviation Texte 1.JPGFrench grenades d'aviation Texte 2.JPGFrench grenades d'aviation Texte 3.JPGFrench incediary 1 kg 1.jpg
 
Last edited:
Dreamk said:
It was a device similar to the German BSK-36, (but only installed vertically as a non-droppable dispenser, while the BSK-36 could be used either as a vertical non-dropped dispenser or as a droppable cluster as on the Do-17s) used to drop 1kg incendiary bombs or 96 anti-personnel MAC grenades. It was briefly used by the French in the May 1940 campaign, and also most possibly in the Levant by Vichy airforce. Its main drawbacks were the time to refill it and its cost..
View attachment 142659View attachment 142660View attachment 142661View attachment 142662View attachment 142663View attachment 142664View attachment 142665
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Hallo,
thanks for the nice pictures. In the foto of the 1 kg incendiary I see the letter "U" stamped into the lower part of the body. In germany this is a designation for inert classroom ammunition. i assume that in the french language another designation would be used. Has this object been prepared during german occupation ?
regards,
Bellifortis.
 
In 1942 the Luftwaffe began to drop massively on British cities French 1kg incendiaries which bodies had be shortened from 379mm to 362mm then to 349mm (the length of the German 1kg incendiary) - this was done first by truncating the fuse and thus suppressing the vertical suspension ring as can be seen on these photos, by comparison with the original schema of these bombs:
Image8.jpg
 
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