From the Ammunition Instructions for the naval service OP-4 1923

The bombs concerned are the "British pattern" bombs used by the Navy in 1923 Quite interstingly the color code is fundamentally different from teh color code used by the Army Air Corps.Still more strange, the fact that the Navy will later (when?) adopt the Army Color code for bombs and will enter ww2 with yellow HE bombs and Grey-green smoke bombs, before adopting soon the Grey overall paint (first as a local improvisation aboard carriers, then as a regulation, the Olive drab scheme remaining in very limited use from 1942 to 1945, mainly for USMC land based planes, and some AN models factory painted)


The USN was beginning to develop an original series of cylindrical body air dropped bombs, that would evolve in the next decade towards the well known ww2 US bombs shape




This is the Navy 100lbs MkVII of 1932, already announcing the new shape of US Bombs


The bombs concerned are the "British pattern" bombs used by the Navy in 1923 Quite interstingly the color code is fundamentally different from teh color code used by the Army Air Corps.Still more strange, the fact that the Navy will later (when?) adopt the Army Color code for bombs and will enter ww2 with yellow HE bombs and Grey-green smoke bombs, before adopting soon the Grey overall paint (first as a local improvisation aboard carriers, then as a regulation, the Olive drab scheme remaining in very limited use from 1942 to 1945, mainly for USMC land based planes, and some AN models factory painted)


The USN was beginning to develop an original series of cylindrical body air dropped bombs, that would evolve in the next decade towards the well known ww2 US bombs shape




This is the Navy 100lbs MkVII of 1932, already announcing the new shape of US Bombs

Last edited: