Container for Bomb Incendiary 6.5 oz. Mark V, also known as Baby Incendiary Bomb

[Antoon]

In the night of 18/19 July 1940 two Hudson bombers of 206 Squadron (16 Group Coastal Command) dropped each a bomb load consisting of 3 x 250 lb. General Purpose Bombs, 4 x 25 lb. Incendiary Bombs and 60 x B.I. Bombs.
I assume B.I. Bombs are the Baby Incendiary Bombs, officially know as Bomb Incendiary 6.5 oz. Mark V.

These bombs could only be carried in containers as noted in Armament Training Manual, Part II (A.P. 1243), Chapter 7.

Who can give details about these containers for dropping B.I.B.'s during the beginning in WW-2?

 

[Antoon]

Maybe it is the 20 lb. container as mentioned by DreamK in:

British Cluster Bomb/Bomb Container 1930s

Can someone throw light on this undocumented RAF bomb container from the early 1930s? It is notably different from the regular Baby incendiary bomb conatiner of the early 1920s (which was still in use in other countries such as Spain till the late 1930s). It shows similtudes witf the Mk3...

www.bocn.co.uk

 

[Bombdoc]

I am aware that a version of the Baby Incendiary bomb was developed and made in the "Bomb Factory" at the Gunpowder Mill in Roslin, just south of Edinburgh.

The "Bomb Factory" was an outstation of the powder mill that was built for the RNAS to make smoke floats and Very cartridges. They also made cartridges for the Northover Projector in WW2..

 

[Dreamk]

A number of contrainers were developped for the BIB along its operational use - the most frequent being a wing mounted boat-shaped fixed one and a cyndrical dropable one - aimed at holding either 272 or 198 bombs
However by the beginning of WW2 the RAF seems to have used exculsively Small Bomb containers as a mean of releasing small ordnance. A reduced size version of the SBC , the two-partition 160lb, was used on the Lysander and Hudson - in fact it was developped for the Hudson and is often referred as the "Hudson SBC".
BTW after an tragical landing accident in 1940 with the British expeditionary Force in France, their use was prohibited on the Lysander.
Althoug its regular load was 4x25lb incendiary or 40x4lb incendiary, the BIB would also have fit in such containers, probably as cellophane wrapped packs as was teh case in larger, later, SBCs.

 

[Antoon]

DreamK,

As you mentioned the 160 lb. "Hudson" S.B.C. could hold 40 x 4 lb. So this should be 2 canisters/tins (Case, Bomb Incendiary, Mk II) each loaded with 20 incendiary bombs.
Should it have 2 packs of 30 x B.I.B.'s each when it has been dropped by this SBC?

I never seen this cellophane wrapped packs.

Attached a 160 lb. "Hudson" SBC with a Dinghy that will be attached to a Lysander (source: World War Photos).

 

[Dreamk]

Antoon Hi!
The dinghy version was a re-use of the Hudson SBC that had become obsolete, when it was decided to use lysanders as sea-rescue vectors
Here are4 some more ictures of this installation


Packs of 30 incendiary bombs in SBCs was a also standard for 4lb incendiaries in the SBC Mk I of 1942 , packs of 50 x 4lb becoming the standard in 1943 when deeper. karger SBC were introduced.
The cellophane wrapping is often called "liner" in period documentation - which is highly confusing as since 1940 the same word was attached to the tinplate liner used initially for stockage of the 4lb incendiaries.
Although referrered to in some documents, I have not seen any photograph of it.
It helped insure a swift reloading of the SBCs.

Here can be seen tinplate liners (for 4lb incendiaries) on the ground besides the SBCs:

 

[Antoon]

DreamK,

Very confusing al these unofficial names within the RAF.
The tinplate "liner" for the 4 lb. incendiary bomb is as you know officially named Case, Bomb Incendiary, with a Mark number depending of the content. See AP 1661B, Vol. I, BOMBS.

But to stick by the topic of the B.I.B. I hope someone has A.P. 1243 (Armament Training Manual, Part II), Chapter 7.