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Flying SD2 butterfly bomb.

SG500

SG500

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Ever since I started collecting SD2 and M83 butterfly bombs I've always wanted to know how they would fly. Having looked all over the internet there doesn't seem to be any good footage of them in flight. My problem was I didn't really want to throw something that was worth many hundreds of pounds off a high place and break it so that's where the sweetcorn can came in.......
Part 1 sweetcorn.jpg
 
I decided to make my own! The body was a really relic one with filler, the arming wire well rusted with a top which didn't fit a wing set because it pulled through the wing cradle, the fuze was only the top of a common 41 and the wings were a set of the reasonably common sycamore type in relic condition. The plan was to fix the can to the sycamore wings and see what happened!
First the can was cut open.
Part 2 cut can.jpg
 
Another can was opened (stick with me guys, we'll get there!!) and the brake wings stuck on taking care to keep the correct angle.
Part 5 end wings on underneath.jpgPart 5 end wings on top.jpgPart 5 ends to be cut out.jpg
 
Finally it was painted bright yellow and fitted together.
I've taken a few photos here to show how it compares to a real SD2 (the green one in the photo).
Part 6 paint 1.jpgPart 7 paint 2.jpgPart 7 paint 3.jpgPart 7 paint 4.jpg
 
THEN I DROPPED IT OUT OF THE BEDROOM WINDOW!:tinysmile_eyebrow_t
RESULT!
It fell fast (as you'd expect with such a large weight and small wing area)
It stayed upright.
It rotated in flight.
Thanks to the video I took its possible to see it stayed very stable in flight.
I was pleased with my little experiment and me (and the 3 kids) are some of the few people to have seen an SD2 flying.
So, now I'll have to find something higher to throw it off.
Attached a few final photos of the damage - one wing a bit strained and the arming wire suffered. Not too much damage to it though.
Dave.
Part 8 post flight damage 002.jpgPart 8 post flight damage 001.jpg
 
There was a article in Britain at war magazine about operation Barbarossa which had a picture of a bomber dropping SD2s, i never realized thy were dropped so low, not as low as your trial Dave, the crews called them devils eggs as there were instances of shrapnel from them hitting the aircraft..... Dave
 
millsbomber said:
There was a article in Britain at war magazine about operation Barbarossa which had a picture of a bomber dropping SD2s, i never realized thy were dropped so low, not as low as your trial Dave, the crews called them devils eggs as there were instances of shrapnel from them hitting the aircraft..... Dave
Click to expand...
Thanks Dave, seems like nobody liked them, the people dropping them or the people who they were dropped on (obviously).
Dave.
 
I have not received it . Can you poat it here for all to see?
John
 
Ingenious,I guess that would be about as close as you would get to the flight characteristics of the real thing,thanks for showing how it was made,
Regards,Don,
 
Here is few of these nasty little bombs i found from the North few years ago.I have not found complete shrapnel head yet(which does not have detonator on it),only half exploded pieces.But wings and arming wires are everywhere there.

Since then...i have found lots of more every year. :)

#1 and #2 labeled examples could restore nicely from the other parts on this picture.

View attachment 54797

Here is one of these complete shrapnel heads:
View attachment 54799
 
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