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Identification - Aircraft Bomb

ammocat

ammocat

Well-Known Member
Ordnance approved
I am hoping someone can identify what type of aircraft bomb this may be. The piece is 88cm long and I estimate the diameter would have been 28 - 30cm. There are no markings on the bomb body. From the edge of the body and inside portion of the fuze adapter the bomb had an HE burster, but due to the large piece remaining was likely not a GP or HE bomb. The fuze adapter is marked with NOS or SON. The profile is similar to the US AN-M57 250lb Bomb which is 27.7cm in diameter and 115cm long. Based on the location found, I believe it to be US or UK design and likely used between the early 1940's and mid 1970's. Unfortunately, that is all I have to go on. Any ideas?

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Does the piece protruding from what would be the nose fuze well unscrew? What is the diameter and thread mtch of te hole in the nose piece? it looks like it could be a U.S. bomb, with an early design fuze extender.
 
Hazord, the fuze adaptor (peice protruding) is loose and if the remains of the burster tube was not so damaged I would be able to slide it out of the front of the bomb body. It appears that the fuze adapter was press fit into place. The fuze adapter is one piece steel with a light metal burster tube attached. The fuze adapter is threaded internally and there is a collar inside that appears to be holding the top of the burster tube. The inside diameter of the fuze adapter is 36mm. The thread appears to be 12/inch ( I counted 12 ridges over 1 inch in length).

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Well, its strange that the adaptor wasn't welded into place in the nose. Your 36mm diameter converts over to 1.4 inches, which is one of the standard smaller diameters for U.S. fuzes.
 
The profile looks a little like an M70....
 
US-Subs, I looked up the M70, the profile certainly seems to fit but the diameter seems off. The M70 was 8 inch in diameter. Measuring from the center of the fuze adaptor to the outside edge of the side of the body I get 5.5 inches, so roughly a 11 inch diameter. There could be some factor of error here since I am dealing with a piece of the bomb and there was some distortion of the body on functioning. I have found some other bombs with a diameter I believe to be closer, but from the diagrams I have, none of the nose profiles fit. They are all too round. The profile of the M70 115lb and Mk 42 100lb both seem to match, is it possible there is enough distortion to the body to cause my diameter measurement to be off by 1.5 inches for the radius I have?
 
It is certainly possible, post blast 1-2 inches isn't much of a difference. I saw an 8-inch spotting projectile once which had bulged nearly two inches in diameter, so uniformly it looked factory done.

Have you looked over the body for stamped markings? US bombs were normally stamped, the location was supposed to be between the lugs or just above the tail, both top centerline, but I have seen field recoveries where we found the markings off as much as 90 degrees. It is possible you may have some markings.
 
There is a "I" stamped into the body. The letter is 1cm high and is near the nose of the bomb. You can see it near the point in the metal.

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Does anyone have a photograph of a 115 lb M70 bomb. I have the drawing but would like to get a photo.
 
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