Kilroy was Here
Well-Known Member
Not sure if this is the right category, but this item is similar to a smoke grenade, so put it here.
These Luftwafffe used Meldebchse See could be called a smoke grenade, except they had a watertight message compartment to insert messages or I guess whatever was needed to be transferred to a U-Boat or Ship.
Does someone have more information how these Meldebchse See smoke signal-message containers were employed and used???......I think they are very interesting and would like to know more about them.
1. Were they just thrown out of the window of a plane like a FW200 Condor or other recon. airplane that was at flying at low altitude and slow speed?
2. Or....did some planes have a special chute or a hatch to open and insert these into.. to be ejected or dropped out of the airplanes after lighting the fuze??
3. How would the smoke come out of canister once the smoke chemicals inside started burning?? I see no holes for smoke to escape? did it just burn through the top thin crimp seal of the aluminum tube at top? Maybe the smoke came out around the fuze?
4. Were these used mostly for transferring messages to U-boats or ships maybe to "maintain radio silence" or maybe when radios were not working or damaged? or possibly for messages that were too important to be sent by radio??
All i could find...........
Like the Meldebchse Land this canister is also to be thrown from an aircraft, but has a watertight construction to be used over sea.
After initiating the 1second delay fuze, the meldebchse emits yellow smoke for some 150seconds.
Not to be dropped from more then 150meters altitude
These Luftwafffe used Meldebchse See could be called a smoke grenade, except they had a watertight message compartment to insert messages or I guess whatever was needed to be transferred to a U-Boat or Ship.
Does someone have more information how these Meldebchse See smoke signal-message containers were employed and used???......I think they are very interesting and would like to know more about them.
1. Were they just thrown out of the window of a plane like a FW200 Condor or other recon. airplane that was at flying at low altitude and slow speed?
2. Or....did some planes have a special chute or a hatch to open and insert these into.. to be ejected or dropped out of the airplanes after lighting the fuze??
3. How would the smoke come out of canister once the smoke chemicals inside started burning?? I see no holes for smoke to escape? did it just burn through the top thin crimp seal of the aluminum tube at top? Maybe the smoke came out around the fuze?
4. Were these used mostly for transferring messages to U-boats or ships maybe to "maintain radio silence" or maybe when radios were not working or damaged? or possibly for messages that were too important to be sent by radio??
All i could find...........
Like the Meldebchse Land this canister is also to be thrown from an aircraft, but has a watertight construction to be used over sea.
After initiating the 1second delay fuze, the meldebchse emits yellow smoke for some 150seconds.
Not to be dropped from more then 150meters altitude
