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Romanian bombs 1915
- Thread starter Dreamk
- Start date
Hello!
Yes, these are Romanian aircraft bombs produced on a small scale between 1915-1916. So far not much is known about them.
The photo you posted comes from a short memoir book "Amintiri de colaborare cu Vintilă Brătianu la fabricarea de muniții și armament în țară" published in 1936. It publishes memoirs about the activity of research, development and production of various ammunition and military products in the neutrality period, before Romania joined ww1, and also during ww1. The photo can be found at page 65.
Not much is known about those bombs. The text mentions that there were two weights that were experimented, namely 15 and 25kg, as you mentioned. This is the full weight of the bomb, including the shell, fuze and explosive content. The text also mentions that they experimented with various fillings (fast burning black powder, sodium chlorate, potassium chlorate, ammonal, etc) but does not say what was the final decision. The bombs were manufactured in the CFR - București Nord workshops, with some of the explosive, like the sodium chlorate being manufactured at CFR - Grivița. (CFR stands for Căile Ferate Române - Romanian National Railways. Their repair shops had sufficient workforce and tooling to start production on various military projects, like fuzes, artillery shells, etc.) .
Another fragment from an article published in the "România Aeriană" magazine mentions that there were two bombs developed, the Drosescu incendiary bomb (named after its inventor, engineer I. Drosescu working at Pirotehnia Armatei / Military Pyrotechnic works). This was a sheet metal bomb, with walls of 0,8mm steel sheet. This is the only information i have so far, and from this we can be sure that the bombs in that image are not the Drosescu ones. The second bomb was invented by I. Recuciu, quality assurance engineer at Pirotehnia Armatei.
Unfortunately this is the only info i have so far. If i will be able to find more, i`ll chime back in.
Yes, these are Romanian aircraft bombs produced on a small scale between 1915-1916. So far not much is known about them.
The photo you posted comes from a short memoir book "Amintiri de colaborare cu Vintilă Brătianu la fabricarea de muniții și armament în țară" published in 1936. It publishes memoirs about the activity of research, development and production of various ammunition and military products in the neutrality period, before Romania joined ww1, and also during ww1. The photo can be found at page 65.
Not much is known about those bombs. The text mentions that there were two weights that were experimented, namely 15 and 25kg, as you mentioned. This is the full weight of the bomb, including the shell, fuze and explosive content. The text also mentions that they experimented with various fillings (fast burning black powder, sodium chlorate, potassium chlorate, ammonal, etc) but does not say what was the final decision. The bombs were manufactured in the CFR - București Nord workshops, with some of the explosive, like the sodium chlorate being manufactured at CFR - Grivița. (CFR stands for Căile Ferate Române - Romanian National Railways. Their repair shops had sufficient workforce and tooling to start production on various military projects, like fuzes, artillery shells, etc.) .
Another fragment from an article published in the "România Aeriană" magazine mentions that there were two bombs developed, the Drosescu incendiary bomb (named after its inventor, engineer I. Drosescu working at Pirotehnia Armatei / Military Pyrotechnic works). This was a sheet metal bomb, with walls of 0,8mm steel sheet. This is the only information i have so far, and from this we can be sure that the bombs in that image are not the Drosescu ones. The second bomb was invented by I. Recuciu, quality assurance engineer at Pirotehnia Armatei.
Unfortunately this is the only info i have so far. If i will be able to find more, i`ll chime back in.
Last edited:
Some new info, this time without photos.
There was another incendiary bomb designed by eng. M. Cioc, which was homologated and the first 1000 bombs were produced at Arsenalul Armatei by the end of october 1916. These were sent to the recce aviation units.
Source: Valeriu Avram, Aeronautica română în Războiul de Întregire Națională (1916-1919), 2012, Editura Militară, p. 82
There was another incendiary bomb designed by eng. M. Cioc, which was homologated and the first 1000 bombs were produced at Arsenalul Armatei by the end of october 1916. These were sent to the recce aviation units.
Source: Valeriu Avram, Aeronautica română în Războiul de Întregire Națională (1916-1919), 2012, Editura Militară, p. 82
There may be a confusion concerning these last bombs:
Engineer M. Cioc was in charge of coordinating the transformation of some civilian factories (such as „Fabrica de Ustensile de Menaj de Tablă Emailată Ing. J.Katz" in Filaret, Bucharest) to produce bomb bodies and ammunition elements.
In 1928 he published in the "Buletinul Societății Politehnice" a concluding report of this activity under teh title „Contribuția industriei naționale la fabricarea materialelor de război și rolul ei în timpul războiului de dezrobirea neamului” ["The contribution of the national industry to the manufacture of war materials and its role during the war for the emancipation of the nation"]
In this report there is mention in July 1916 of a command for 20 000 aviation bombs of 16kg made locally.
Such 16kg bombs appear sometimes under the denomination "bombs M. Cioc"
However, there seems to be a confusion here with what is often designated as the heavy variant of the "Drogescu" bombs
The "Drosescu" bomb, designed by engineer Drosescu, was first used in the fall of 1916, being hand dropped fusiform bombs with fragmentation and incendiary/destructive effect.
The "Drosescu" bombs were produced in light variants, the most documented being the 10 kg and 12 kg models and a heavier 16 kg variant .
In September 1916 In response to German zeppelin attacks on Bucharest, Romanian aviators (including Lieutenant Eugeniu Iorgulescu) carried out long-range strategic raids. Three 16 kg "Drosescu" type bombs directly hit a wing of the Royal Palace in Sofia (Bulgaria), causing a major fire and a strong psychological effect on the enemy.
BTW there is also a much less documented "Negrescu" bomb represents one of the first models of aviation ammunition of Romanian design, being created out of necessity in the improvised workshops of the Romanian Aviation Corps in the fall of 1916. Named after its designer, Captain Engineer (later General) Gheorghe Negrescu , the third licensed aviator in Romania and one of the country's first military aviation engineers, the "Negrescu" bomb was made by adapting artillery projectiles.
There is also mention of an earlier improvised device, the "Nicolescu" bomb, designed by Lt. Vasile Niculescu.
Concerning M. Cioc, it is worth to mention that the historic contract through which the IAR (Romanian Aeronautical Industry) factories began operating in Brașov was signed on behalf of the company by L. Fabre and engineer M. Cioc , alongside the Minister of War at the time, General Gheorghe Mărdărescu.
Engineer M. Cioc was in charge of coordinating the transformation of some civilian factories (such as „Fabrica de Ustensile de Menaj de Tablă Emailată Ing. J.Katz" in Filaret, Bucharest) to produce bomb bodies and ammunition elements.
In 1928 he published in the "Buletinul Societății Politehnice" a concluding report of this activity under teh title „Contribuția industriei naționale la fabricarea materialelor de război și rolul ei în timpul războiului de dezrobirea neamului” ["The contribution of the national industry to the manufacture of war materials and its role during the war for the emancipation of the nation"]
In this report there is mention in July 1916 of a command for 20 000 aviation bombs of 16kg made locally.
Such 16kg bombs appear sometimes under the denomination "bombs M. Cioc"
However, there seems to be a confusion here with what is often designated as the heavy variant of the "Drogescu" bombs
The "Drosescu" bomb, designed by engineer Drosescu, was first used in the fall of 1916, being hand dropped fusiform bombs with fragmentation and incendiary/destructive effect.
The "Drosescu" bombs were produced in light variants, the most documented being the 10 kg and 12 kg models and a heavier 16 kg variant .
In September 1916 In response to German zeppelin attacks on Bucharest, Romanian aviators (including Lieutenant Eugeniu Iorgulescu) carried out long-range strategic raids. Three 16 kg "Drosescu" type bombs directly hit a wing of the Royal Palace in Sofia (Bulgaria), causing a major fire and a strong psychological effect on the enemy.
BTW there is also a much less documented "Negrescu" bomb represents one of the first models of aviation ammunition of Romanian design, being created out of necessity in the improvised workshops of the Romanian Aviation Corps in the fall of 1916. Named after its designer, Captain Engineer (later General) Gheorghe Negrescu , the third licensed aviator in Romania and one of the country's first military aviation engineers, the "Negrescu" bomb was made by adapting artillery projectiles.
There is also mention of an earlier improvised device, the "Nicolescu" bomb, designed by Lt. Vasile Niculescu.
Concerning M. Cioc, it is worth to mention that the historic contract through which the IAR (Romanian Aeronautical Industry) factories began operating in Brașov was signed on behalf of the company by L. Fabre and engineer M. Cioc , alongside the Minister of War at the time, General Gheorghe Mărdărescu.