Romanian Bombs WW2

[Irod7]

Thanks for your replies, but my question was only about the lower bomb model in the photos, not about the sectioned ones. There are a total of 5 such bombs on display in the aviation hall at the National Military Museum in Bucharest. They are:
1. One sectioned bomb with incomplete fuze
2. One sectioned bomb with a complete fuze
3. One sectioned bomb with a complete fuze and no HE dummy filling
4. One unsectioned bomb with no nose fuze and weird tail section
5. Same as 4.

All the three first bombs have german PuW fuzes. Bomb 3 is clearly the night fragmetation bomb, whereas bombs 1 and 2 have the stepped inner profile but lack the illumination charge (they are probably missing and the painting of the section cut is not correct). Bombs 1 and 3 have holes in the fins for the polish-style vertical suspension eyelet, bomb 2 has the classic tail.

Bombs 5 and 4 have almost the same length as the PuW bombs (745mm, missing 5mm), no fuze and a completely different tail, made from three relatively complex sheet metal stampings. They form three straight fins and have a central tubular well that has two holes for a suspension eyelet (unknown exactly for what purpose, since the Barbieri launcher holds them horizontally with a wire). With this construction I would say it`s clear that these are dummy training bombs, but my question was mostly about their origin, because i think they are Romanian. I was hoping you can confirm or infirm this, based on your observations of other nation`s usage of these bombs (especially Poland).

Regarding your other comments, i don`t think there are Polish bombs without swept tails, because the fuze has a centrifugal safety system and without the bomb spinning, the fuze cannot work. Or maybe the Poles removed the centrifugal blocks from their model of fuze? I`m not sure, but i highly doubt it.

 

[Dreamk]

Well it's obvious from the new posted photos that bomb 3 is indeed not a Polish wz37 but some kind of training bomb.

As I said the 2 upper bombs on the first initial photograph are pobably Romanian made as the HE filling fills also the tail - something unseen on German and Polish made bombs.

The upper bomb on the second initial photograph (the one without dummy HE filling) is definitively a Polish made 12.5kg Assault bomb (intended to be dropped at around 150m height instead of 300m) the shape of teh cavity is characteristic -see diagram e)

Note that though the Polish PuW bombs did not have a folded fin tip, the angle of the base of the fins on the tail seems to have been sufficient to spin the bomb as the fuze used appear to be indeed a clone of the classic PuW centrifugal one as seen on teh schema below.

 

[Irod7]

As I said the 2 upper bombs on the first initial photograph are pobably Romanian made as the HE filling fills also the tail - something unseen on German and Polish made bombs.

The upper bomb on the second initial photograph (the one without dummy HE filling) is definitively a Polish made 12.5kg Assault bomb (intended to be dropped at around 150m height instead of 300m) the shape of teh cavity is characteristic -see diagram e)

Note that though the Polish PuW bombs did not have a folded fin tip, the angle of the base of the fins on the tail seems to have been sufficient to spin the bomb as the fuze used appear to be indeed a clone of the classic PuW centrifugal one as seen on teh schema below.

The HE filling in the tail is nonrealistic and is the result of an error due to lack of knowledge made by the person that made the cutaway and painting. This is unfortunately seen in other bombs in the museum`s collection where this is much more evident (wall contour clearly visible but overpainted with filling color). I think the ones with dummy filling were of the same type as the one without filling, but missing the smoke container. Without knowing where the bottom of the bomb is and how it closes, they filled the tailpiece as well and painted it in HE color.

The upper bomb on the second initial photograph (the one without dummy HE filling) is definitively a Polish made 12.5kg Assault bomb (intended to be dropped at around 150m height instead of 300m) the shape of teh cavity is characteristic -see diagram e)

I agree with you that it`s a Polish bomb, but the cavity is not a direct indication of an assault bomb, the tailfins are. According to the pages you sent (i already had them, but at a very low resolution - so thank you) the diagram C shows an assault bomb, D is a day fragmentation bomb (with a liquid smoke material in the rear) and E is a night fragmentation bomb (with luminous signaling material). From what i understand, the "assault" configuration relates only to the type of tailfins used (and that reflects in the drawing as well - only bombs B and C are described as the assault version, and are the only ones that show the heavy twist on the tailfins) so in theory, any type of bomb could be configured for this use.