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TM 9-1980 "Bombs for Aircraft

D

Docphil

New Member
Hi everyone, firstly apologies if this has already been posted. I'm a newbie and did have a look but couldn't see that it had.

The attachment is a pdf of TM 9-1980 a US technical document detailing aircraft bombs produced by the USAAF in 1945. This is a paste of its purpose
"The purpose of this manual is to supply such information of a technical nature concerning aircraft bombs as may be necessary for their proper care, handling, identification, and use, and to sup- ply a convenient source of reference data."

If it's of interest please enjoy.

Phil
 

Attachments

  • 9-1980-Bombs-for-Aircraft (1).pdf
    18.9 MB · Views: 55
This is the 1950 edition of the TM-9-1980, superseding the 1942 and 1944 editions.
The 1942 edition indicates that it superseded the September 23 1940 edition - Has someone ever seen a copy of this first edition? It would be interesting to see the possible contributions to the development of US bombs appearing in this edition.
The 1940 edition of the TM-9-1980 apparently replaced the previous TR-1370G from September 1930.
 
Dreamk said:
This is the 1950 edition of the TM-9-1980, superseding the 1942 and 1944 editions.
The 1942 edition indicates that it superseded the September 23 1940 edition - Has someone ever seen a copy of this first edition? It would be interesting to see the possible contributions to the development of US bombs appearing in this edition.
The 1940 edition of the TM-9-1980 apparently replaced the previous TR-1370G from September 1930.
Click to expand...
I only have:

TR 1370-G - Miscellaneous Ammunition - Bombs For Aircraft (1930);
TM 9-1980 - Bombs for Aircraft (1944); and
TM 9-1980 - Bombs for Aircraft (1950).

I don't have:

TM 9-1980 - Bombs for Aircraft (1940); or
TM 9-1980 - Bombs for Aircraft (1942).
 
Indeed, in the "Ordnance Sergeant" review of November 1941 it is listed as :
Group S
TM-9-980 (TR-1370G) Bombs for Aircraft
and in the FM-26 "List of Publications for training" of Oct 1m 1940, it appears as:
TM-9-980 Bombs for Aircraft Sept. 23, 1940
 
Thanks!
Does someone knows whether similar douments existed for the US Navy bombs?
I have never seen any such a document, which is a pity as the Navy was the most advanced in the field of bomb development - they introduced the concept of cylindrical bombs already by the early 1920s, the prototypes produced in 1921-24 loooking quite similar to the bombs that entered in service at the end of the 1930s/ eraly 1940s with the Army
As an illustration, this picture from the US National Archives is dated April, 26, 1923 and shows the pre-production model of a USN 1000lbs bomb on a bomb hoist:

80-G-461869 View of 1000 LB bomb on bomb hoist, April 26, 1923. U.S. Navy Photograph, now in ...jpg

and this one from 1929 shows the bomb installation on a Boeing F4B-1 biplane - the bomb is labelled for the needs of the demonstartion "500lb MkIII Mod 1":

1929 USN 500lbs MkIII mod 1Screenshot under Boing F4B 2025-12-04 182722.jpg
 
Dreamk said:
Does someone knows whether similar douments existed for the US Navy bombs?
Click to expand...
Yes, there were similar documents. I ran across an early-war document in a book store about 30 years ago. Unfortunately, I was not particularly interested in the details of explosive ordnance back in the mid-90s and did not have any reason to buy it. Also unfortunately, I do not remember what it was called, but I think it was part of the general OP series.

When I did a quick search just now, I found reference to two manuals - OP 736 and OP 1019, which were replaced by "OP 1280 Aircraft Bombs" of 17 February 1945, and then by the Change 1 version of 20 August 1945. Based on the OP (Ordnance Pamphlet) series numbers, OP 1019 was probably issued in 1943, and the last edition of OP 736 was probably issued in 1940 or 1941(?).

I found the reference to earlier versions of "Aircraft Bombs" in "OP 0 Index of Ordnance Publications" from 1946, but there were at least 22 earlier editions (including the OP 736 and OP 1019 series?). There are also later editions.

See "https://www.bulletpicker.com/pdf/OP-0.pdf" for "OP 0 Index of Ordnance Publications" from 1946
 
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There is also the USNBD (US Navy Bomb Disposal) document "United States Bombs and Fuzes [and] Pyrotechnics" dated 1 September 1945 that has a lot of data on the USAAC/AAF and USN bombs used in WWII. I think it has been posted on this forum before, but if not. let me know and I will post it here.
 
Yes, indeed the USNBD began to publish relevant documents after 1944, and there is also the TM-9-1984 dated November 12, 1942, "Disposal of Americal and Allied Bombs and Fuzes" including data on USNavy bombs in service by these dates.
But before November 1942 (the date of Operation Torch and therefore after the introduction of the new standard AN-M series) I have been unable to find any written documentation on the development of these bombs, especially during the interwar period when the USNavy seems to have been at the spearhead of the development of new models of bombs that influenced later developments worldwide.
 
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NARA (National Archives and Records Administration) has a list (finding aid) of Ordnance Pamphlets issued from 1818-1967 on their website. From what I can tell these records have not yet been digitized, but perhaps they can provide a document title that would help in your search.

"https://maritime.org/doc/nara/ordnance.php"

The list is searchable, with the second column being the Ordnance Pamphlet number. Note that Ordnance Pamphlet 780 from 1940 is listed as TM 9-980 "Bombs for Aircraft", with 780-A from 1942 also listed as "Bombs for Aircraft", while OP 736 from 1938 is listed as "Aircraft Bomb and Fuze Characteristics", etc.

This is an area of interest to me as well - if I run across anything I will let you know.
 
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Several years ago I asked for a scan of this from NARA. This is what I was sent. It's a scan of a poor photocopy and this wasn't exactly cheap. Anyway, at least you can see what it contains. There is also a USNBD bomb guide from 1943 that has USN bombs. I will have to see where I have it. I think I scanned it and sent it to BulletPicker but have to check.
 

Attachments

  • OP 736 Aircraft bomb and bomb fuze characteristics.pdf
    6.4 MB · Views: 20
Thanks a lot . This is indeed an exceptional document, dated 1938. It includes among other goodies the details of the 1000lb Demolition bomb MklIII (Navy) that corresponds to this photography I posted for identification in a former thread (https://www.bocn.co.uk/threads/unknown-us-interwar-bombs.108894/) - the bomb on the right with this strange shaped tail.
The bomb on the left does not appear in the booklet - by comparaisonn with the otehr bomb it must also be a 1000lb order bomb - but the lenghtened body is simnilar to an experimental model from 1926 and a body similar to the USN bomb models of 1933 so it possibly is an earlier version of the 1000lb Navy Demolition bombv.
1930s Hawai bombs unknown.jpg
 
By looking at NARA list, It appears that there is a Navy's Ordnance Pamphlet "OP533 Bombs for Aircraft" dated October 25, 1930.
Although it seems to be different from the Army's "TR-1370 A, B, D, G from 1930" , one must note that the date of publication is identical (October 25, 1930).
 
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