Help to ID Unknown Piece of WW2 Ordnance

[Dave]

All:

 

I know next to nothing about bombs, mortars, and such, but found this in the possession of the family of one of the guys I'm writing about. I know he served in both the ETO and PTO, as both Armed Guard on merchant vessels and on "grey hulls" - an LST that was on several assaults in 1945. He ended the war in Tokyo Bay, and had the certificate of being present during the surrender documents. Anyway, all that to say that I haven't a clue what this is or when he would have picked it up. On the Murmansk Run? In the Med? In the Pacific?

 

Does anyone have any idea what this kind of tail belonged to? Thanks!

 

Dave

 

[Dave]

And a second photo. There were no markings that I could find on it. ANY help is appreciated!

[AAF_Collection]

Dave, it looks like the tail from a luftwaffe incendiary bomb http://www.specialistauctions.com/auctiondetails.php?id=1444935

 

Matt

[pzjgr]

Yes, its the back end of the 1kg incendiary bomb...the fin part...it was secured to the bomb with three (IIRC) rivets...the body of the bomb was magnesium, with an impact fuze, and detonation mixture. The detonating mixture was set off by the nose fuse, which ignited the magnesium body, which of course burns extremely hot, and cannot be extinguished with water (hence the buckets of sand kept handy in cities like London during WWII, smothering was effective with these...

 

Probably picked up from one of the towns/cities he was in in England that got hit by the Luftwaffe...

[Dave]

Guys:

 

Thank you so much! I did a bit of googling after it was IDed and sure enough, that is what I think it is. While on the Murmansk Run, the Germans dropped these on his ship according to the voyage report (they were trying to catch the topside material on fire) so that's where he likely picked this up. Very interesting.

Thank you again!

 

Dave

[Coconut Harry]

Hi Dave, this bomb tail you show is the tail of a German 1kg B1-EL incendiary cluster bomblett....

so it came from the ETO- or on the Murmansk Run or In the Med. as you mention...they were used extensively to firebomb London and other British cites...... nasty little things

 

Regards, Steve

 

 

Here is a picture of what they look like complete....there 350mm or about 14 inches

 

Here's some info about these bombletts:

 

The B1-EL is the simpelest of a series of light incendiary cluster- and dispenser bombs of which the body is made of Elektron and had a thermite filling. The bomb comes in a variaty of types, other types have a small explosive charge placed to the base (B1-EL ZA) or in the Nose fuze (B1-EL ZB), either modifications in the fuzing system. There are also various types in the 1,3 and 2 kg series that are pending on the same principal design.

Build up of the bomb:
The body of the bomb is an Elektron (92% Magnesium + 5% aluminiun + 3% zinc) piece of pipe, tapered at the base, and internally threaded to receive the base plug. The Top of the body is internally threaded to receive the Fuze AZ.13. Near the top of the body, six holes are drilled as an initial flame escape.
The tail is a three piece (pressed - spotwelded) metal sheet assembly that fits over the tapered base of the bodt. It is held in place by three small rivets.

The fuze used is the AZ 13 (also called AZ.8312). It is a simple impact fuze with no safety features. Before loading the bomb into the Clusterbomb or dispenser, a safety pin is to be removed (hole on right). At impact the inertia block, housing the firing cap (red)overcomes the spring, pushing the firing cap into the firing pin. The body of the fuze is Elektron, the inner parts of the fuze are brass made.
Earlier types of AZ.13 had a steel body.

Above the fuze , a split collar spacer is placed (ring with holes), above it a disc spacer is placed. On top of these two a disc with a small detonator (yellow) is placed that is used to ignite the thermite. The collar spacer enshures the flames can leave the holes through the side of the bomb after ignition. The holes are (off factory) plugged of with wax and a piece of tape goes round the body –over the holes- to enshure the bombs are moisture proof (thermite is very sensitive to moisture)

Functioning of the bomb:
If the bomb falls to the ground, nose down, the firing cap hits the firing pin. The flame of the firing cap (red) ignites the small detonator (yelow), which on its turn ignites the main charge of thermite. First, the flames will appear from the holes in the side, however soon the whole elektron body and fuze will catch fire.
A fire of Thermite and the elektron body burns very hot, appr. 2000 degr celsius and is difficult to extinguish. Using water to extinguish the bomb will make the bomb burn more fierce.

Weight of the bomb : 1 kg.
Diameter of bomb : 50mm.
Length of bomb : 350mm.
Filling : 680 grams of thermite

A B1-EL dropped from 2000 mtrs height is able to penetrate 5cm of reinforced concrete. However I suppose this data only counts for the older type of B1-El that had a steel nose fuze body.
The bomb was meant to be used in build up areas and industrial areas.

It was used in the bombs and dispensers: AB 42 , AB 70D1, AB 250-2 (224 pcs), BSB 360/700/1000 container (320/570/702 pcs), AB 500-1 (392 pcs), ABB 500 (133 pcs).
During production of the cutaway model it occured to me that the spring that keeps the firing cap away from the firing pin is quite strong. Therefore, an impact of considerable speed is required to enshure ignition. There must have been quite a number of duds.

 

NOTE: The early type was the one of Aluminum (Elektron) and because of the poor penetration capability on roof chindles (low weight) it was changed into steel. Those of Aluminum that have been seen so far were alle Pre-war production.
Concerning the designation (those I have seen):
AZ 13 = Steel
AZ 8312* = Aluminum

 

Although the available HE bombs possessed great destructive power, perhaps the most potent bombs remained the incendiarieswhich, dropped in profusion in 1940/41,caused £Ms worth of fire damage and virtually burnt out whole Districts of British cities. However, since they were so often used in combination with blast bombs, their combination could be regarded as a composite weapons system.

In an attempt to make these weapons even more effective, and to defeat the fire-fighters efforts, the Germans introduced explosive charges into the nose or tail of some incendiary bombs. The charge was initiated either by the heat of combustion, or by a more complicated device that incorporated a delay of about 7 minutes. The various versions of this bomb included the letter Z in their designation, indicating explosive charge. Thus the standard B1El incendiary bomb fitted with an explosive charge detonated by heat was designated B1EL ZA, and that detonated by a delay B1El ZB.

The type used in the Battle of Britain was the tiny B1El, a 1kg bomblet known as the brandbombe, 1kg Elektron, hence B1El. The consisted of a cylinder of Magnesium Alloy (Elektron), with an incendiary filling of Thermite. These weapons, which burnt with a heat sufficient to melt steel, were ignited by a small percussion charge in the nose which fired on impact.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pzjgr]

Yes, incendiaries were often dropped in conjunction with HE to magnify the effect...this technique was used by Lemay to great effect bombing Japan. Knowing that cities (ie Tokyo) in Japan heavily used wood and paper and such in their construction, Lemay sent in bombers with incendiaries first to get things lit, then HE which would blow the kindling as it were all over the place...very effective, reducing Tokyo to ashes...

 

One of the reason Hiroshima and Nagasaki were picked for the Bombs is because they were relatively unscathed, and the destructive power of the bombs could be more accurately gauged. Dropping it on Tokyo since Tokyo was already in ruins wouldn't show the true destructive nature of the atom....