Question for the Bomb'eds - RAF Twin Practice Bomb carriers

[Dave Fleming]

Not the CBLS units, but their predecessors which carried two practice bomblets side by side. Does anyone know what their designation was?

[smeds]

When I got to Brawdy in the early 90's, they were called PBC's as in Practice Bomb carriers. They were usually loaded with 2 x 28lb PB's on the Hunters.

Made me laugh, because when i was in training at Cosford they showed us one and said, "You probably won't see these, these are known as PBC's".

As for designation, not a clue, sorry.

[Finn]

Are these what you are looking for:

http://www.freightdogmodels.co.uk/popup_im...e57cd32f157005b

Jari

[Catbird]

I have a 1/72 set of those. Ive had them for 20 odd years. Im sure they are from the Frog/Novo Harrier GR1. Maybe someone can confirm this? Im afraid I dont know the official RAF designation for them

[Test Graham]

They were in the original Hasegawa kit which re-appeared in Frog boxes. I don't know offhand whether the Frog/Novo one kit was the same tooling or one of the few Frog retooled for their own use.

I used to know what they were called - isn't it infuriating! I've a feeling they were also Carrier Bomb Light Stores, but can't confirm that as Practice Bomb Carriers is also ringing bells.

Edited May 12, 2012 by Graham Boak

[Finn]

According to the key of a Hawker Hunter cutaway drawing, it's a ML twin stores carrier.

Jari

[Dave Fleming]

- They were in the original Hasegawa/Frog kit (Hence the interest - used on early Harriers)

- The Harrier was one of the tools Frog copied - it's still available from Eastern Express, and the Hasegawa tool pops up from time to time

- another source suggets they were called External Practice Bomb Carriers, but Carrier, Bomb, Light Stores sounds suitably military as well!

[Finn]

They are avaiable in resin as per the link i posted earlier, from here:

http://www.freightdogmodels.co.uk/product_...1e75da5123e50ec

Jari

[Dave Fleming]

They are avaiable in resin as per the link i posted earlier, from here:

http://www.freightdogmodels.co.uk/product_...1e75da5123e50ec

Jari

Thanks Jari,

I'm looking for the designation for writtenproject I'm working on, rather than a model

[Test Graham]

When I was at Kingston, the section I was with dealt mainly with the combat weapons, not the practice ones, so these are more difficult to remember. I've been through the remains of what I kept, but in the payload diagrams the stores themselves are named but not the carrier. I did find a Pilot Press cutaway of the GR Mk.3 which referred to a "Twin light stores carrier". This must be distinguished from the Twin Store Carrier, which was for the inboard pylon and a much heftier piece of kit. This did feature in the original Airfix kit for the outboard pylon as well, but only with Lepus flares.

I do wonder, thinking of the way the Ministry worked, whether Carrier Light Stores may have been the correct designation? The other thought that is ticking away is that the later streamlined casing was called the CBLS 200 - I do wonder about the CBLS 100 as a title.

There is an ML website, and I've left a message there asking for help. This assumes that it was an ML piece of kit.

I've also found this piece of information

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/vie...20-%202661.html

This is the CBLS that replaced the carrier, but I thought it interesting.

Or on another site, this quote

"You're referring to the External Practice Bomb Carrier designed to carry 2 x 25lb Practice Bombs."

http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/threads/8000...b-Carrier-(PBC)

It refers to AP1664A Bomb and Supply Carriers, but points out that, as with most such documents, out-of-date pages are routinely destroyed.

Edited May 12, 2012 by Graham Boak

[Selwyn]

When I was at Kingston, the section I was with dealt mainly with the combat weapons, not the practice ones, so these are more difficult to remember. I've been through the remains of what I kept, but in the payload diagrams the stores themselves are named but not the carrier. I did find a Pilot Press cutaway of the GR Mk.3 which referred to a "Twin light stores carrier". This must be distinguished from the Twin Store Carrier, which was for the inboard pylon and a much heftier piece of kit. This did feature in the original Airfix kit for the outboard pylon as well, but only with Lepus flares.

I do wonder, thinking of the way the Ministry worked, whether Carrier Light Stores may have been the correct designation? The other thought that is ticking away is that the later streamlined casing was called the CBLS 200 - I do wonder about the CBLS 100 as a title.

There is an ML website, and I've left a message there asking for help. This assumes that it was an ML piece of kit.

I've also found this piece of information

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/vie...20-%202661.html

This is the CBLS that replaced the carrier, but I thought it interesting.

Or on another site, this quote

"You're referring to the External Practice Bomb Carrier designed to carry 2 x 25lb Practice Bombs."

http://www.bocn.co.uk/vbforum/threads/8000...b-Carrier-(PBC)

It refers to AP1664A Bomb and Supply Carriers, but points out that, as with most such documents, out-of-date pages are routinely destroyed.

Graham

Just to clarify the CBLS 100 and 200 Question for you, these are actually two different items.

The CBLS 100 was carried on Harrier Jaguar Buccaneer Hawk etc, and was designed to carry (initially) four 4lb practice bombs or Two 28 lb practice bombs on the rear stations only. The CBLS 100 was not long enough to carry four of the bigger PB's. There was a switch inside that selected 2 or four of the ERU's for each configuration. They then modified the ERU jaws to allow the carriage of the 3kg practice bomb (the 4 lb bomb replacement) or two 14kg practice bombs. (the 28lb bomb replacement)

The only major configuration change on the CBLS 100 was when fitted to Jaguar, the long Flat "tail" was replaced with a much shorter version on some for use on the Jag centreline station, it allowed two CBLS 100 to be carried, one behind the other on that station.

There was three different marks of CBLS 100 I believe the changes were all internal with more modern electrical systems being progressively introduced.

The CBLS 200 was introduced for Tornado. the main visual difference being that the body of the CBLS is longer. This extra length permits the carriage of four 3kg or four 14kg practice bombs.

Selwyn

[anciebtarmourer]

During my time 1955-95, these were known as 25lb external practice bomb carriers and were a pale blue in colour.