British 500lb armour piercing- bombs

[sprue tweeker]

The Vickers Vildebeests that took part in the first attack at Endau carried 3 number 500lb armour-piercing bombs each, according to Christopher Shores in Bloody Shambles Volume 2.

I cannot find any details of these bombs, I need 3 for my 1/72 scale Vildebeest. I am happy to buy or adapt 500lb GP bombs, just need a supplier or details.

Help please.

[Graham Boak]

I don't know of any 500lb AP - there was a 500lb SAP which had the same shape as the prewar family of bombs but a conical tip to the nose. However, there is also a reference to a 450lb AP bomb as having been used early in the war, and this is described as being of similar construction to the long thin 2000lb AP bomb. The 500lb SAP should be easy to find/modify for a model, but not so the 450lb AP. Hopefully, Selwyn will come along with better information.

[Troy Smith]

The Vickers Vildebeests that took part in the first attack at Endau carried 3 number 500lb armour-piercing bombs each, according to Christopher Shores in Bloody Shambles Volume 2.

I cannot find any details of these bombs, I need 3 for my 1/72 scale Vildebeest. I am happy to buy or adapt 500lb GP bombs, just need a supplier or details.

Help please.

as Graham says, Selwyn is the chap for this.

details are most likely in this book

Bombs Gone: Development and Use of British Air-dropped Weapons from 1912 to Present Day

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bombs-Gone-Development-British-Air-dropped/dp/1852600608

I have it, but am away from it, it's an interesting read, the chapter on testing of British bombs pre WWII is fascinating... we have a bomb we'll drop from an aeroplane, but we'll test it by firing it through a series of concrete slabs.... leading to bombs that had a 20-25% failure rate....

I digress.

HTH

T

[Selwyn]

The Vickers Vildebeests that took part in the first attack at Endau carried 3 number 500lb armour-piercing bombs each, according to Christopher Shores in Bloody Shambles Volume 2.

I cannot find any details of these bombs, I need 3 for my 1/72 scale Vildebeest. I am happy to buy or adapt 500lb GP bombs, just need a supplier or details.

Help please.

As Graham says there was never a 500lb Armour Piercing (AP) bomb, just a 500lb Semi Armour Piercing (SAP)bomb. When you think about it AP bombs at that time penetrated using kinetic energy and 500lb bomb woudn't really have enough oomph to get through any thick armour when dropped from planes of that era (especially biplanes) which carried a maximum 500lb to 1000lb bombload, and couldn't achieve any great altitude when loaded. Hence the bomb only being designated as SAP. As it was these bombs were pretty useless anyway, If they did penetrate anything the explosive content was so low the charge weight ratio was less than 20% (89-90Lb TNT) they wouldn't do much damage if or when they exploded (they were not very reliable).

I can send you a datasheet on the bomb with dimensions etc which should help with converting a 500lb GP I will contact you off board.

To me the best hidden scandal of WW2 was how useless and unreliable the RAF bombs were in the first years of the war.

My heart goes out to brave airmen like Garland Grey and Reynolds who were sent on suicide missions with unreliable weaponry that if they did work wouldn't scratch the target anyway. Heads should have rolled but it was all hushed up.

Bloody shambles? Indeed.

Selwyn

Edited May 26, 2016 by Selwyn

[Graham Boak]

You don't mention, so presumably don't have any information on, this obsolescent 450lb AP?

Regarding the penetration capability of a 500lb bomb, not every target was a battleship. The Illustrious class carrier had an armoured deck, so rightly praised, which was nonetheless only capable of withstanding a hit from 250lb bomb. Or was that 250kg? Either way, the 250kg and 500kg German bombs went through to the hangar deck.

The Vildebeeste was a biplane capable of carrying a torpedo weighing 1600lb or over. So a load of 3x450lb (or 500lb SAPs) was within its capabilities. Such types (Swordfish, Albacore) were also capable of dive-bombing, if not at any great speed, but it all helps. Presumably both types of bomb would have been available from stores at Singapore, stocked up in peacetime and never drawn on. I would assume that the SAP would be a more suitable weapon than an AP, but that may not have been the way that it seemed at the time.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Graham Boak

[Finn]

The info here (warning 50MB file):

http://www.lexpev.nl/downloads/britishexplosiveordnance1946.pdf

has details, colour, markings and drawings of various British ordnance including SAP bombs.

Jari

[Slater]

A bit off topic, but if anyone is interested in a technical look at RAF incendiary bombs during WWII, the following 227 page document makes a decent read. It was published by the Ministry Of Supply in 1946. A few pages are somewhat faded but overall fairly readable:

http://www.dtic.mil/get-tr-doc/pdf?AD=ADA474302

[sprue tweeker]

Chaps

You have helped no end, SAP's it will be.

Selwyn has been in contact and I have copied the 50 meg file with all the details necessary, need to get on with it now, no excuses!

Thanks again for your help

Sprue Tweeker

[ClaudioN]

Bombs that did actual damage to Illustrious were 500 kg AP, which is much heavier (= 1,100 lb)

http://www.armouredcarriers.com/adm26783/2014/10/16/illustrious-january-10-damage-report-bomb-shell

I think Vildebeestes at Endau were targeting transports and their escorts, so the loadout at least seems justified.

Edited May 29, 2016 by ClaudioN