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Inter-war Bombs


John Aero

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I need to find some information on the dimensions and colours of the interwar Bombs as carried by Hawker two seaters Hart/Hind, such as the 230lb,112lb.and the 20lb Cooper type.   I have some info but to my dismay many gaps on bombs but lots on guns. I believe that most "peacetime" bombs were Yellow ochre as apposed to Green.

 

Cheers

 

John

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22 minutes ago, John Aero said:

I believe that most "peacetime" bombs were Yellow ochre as apposed to Green.

The colour, from posts on here, was Buff, and was the classic colour for munitions apparently,  but as Mike say, the chap for this is @Selwyn

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Thank you gentlemen for all the replies. All the above replies are excellent.  I had searched through some of my books (mainly WW.1) and I hadn't come up with much inter-war developed bombs. That is, until I was just leaving my studio library last night and I spotted a book that someone had borrowed and returned recently. It contained coloured dimensioned drawings of some of the stuff I need. Doh ! I must try harder.

 

Cheers

 

John

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The best book I know of on British air-dropped weapons is Bombs Gone by Wg Cdr John A MacBean and Maj Arthur S Hogben (PSL, 1990) covering the period from 1912 to 1990.  Not a great deal on the pre-WW2 period but it sounds as if during "the barren years 1918-39" (chapter title) the RAF continued using WW1 ordnance, sometimes with minor modifications, right up to the appearance of the underwhelming GP range just before WW2.  The book has a number of what appear to be scale cross-section diagrams of WW1 ordnance (eg Bomb HE, RL 112lb Mks I and III and the 20 lb Cooper bomb) plus another diagram showing outlines of all the WWI weapons used in comparison with a (presumably 6') figure.  But nary a dimension in sight.  I expect you already have the book.  If not, and you think it may help your researches, I'd be happy to send you a few scans.  Drop me a PM if you do.

 

ISTR a brief half-page article on interwar ordnance in an old copy of the old Aircraft Illustrated Quarterly but that might take a little more tracking down and it may only be deal with bomb colours rather than the bombs themselves.

 

Hope this helps.

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While recently searching for something totally unrelated, I discovered The Provincial Archives of Alberta has put a fairly large number of their photos on Flickr. As I looked through them in my search, I found these. I don't know if they're of any use to you, but here they are.

 

 

49340263567_ff299189f3_b.jpg

 

49340263622_f8506a4583_b.jpg

 

49339584393_ecd2901123_b.jpg

 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/alberta_archives/

 

 

Chris

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  • 1 month later...

Prewar HE bombs were BS.58 Light Buff, which is slightly more yellow than Humbrol No. 7 of that name.  The ordnance documents colour names are not specific, dark green might be OK for armourers but not enough modelwise now.  Chemical containers i.e. smoke use is given as grey, but which grey?   I read that this might have been BS.381: No.30 French Grey but not confirmed yet.   I have been trying for years to discover the specification for colours on these armaments.  They must exist because the different manufacturers would have had to use a common colour on their product.   The Dark Green may have been BS.381: No. 23 Middle Bronze Green.

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  • 1 month later...

Hello all,

 

These two bomb cases are on display at the Finnish Air Force Museum at Tikkakoski AB. I believe they were purchased together with Blenheim bombers and arrived  Finland just before the war broke out.

 

spacer.png

 

Cheers,

Antti

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On 2/10/2020 at 10:21 AM, Mike Starmer said:

Prewar HE bombs were BS.58 Light Buff, which is slightly more yellow than Humbrol No. 7 of that name.  The ordnance documents colour names are not specific, dark green might be OK for armourers but not enough modelwise now.  Chemical containers i.e. smoke use is given as grey, but which grey?   I read that this might have been BS.381: No.30 French Grey but not confirmed yet.   I have been trying for years to discover the specification for colours on these armaments.  They must exist because the different manufacturers would have had to use a common colour on their product.   The Dark Green may have been BS.381: No. 23 Middle Bronze Green.

Mike,

 

According to "INTER-SERVICE AMMUNITION AND AMMUNITION PACKAGE MARKINGS 1947 WO code 1803 "  chemical bombs were painted BS 381c 632. The bombs were painted in Bs224 Deep bronze green. ( Previously known as AM 6).

Although a postwar standard there would be no reason for colours to have changed  from the prewar standard.

 I can furnish you with a copy if you wish.

 

Selwyn

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And another two to add to the files:

 

https://rnzaoc.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/interservice-ammunition-and-package-markings-1945.pdf

 

https://rnzaoc.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/joint-services-ammunition-and-ammunition-package-markings-handbook-1964.pdf

 

Similar stuff naturally, but one dated 1945 and the other 1964..should help.

 

Cheers,

Pete M.

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