Color of British WWII GP bombs

[Plumbum]

I have an old mold Airfix Lancaster to do and want to open the bombay.

What color were the general purpose bombs and the cookie? Airfix says

it's green.---John

[stevehnz]

This has been discussed on here before but the search engine on here is not great. Try a google search for britmodeller raf ww2 bomb colour. This works well for pretty much any subject. Fwiw, I think that later in the war, green was correct but which green, well that's another question. I'm sure the answer will be in one of the hits on the search.

Steve.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, guess it's another can of worms. I followed the links and got pale yellow,

light green, bronze green, brown and O.D. I think I'll try to nail down color to 1942

time line. I know the U.S. used yellow very early, I believe the B-25s on the Tokyo Raid

in early 1942 had yellow bombs. If I use 6 yellow GP bombs would the cookie also be

yellow? That's Airfix's suggested load.---John

[Graham Boak]

Yellow, or buff, was the prewar standard, and this will have seen seen well into the war on the prewar British long shapely bombs.  Tails and bodies for these were stored separately so a combination of colours could be seen.  Wartime bombs were indeed a bronze green - hopefully Selwyn will post with greater precision.  Many US bombs or bomb bodies were used later in the war and presumably these will have been olive drab.

 

The cookie was not Yellow, but I'm not sure when it was introduced.  I think 1942 should be OK. 

 

[Jure Miljevic]

Off the top of my head, Deep Buff for bombs. I think that was also a colour of FAA torpedo warheads, and also a colour of a ring, indicating the position of a warhead on Red Top missile I believe. Will try to find the corresponding threads. Cheers

Jure

P.S.: I think this thread has answers to your questions:

 

Edited September 5, 2020 by Jure Miljevic
P.S. added

[Antti_K]

Hello guys,

 

 

here are two buff coloured bomb still in it's original paint. I believe these bombs were delivered to Finland together with Bristol Blenheims either in late 30s or early 40s. Unfortunately I didn't do any colour comparisons...

 

Cheers,

Antti

[72modeler]

@Antti_K,

 

Glad to see the safety pin is still in the fuse body!

Mike

[EwenS]

You will find details of all British bombs including their colours and markings in this document.

https://bulletpicker.com/pdf/OP 1665, British Explosive Ordnance.pdf#page=131

[Guest]

Thanks, I will go with buff (yellow) and the cookie yellow? I linked to that site above

and here is a 4000 lb cookie May 1942. Is that painted yellow or some kind of wrapping

paper around it?---John

[Guest]

Donor kit just arrived. quite old and yellowed decals and instructions

but the plastic is still bagged!---John

[Graham Boak]

2 hours ago, Johnv said:

Thanks, I will go with buff (yellow) and the cookie yellow? I linked to that site above

and here is a 4000 lb cookie May 1942. Is that painted yellow or some kind of wrapping

paper around it?---John

 

Looks like some kind of staining, as it becomes very patchy as it goes around and the original dark colour can be seen underneath with the half-rings for the support positions.  I don't think I've seen anything quite so odd - perhaps the bomb site was infested with seagulls?

[dogsbody]

I would paint the cookie Dark Green. I've never seen one in yellow. As for that one with the Wellington, I think that one was quickly over-painted with some colour to help camouflage it while in the bomb storage area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Page 37 of the document mentioned by @EwenS above:

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[Guest]

Thanks for the replies, and thanks Chris for those images! I can do the

cookie dark green (bronze green}. Sounds like a plan. I lucked out on the

interior color.... my Polyscale British Interior Gray Green is still useable!---John

[dogsbody]

16 minutes ago, Johnv said:

Thanks for the replies, and thanks Chris for those images! I can do the

cookie dark green (bronze green}. Sounds like a plan. I lucked out on the

interior color.... my Polyscale British Interior Gray Green is still useable!---John

 So was mine, when I painted the cockpit of my Hurricane.

 

 

Chris

[Selwyn]

4 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

Looks like some kind of staining, as it becomes very patchy as it goes around and the original dark colour can be seen underneath with the half-rings for the support positions.  I don't think I've seen anything quite so odd - perhaps the bomb site was infested with seagulls?

1. By the time the Lancaster came into service the British bombs used were deep bronze green. These  bombs had Eau de Nil stripes around the widest point on their bodies with a thin red "live" band around the nose the same as the light buff coloured bombs in Antti-K post. (The main colour changed but not the markings).

2. 99% of the bombs used on Lancasters were  MC type bombs or American designs, not the GP types which were largely obsolete by that time due to there unreliability in operation and poor explosive effect.  (for easy identificatiob UK bombs had cylindrical fins US bombs were cruciform, mixed loads of these were seen on Lancasters)

3. American bombs were Olive Drab had yellow stripes fore and aft on the bomb body. the amount of stripes differed and denoted the type of explosive fill.

 

I said 99% because the Remaining GP bombs were mainly used at this time to "make up the weight" during bomb shortages, and of course it got rid of them!

 

Selwyn

[Selwyn]

1 minute ago, Selwyn said:

1. By the time the Lancaster came into service the British bombs used were deep bronze green. These  bombs had Eau de Nil stripes around the widest point on their bodies with a thin red "live" band around the nose the same as the light buff coloured bombs in Antti-K post. (The main colour changed but not the markings).

2. 99% of the bombs used on Lancasters were  MC type bombs or American designs, not the GP types which were largely obsolete by that time due to there unreliability in operation and poor explosive effect.  (for easy identificationUK bombs had cylindrical fins US bombs were cruciform, mixed loads of these were seen on Lancasters)  

3. American bombs were Olive Drab had yellow stripes fore and aft on the bomb body. the amount of stripes differed and denoted the type of explosive fill.

 

I said 99% because the Remaining GP bombs were mainly used at this time to "make up the weight" during bomb shortages, and of course it got rid of them!

 

Selwyn

 

[Troy Smith]

These are seam mines I believe, but I think this shows Deep Bronze Green ?  @Selwyn

Lancaster Bomber by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

Note the Manchester in the background

 

more Lancaster colour here

https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=8270787%40N07&view_all=1&text=lancaster

note mentioned but a very common load were Small Bomb carriers 

see here

Lancaster by Etienne du Plessis, on Flickr

 

known as 'cans' 

A very common load was "cookies and cans" 

 

the first image is  4 Lb incendiaries, (carried in the SBC)  the 2nd is the cookie, not sure what the others are.... @Selwyn ?

EDIT 

30 lb incendiaries?

http://www.lancaster-archive.com/bc_bombsmineincendiaries.htm

 

the above is actually a clip of film, and is of note as the plane is a 101 Sq Lanc fitted ABC (Airborne Cigar) , the two big antennas in front of the mid-upper turret.

HTH

[Finn]

Here are some bombs, and Cookie, being prepped and then loaded on a Lanc:

 

Jari

[Troy Smith]

4 hours ago, Finn said:

Here are some bombs, and Cookie, being prepped and then loaded on a Lanc:

 

Jari

@Johnv

I  did have a look for this film above, this is from a film, Nightbombers (available on DVD) which is the only colour film of a RAF bomber base,  the above is fascinating for detail, showing variation in bomb colours, different types used, both British and American are visible, and the coloured bands denoting fillings,  as detailed by @Selwyn

One of the best reference sources you will find for this.

[Selwyn]

4 hours ago, Finn said:

Here are some bombs, and Cookie, being prepped and then loaded on a Lanc:

 

 

Jari

 

4 hours ago, Finn said:

Here are some bombs, and Cookie, being prepped and then loaded on a Lanc:

 

Jari

Great film, crappy commentary. The  bombs at the start are not 500lb they are US made 1000lb (cruciform fins). The commentary says they no longer use 1000lb but the images around 5.20 show both US and UK 1000lb and 500lb  loaded together, interestingly there are a couple of 500lb GP (teardrop shaped) in there as well!

 

Selwyn

 

[11bravo]

8 hours ago, Finn said:

Here are some bombs, and Cookie, being prepped and then loaded on a Lanc:

 

Jari

Fantastic video, thanks for posting Jari.   Didn't think that they used US 500 lb bombs, very interesting.   Also, never ceased to be amazed at the carrying capacity of the Lanc, especially compared to the USAAF B-17's and 24's. 

[Blimpyboy]

On 9/6/2020 at 8:33 AM, Troy Smith said:

These are seam mines

 

Is this where kit manufacturers source them? Or, are these a device we should use instead of filler? 🤔

Edited September 7, 2020 by Blimpyboy

[Merlin]

Quote

Selwyn...Great film, crappy commentary

I hope you refer to a data transgression, as Night Bombers and the Narrator is one of the best documentaries ever, The Narration is just right. It is rare nowadays to have such narration, I could watch and listen to it again and again, perfect for the film.  Jack Curry 'The Watchtower' was also of the period and perfect.  What a shame someone didnt think to do a film on Fighter Command. Hendon have colour footage Battle of Britain , but are not releasing it as they are uneasy about how to do so, so no one has ever seen it !  so I am told by someone who knew one of the chaps 'within'.  William Woollard was also a great Narrator. BBC The Secret War, superb docs  as well.

 

Merlin