cherisy Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 Hi Can anyone tell me what colour RAF bombs were in the Burma theatre in 44/45? I'm putting a pair of 250 pounders on a Revell Hurricane IIc and the few photos I can find online indicate a buff colour used earlier in the war. Can anyone provide a definitive answer? Thanks in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 If it has the buff colour then they are probably the streamlined prewar 250lb bombs with the cylindrical tails. Wartime bombs would be in Deep Bronze Green. Most wartime production was of the stockier bomb shape without the cylindrical tail, but whether 250lb were produced to the later shape I don't know. I have seen photos of examples of these prewar bombs in a mix of buff and green, presumably part pre war and part wartime production. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 Sounds like a question for our @Selwyn! Mike 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherisy Posted October 18, 2020 Author Share Posted October 18, 2020 1 hour ago, Graham Boak said: If it has the buff colour then they are probably the streamlined prewar 250lb bombs with the cylindrical tails. Wartime bombs would be in Deep Bronze Green. Most wartime production was of the stockier bomb shape without the cylindrical tail, but whether 250lb were produced to the later shape I don't know. I have seen photos of examples of these prewar bombs in a mix of buff and green, presumably part pre war and part wartime production. My bad. I should have been more specific. All the photos I've found of hurricanes carrying in Burma have been the earlier GP type not the later MC seen in Bomber command Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 s'OK, that's all I've ever seen too. But they must have run out of them sometime, if they changed in production. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 It's hard to tell from B&W photos, but I'd say Bronze Green. This one is harder. I would guess the bombs might be a very dirty and worn bronze green fitted with brand-new, just out of the box tail fins. Chris 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selwyn Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 2 hours ago, dogsbody said: It's hard to tell from B&W photos, but I'd say Bronze Green. This one is harder. I would guess the bombs might be a very dirty and worn bronze green fitted with brand-new, just out of the box tail fins. Chris The top picture is a GP bomb, the bottom picture shows MC bombs. They would be DBG no other colour was permitted at this time. I suggest this picture is Othographic film and the tails are buff coloured. Selwyn See my post below in relation to the No 2 tail. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selwyn Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 4 hours ago, 72modeler said: Sounds like a question for our @Selwyn! Mike The 250lb GP bomb (Teardrop shaped) was superceded by the 250lb MC (Parrallel sided) The GP bombs were originally buff coloured then later Deep Bronze Green. the MC bombs were DBG. both used the same No 2 tail unit so you could possibly see a MC bomb with a Buff coloured tail unit. The MC bomb was far more effective than the GP, just on the basis that the GP had a Charge Weight Ratio of 29% (CWR is the weight of explosive in the bomb expressed as a percentage of the total weight of the bomb). The MC had a CWR of 50%! Selwyn 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy Smith Posted October 18, 2020 Share Posted October 18, 2020 33 minutes ago, Selwyn said: I suggest this picture is Othographic film and the tails are buff coloured. If that was the case, the prop tips would appear very dark, but they are clearly visible. perhaps new tail on on faded or dusty bombs? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted October 19, 2020 Share Posted October 19, 2020 1 hour ago, Selwyn said: The 250lb GP bomb (Teardrop shaped) was superceded by the 250lb MC (Parrallel sided) The GP bombs were originally buff coloured then later Deep Bronze Green. the MC bombs were DBG. both used the same No 2 tail unit so you could possibly see a MC bomb with a Buff coloured tail unit. The MC bomb was far more effective than the GP, just on the basis that the GP had a Charge Weight Ratio of 29% (CWR is the weight of explosive in the bomb expressed as a percentage of the total weight of the bomb). The MC had a CWR of 50%! Selwyn Like this. Chris 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selwyn Posted October 19, 2020 Share Posted October 19, 2020 10 hours ago, Troy Smith said: If that was the case, the prop tips would appear very dark, but they are clearly visible. perhaps new tail on on faded or dusty bombs? Possible! Without the benefit of a colour pic I could only speculate. Also the tails might be red. They were painted red if a long delay was set on the bomb, personally I cant see why in this case as these aircraft were normally used for tactical support, and a long delay would probably not be appropriate for that, but who knows? Selwyn 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherisy Posted October 19, 2020 Author Share Posted October 19, 2020 21 hours ago, Selwyn said: The top picture is a GP bomb, the bottom picture shows MC bombs. They would be DBG no other colour was permitted at this time. I suggest this picture is Othographic film and the tails are buff coloured. Selwyn See my post below in relation to the No 2 tail. Good point Selwyn I had forgotten about Orthagraphic film changing hues. Having said that the casing looks lighter than the dark green on the fuselage . What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherisy Posted October 19, 2020 Author Share Posted October 19, 2020 23 hours ago, dogsbody said: It's hard to tell from B&W photos, but I'd say Bronze Green. This one is harder. I would guess the bombs might be a very dirty and worn bronze green fitted with brand-new, just out of the box tail fins. Chris Nice one Chris, Mind you what about the dark green on the fuselage? It seems darker than the casing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted October 19, 2020 Share Posted October 19, 2020 The fuselage is Dark Green, the case Deep Bronze Green. One is just fresher than the other. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted October 19, 2020 Share Posted October 19, 2020 What Graham said! Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dov Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Actually, the bomb color is a matter of weathering techniques. No matter which color, all bombs surfaces had some irritaton from handling and storage. Bombs are not in uniform color. As the wonderful color picture tell. Take time to weather each bomb! I did this mistake also, generaly after having seen bombs in museums. It is totaly different from todays weapons. Today iron bombs in Israel are like WWII bombs. Just something! Happy modelling 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selwyn Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 2 hours ago, dov said: Actually, the bomb color is a matter of weathering techniques. No matter which color, all bombs surfaces had some irritaton from handling and storage. Bombs are not in uniform color. As the wonderful color picture tell. Take time to weather each bomb! I did this mistake also, generaly after having seen bombs in museums. It is totaly different from todays weapons. Today iron bombs in Israel are like WWII bombs. Just something! Happy modelling I agree in general what you are saying but you must think in the context the bombs are being used. In bomber command they used a lot of bombs in the offensive against Germany, there was always a shortage of bombs, so the bombs were turned over quite quickly, they didn't sit in storage very long, so obviously not a lot of weathering occurred. The reason bombs went green was that the buff bombs stood out on PR photos in standard RAF open storage, most of the FAA bombs were kept in covered storage and didn't get the quick rush job repainting like RAF bombs, (think storage in the "Rock of Gibraltar caves?") . On aircraft carriers the bombs are in ships magazines so don't weather at all, also the buff coloured bombs lasted longer, the FAA did not drop vast amounts of bombs compared to the RAF so buff bombs were seen on FAA much later than on RAF aircraft. On tactical aircraft in the desert or such like Bombs were "Dumped" anywhere suitable, and would get very weathered very quickly. conversely the tail units would be in crates so would not badly weathered. Lots of scope there for the accuracy brigade, I would personally refer to photos as a general guide! Selwyn 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefaan Posted October 27, 2020 Share Posted October 27, 2020 https://bulletpicker.com/_library.html Try this, may help. Stefaan 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted October 27, 2020 Share Posted October 27, 2020 How the main body of bombs got so ratty looking. The fins were stored separately, in boxes and weren't fitted until just before loading into/unto the aircraft. Chris 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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