Canberra B(1) 8 Bombs. What tail?

[cherisy]

Hi

Having decided to build an old Frog Canberra out of the box, Im using the kit decals for an 88 Sqn aircraft from 1960. Ive some wing pylons left over from an old airfix kit and want to fit a pair of 1000lb bombs which finally leads me to my question: what tail units would have been fitted in 1960? Ive seen one photo online showing one carrying  a pair of 1000lb bombs with ww2 era tail units and appears to be flying with a trials unit. How common would the ww2 units have been? and when did the 117 ( correct me if im wrong on that) units begin to see service ?.

[Selwyn]

At the time they would be using externally  IIRC was the Mk 104 which externally was almost identical to the 114.  Canberra B(I)8 would probably not have used 117 retard tails as they came into service as the  aircraft was  going out of service.  the bombs with the "wartime" tails were the postwar Mk 7 1000lb which was a seperate design from the  usual postwar british 1000lb, of greater diameter 18" as opposed to 16".  

 

Selwyn  

[cherisy]

8 hours ago, Selwyn said:

At the time they would be using externally  IIRC was the Mk 104 which externally was almost identical to the 114.  Canberra B(I)8 would probably not have used 117 retard tails as they came into service as the  aircraft was  going out of service.  the bombs with the "wartime" tails were the postwar Mk 7 1000lb which was a seperate design from the  usual postwar british 1000lb, of greater diameter 18" as opposed to 16".  

 

Selwyn  

Thanks Selwyn. 114 tail it is then

[canberra kid]

Some B(I)8 bombs, not sure what type though.

John

[cherisy]

18 hours ago, canberra kid said:

Some B(I)8 bombs, not sure what type though.

John

Some interesting shots there. The first looks like the 114 tail that Selwyn mentioned. The second looks like a ww2 bomb and the third, well I dont know what that is. 

[exdraken]

3 hours ago, cherisy said:

the third, well I dont know what that is. 

Hmm I am definitely no expert in this field..

But the third one has similarities with Frnch Matra 400kg bombs...

[Selwyn]

3 hours ago, cherisy said:

Some interesting shots there. The first looks like the 114 tail that Selwyn mentioned. The second looks like a ww2 bomb and the third, well I dont know what that is. 

First bomb picture is a British Mk 7. As I stated in a previous post the Mk 7 was unique in that it was 18" diameter and had a "boat tail" (i.e the back of the bomb was a smaller diameter than the central portion).  It originally used a WW2 type (can't remember the number) drum type tail unit. As these drum tails became obsolete an adaptor was produced to enable the current 104 tail to be used with this mark of bomb. This picture depicts the bomb in this configuration, you can clearly see the adaptor fitted between the bomb and tail.

Second bomb picture is a Mk 7 fitted with the original drum type tail.

The third picture is a bomb (can't determine the mark from the image) that appears to have a folding, (pop out) fin tail. I know that a canberra specific tail was produced with this feature to alllow more bombs to be fitted into the canberra bomb bay which was a bit snug for standard bomb tails, I beleve more so if the gunpack was fitted. it could be of course carried on the wing stations if neccessary.

 

Selwyn 

[cherisy]

25 minutes ago, Selwyn said:

First bomb picture is a British Mk 7. As I stated in a previous post the Mk 7 was unique in that it was 18" diameter and had a "boat tail" (i.e the back of the bomb was a smaller diameter than the central portion).  It originally used a WW2 type (can't remember the number) drum type tail unit. As these drum tails became obsolete an adaptor was produced to enable the current 104 tail to be used with this mark of bomb. This picture depicts the bomb in this configuration, you can clearly see the adaptor fitted between the bomb and tail.

Second bomb picture is a Mk 7 fitted with the original drum type tail.

The third picture is a bomb (can't determine the mark from the image) that appears to have a folding, (pop out) fin tail. I know that a canberra specific tail was produced with this feature to alllow more bombs to be fitted into the canberra bomb bay which was a bit snug for standard bomb tails, I beleve more so if the gunpack was fitted. it could be of course carried on the wing stations if neccessary.

 

Selwyn 

Many thanks Selwyn. Every days a school day 😀 

[canberra kid]

Thanks @Selwyn, I knew you'd know.

John