Bomb hits tailplane on release

Ed Rasimus wrote in message . ..
SNIP
The film you recall was of an F-100 being chased by an F-105 at Eglin.
They were dropping early versions of the MLU-10B land mine. The mine
broached on impact with the ground from a 100' lay-down delivery and
rose up to hit the chasing aircraft. The weapon was inert, but the
impact still destroyed the chase and the pilot ejected.
SNIP:
The F105 was piloted by Fred Kyler, who was later my WingCo in the
36TFW at Bitburg. The F100F had a pilot and cameraman aboard. The
MLU10 detonated on ground impact and fragged both aircraft. All 3
ejected and landed okay. Col. Kyler had a great color photo hanging in
his office, taken from the ground, showing both aircraft as they
pulled up, starting to flame from the numerous frag hits. I should
imagine the ground cameraman got his ears blasted since he wasn't all
that far from the impact site.
Walt BJ

The film you recall was of an F-100 being chased by an F-105 at Eglin.

Flying a "rail cut" mission? Reason I ask is the copy I used to have of that
tape mentioned it. The frag was immediate - both aircraft began burning within
a second or two of the detonation. Great old film.

v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR

Its always better to lose -an- engine, not -the- engine.

On 23 Jun 2004 04:48:34 GMT, nt (Krztalizer) wrote:


The film you recall was of an F-100 being chased by an F-105 at Eglin.

Flying a "rail cut" mission? Reason I ask is the copy I used to have of that
tape mentioned it. The frag was immediate - both aircraft began burning within
a second or two of the detonation. Great old film.

It was a OT&E flight on the Eglin test range, but that's the purpose
of the MLU-10B. It was built on a Mk-82 (or possibly M117) bomb case
with a flat face reinforced nose that contained the mine fuse. It was
supposed to be delivered by lay-down and was NOT retarded.

The idea was that the heavy, reinforced nose would allow the fuse to
survive the delivery. Concept was a battery relay that after a short
delivery delay would arm the weapon. The battery held the firing
contacts open until a seismic event (like a train passing) would shake
the contacts close---BOOM! After time, the battery would weaken and
the mine become more sensitive. Maybe a truck would be sufficient to
close the contacts. Eventually, the battery would die and contacts
would close and the bomb would detonate.

The center of the face plate had a small light bulb. If the light lit,
it meant that the weapon had armed and would go off with any jarring.
We carried them out of Korat on F-105s in '66 (when we weren't short
of bombs.....according to mcnamara.) Everybody hated the load because
no one wanted to do lay-downs in a high threat area, everyone had seen
the broaching film, and there was a "no return" policy for the weapon.
If you got airborne with it, you must get it off the airplane before
you could return and land. If it hung and you couldn't jettison the
pylon or suspension gear you would have to jettison the airplane.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8