Bomb hits tailplane on release

Robert Briggs wrote:
Richard Brooks wrote:
Paul Housley wrote:

A while ago, I saw video footage of a bomb being released from a
fighter-bomber under test conditions. It was on an aviation
documentary. The high speed camera then shows it climb up and
destroy the tailplane. I don't think they quite got their
trajectory calcs right!

This shows up towards the end of a documentary called Dambusters,
which has been seen on UKs Channel 4.

The Lanc may have had guns, but that doesn't make it a fighter-bomber.


I'm sorry, I didn't give enough information. The footage of the American
aircraft disintegrating, being sought was at the end of the hour-long
documentary which included photos with a German officer standing beside a
mine which had not exploded, interviews with one of the tower sentries,
interviews with people who lived near the dams, German and American
variants, etc . It's been the best documentary on the whole bouncing bomb
idea

Richard.

"Richard Brooks" wrote in message
...
Robert Briggs wrote:
Richard Brooks wrote:
Paul Housley wrote:

A while ago, I saw video footage of a bomb being released from a
fighter-bomber under test conditions. It was on an aviation
documentary. The high speed camera then shows it climb up and
destroy the tailplane. I don't think they quite got their
trajectory calcs right!

This shows up towards the end of a documentary called Dambusters,
which has been seen on UKs Channel 4.

The Lanc may have had guns, but that doesn't make it a fighter-bomber.


I'm sorry, I didn't give enough information. The footage of the American
aircraft disintegrating, being sought was at the end of the hour-long
documentary which included photos with a German officer standing beside a
mine which had not exploded, interviews with one of the tower sentries,
interviews with people who lived near the dams, German and American
variants, etc . It's been the best documentary on the whole bouncing bomb
idea

The only US aircraft that I am aware of that practiced and executed skip
bombing missions during WWII was the B-25, principally in the Southwest
Pacific theater; could that perhaps be the type of aircraft you were looking
for?

Brooks


Richard.

Robert Briggs wrote:
Richard Brooks wrote:
Paul Housley wrote:

A while ago, I saw video footage of a bomb being released from a
fighter-bomber under test conditions. It was on an aviation
documentary. The high speed camera then shows it climb up and destroy
the tailplane. I don't think they quite got their trajectory calcs
right!

This shows up towards the end of a documentary called Dambusters, which
has been seen on UKs Channel 4.

The Lanc may have had guns, but that doesn't make it a fighter-bomber.

That said, without the "fighter-" qualification (and substituting
"damage" for "destroy"), the description does indeed suggest the old
Bouncing Bomb trials.

Correction: I had a quick look at the Channel 4 DVD overnight, which
showed the mine staying quite close to the surface - but the Lanc was
low enough that the initial splash knocked some bits off the tail
section.

Robert Briggs wrote:
Robert Briggs wrote:
Richard Brooks wrote:
Paul Housley wrote:

A while ago, I saw video footage of a bomb being released from a
fighter-bomber under test conditions. It was on an aviation
documentary. The high speed camera then shows it climb up and
destroy the tailplane. I don't think they quite got their
trajectory calcs right!

This shows up towards the end of a documentary called Dambusters,
which has been seen on UKs Channel 4.

The Lanc may have had guns, but that doesn't make it a
fighter-bomber.

That said, without the "fighter-" qualification (and substituting
"damage" for "destroy"), the description does indeed suggest the old
Bouncing Bomb trials.

Correction: I had a quick look at the Channel 4 DVD overnight, which
showed the mine staying quite close to the surface - but the Lanc was
low enough that the initial splash knocked some bits off the tail
section.

Hi Robert, I didn't notice that but it was an American aircraft that just
turned to flotsam after a second or two in the footage that wsa shown later
in the documentary.

It kind of reminds me of a short clip shown in (IIRC) an Australian
production called Broadcast which was about the last days of guys running
around with cine-cameras for the film theatre newsreels.

Right at the start is shows lots of news clips and one that stands out is of
three Beauforts doing a low fly-past over a bay and as they passed the ship
where the film was being made, one of hte Beauforts took a sharp climb,
tearing the tail of one of the others with them both crashing into the
water.

Amazing and I bet there are lots of bits of film we haven't seen. I also
wonder if anyone cine-filmed an airshow in Britain where a hurricane
accidentally fired into the crowd as it made a pass ?


Richard.

"Richard Brooks" wrote in message
...
Robert Briggs wrote:
Robert Briggs wrote:
Richard Brooks wrote:
Paul Housley wrote:

A while ago, I saw video footage of a bomb being released from a
fighter-bomber under test conditions. It was on an aviation
documentary. The high speed camera then shows it climb up and
destroy the tailplane. I don't think they quite got their
trajectory calcs right!

This shows up towards the end of a documentary called Dambusters,
which has been seen on UKs Channel 4.

The Lanc may have had guns, but that doesn't make it a
fighter-bomber.

That said, without the "fighter-" qualification (and substituting
"damage" for "destroy"), the description does indeed suggest the old
Bouncing Bomb trials.

Correction: I had a quick look at the Channel 4 DVD overnight, which
showed the mine staying quite close to the surface - but the Lanc was
low enough that the initial splash knocked some bits off the tail
section.

Hi Robert, I didn't notice that but it was an American aircraft that just
turned to flotsam after a second or two in the footage that wsa shown
later
in the documentary.

It kind of reminds me of a short clip shown in (IIRC) an Australian
production called Broadcast which was about the last days of guys running
around with cine-cameras for the film theatre newsreels.

Right at the start is shows lots of news clips and one that stands out is
of
three Beauforts doing a low fly-past over a bay and as they passed the
ship
where the film was being made, one of hte Beauforts took a sharp climb,
tearing the tail of one of the others with them both crashing into the
water.

Amazing and I bet there are lots of bits of film we haven't seen. I also
wonder if anyone cine-filmed an airshow in Britain where a hurricane
accidentally fired into the crowd as it made a pass ?


Richard.

The aircraft was an American A26 and the weapon was a "Highball"
anti-shipping mine that was also indended for use on Mosquitos.

John

This is a more common problem than people realize. Releasing a store in
flight from a bomb bay or from under wing is not a no-brainer.

The F-86 had instances when drop tanks went up over the leading edge of it's
wing when released under certain flight conditions. The Navy A-3D had
nuclear shapes hang in the bomb bay after release. A retractable "rake" was
mounted in front of the bomb bay to solve that problem. By the way, in WWII
it was not unheard-of for bombers in higher squadrons to drop their bomb
loads onto lower flying bombers.

WDA

end


"Paul Housley" wrote in message
om...
Perhaps a bit of a random question for this newsgroup.

A while ago, I saw video footage of a bomb being released from a
fighter-bomber under test conditions. It was on an aviation
documentary. The high speed camera then shows it climb up and destroy
the tailplane. I don't think they quite got their trajectory calcs
right!

Has anyone seen this video? Does anyone know where I could get a copy.
Stills from it would be fine. It's for a uni project in case you were
wondering.

If not, anyone able to point me in the right direction of where to
ask?

Thanks for your help.

Paul.

"W. D. Allen Sr." wrote in message
...
This is a more common problem than people realize. Releasing a store in
flight from a bomb bay or from under wing is not a no-brainer.

The F-86 had instances when drop tanks went up over the leading edge of
it's
wing when released under certain flight conditions. The Navy A-3D had
nuclear shapes hang in the bomb bay after release. A retractable "rake"
was
mounted in front of the bomb bay to solve that problem. By the way, in
WWII
it was not unheard-of for bombers in higher squadrons to drop their bomb
loads onto lower flying bombers.

There is a film clip around of a B-24 Liberator having a bomb dropped from
above hit her wing root, destroying the plane. Horrible.

WDA

end


"Paul Housley" wrote in message
om...
Perhaps a bit of a random question for this newsgroup.

A while ago, I saw video footage of a bomb being released from a
fighter-bomber under test conditions. It was on an aviation
documentary. The high speed camera then shows it climb up and destroy
the tailplane. I don't think they quite got their trajectory calcs
right!

Has anyone seen this video? Does anyone know where I could get a copy.
Stills from it would be fine. It's for a uni project in case you were
wondering.

If not, anyone able to point me in the right direction of where to
ask?

Thanks for your help.

Paul.

"W. D. Allen Sr." wrote in message
...
This is a more common problem than people realize. Releasing a store in
flight from a bomb bay or from under wing is not a no-brainer.

The F-86 had instances when drop tanks went up over the leading edge of
it's
wing when released under certain flight conditions. The Navy A-3D had
nuclear shapes hang in the bomb bay after release. A retractable "rake"
was
mounted in front of the bomb bay to solve that problem. By the way, in
WWII
it was not unheard-of for bombers in higher squadrons to drop their bomb
loads onto lower flying bombers.

The A3D was not the only member of that family that experienced such a
problem. Knew a guy who flew B-66's (and later EB-66's) who told me that it
was unnerving to do a bomb drop from the Destroyer because it sometimes had
a habit of having bombs "bounce" around in the bomb bay after release before
actually leaving the aircraft (which may explain why its career as a bomber
was rather short).

Brooks


WDA

end


"Paul Housley" wrote in message
om...
Perhaps a bit of a random question for this newsgroup.

A while ago, I saw video footage of a bomb being released from a
fighter-bomber under test conditions. It was on an aviation
documentary. The high speed camera then shows it climb up and destroy
the tailplane. I don't think they quite got their trajectory calcs
right!

Has anyone seen this video? Does anyone know where I could get a copy.
Stills from it would be fine. It's for a uni project in case you were
wondering.

If not, anyone able to point me in the right direction of where to
ask?

Thanks for your help.

Paul.

If you ever wondered what those airplanes covered with the black/white
quadrant circles (like a BMW trademark) carrying stores with the same kind
of markings were doing, it's so films can be shot with exact reference
points to track the movement of the stores as they drop. I seem to recall
this is why the pylons on the E/F Super hornet had to be angled out-


--
Jim Atkins
Twentynine Palms, CA USA

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.
-Groucho Marx

On Tue, 22 Jun 2004 22:46:32 -0400, "Kevin Brooks"
wrote:


The A3D was not the only member of that family that experienced such a
problem. Knew a guy who flew B-66's (and later EB-66's) who told me that it
was unnerving to do a bomb drop from the Destroyer because it sometimes had
a habit of having bombs "bounce" around in the bomb bay after release before
actually leaving the aircraft (which may explain why its career as a bomber
was rather short).

Brooks

Early prototypes of the F-105 attempted conventional rigging of the
B-28-RE in the internal bomb-bay. No one anticipated the boundary
layer along the fuselage at 600 knots IAS. When the bombbay opened for
bomb release, shackles opened and bomb dropped a few inches but didn't
come through the high speed airflow. Bombbay doors reclosed with bomb
simply resting on the doors. (Shape--of course, not hot weapon!)

Solution was a "displacing gear"--a roughly six-inch diameter,
pneumatic piston that had about a two foot throw. Charged to a couple
of thousand pounds/sq-inch, the piston was said to either push the
bomb down or the airplane up.

All became moot because the airplane never carried an internal nuke
operationally. Displacing gear was still in place, however.


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