Hello;
I seem to have read that they used practice bombs under the wings but did they use the large center bomb on the trapeze to practice with. I am wondering if that should be mounted. I know they wouldnt detonate but would they have launched them at targets.
Bill
They actually did detonate, in a fashion… Each practice bomb had a smoke marking-charge that allowed the observers to see where it hit…
Sure, they used the center rack, since that was the rack for the SBD’s primary bomb-load…
!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Support Equipment/100-lbpracticebombM38A2.jpg?t=1294956172)
This is a M38A2 practice bomb, and it’s basically a hollow bomb-shape that was filled with sand to make it weigh 100 lbs… The fuze for the marking-charge was inserted in the screw-cap in the nose, which also served as the filler-spout for the sand…
Although they didn’t weigh the same as the 500 and 1000 lb. inert bombs, ballistically they behaved the same way as the “ert” ones…[;)]
Practice bombs were generally painted light blue with white markings, although there black-painted ones as well, and others were unpainted and made of concrete…
The concrete bombs weren’t for practice bombing though (although they could be jetisoned in an emergency)… They were mounted on the racks in order to simulate the weight of real ones to help pilots get familiar with how the aircraft handled with a full-weight load…
!(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/HansvonHammer/Support Equipment/Concretebomb.jpg?t=1294957141)
Thanks on my F3F-1 I painted the practice bombs a mustard color, Have you ever seen this color used before or should I stick with the light blue.
Bill
I’ve seen the cement bombs in all sorts of colors, so I imagine that the others could be too… However, the M38A2 pictured only came in blue or black w/white markings, according to my refs… That’s not say that the Ordies didn’t paint 'em however they wanted to, as long as they didn’t paint 'em as live ordnance…
Which allows me to segue into a war story…
About ten years ago, I’d gotten ahold of a couple 2.36-inch inert rockets for the M1A1 bazooka that I painted and marked up as “ert” rockets…
And damn-near got arrested for 'em, lol. Cost me a 200.00 “donation” to the local Policeman’s Ball to get 'em back, with a promise (in writing) to repaint them as inert…
How’d they find out? Glad you asked…
This is no sh*t… I WAS gonna sell ‘em on Ebay, but not 12 hours after I posted the photos to Ebay, I not only got a nasty email from Ebay saying they pulled my ad and they didn’t allow the selling of ammuntion, yadda, yadda, yadda, but four officers from the local PD showed up at m’ door with an ATF Agent and they weren’t playin’… [:|]
I also had to explain the 1/1 scale models of the Phoenix, Sidewinder, and Hellfire missiles I had hanging from the ceiling ( I bought them from a guy to hang in my bar)… They were easier to explain though, since up close, you could see that they weren’t real… But from over ten feet away… That was another story…
Needless to say, I sold the three missiles and one of the rockets to the owner of the LHS in Boone, where he put them on display in the store window… Still got the one rocket though… I use it to prop open my War Room door…
Keeping the pictures of my 1/1 scale model M72A2 LAW off the 'net, too…
If I remember correctly, AAC live 'ert bombs were painted yellow until 1942 when the new production of ordnance were painted OD. I believe USN bombs painted the same?