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Post by saratoga on Aug 11, 2014 21:28:43 GMT 12
Likely the only damage the 500lb'ers would do would be if you dropped them on your foot.They are unarmed,unfuzed until the prep. stage for loading onto the aircraft. If there is any problems with these bombing exerscises,the aircraft have to return to OH for disarming. Torpedoes can track the target so 44kg in the right place,under the water can be effective.A bit more precise than a Baffin!.
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Post by phil on Aug 11, 2014 22:21:29 GMT 12
44kg warhead on the torpedo, that's what, about 100 lb of explosives? I don't know much about these things but that seems pretty small when I think about the fact our Baffins and Vildebeests carried 250 lb bombs and they were pretty ineffectual. Would 44kg of explosives actually have much affect on the hull of a modern warship? Phil? Or does it work differently underwater? Well no, since the Mk46 isn't an anti surface weapon. Actually, if it rises above 25ft, the exploder safes itself until it descends again. But would it be effective against submarines? Oh yes. You must remember that under water the effects are increased significantly. The gas bubble expands and contracts rapidly and repeatedly under water. Also the Mk46 is a guided weapon, using active or passive sonar to attack the target. It has an influence coil as well as an impact fuze, so it does not need to hit the target, but will detonate if it passes close to it. A 250lb bomb isn't 250lbs of explosive, that is the all up weight.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 11, 2014 22:26:14 GMT 12
Some good points, thanks Phil.
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Post by phil on Aug 11, 2014 22:30:14 GMT 12
I should have said, carry the bombs, not the torpedo. would the bombs have been inert before arriving at Ohakea No, of course they are not inert, that would mean they have no explosive in them. However as pointed out by another poster, they are not fuzed. They have no mechanism in them to detonate their filling until the fuze is fitted. The fuzes are fitted as part of the prep procedure and that is carried out in a licensed area not long before the loading, and then the fuzed weapon are transported the short distance to the aircraft.
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Post by noooby on Aug 12, 2014 9:05:11 GMT 12
I thought the bomb "weight" was the weight of TNT needed for an equivalent explosive force? Not the actual weight of the bomb itself.
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Post by ErrolC on Aug 12, 2014 10:14:13 GMT 12
That is the norm when referring to the explosive power of a nuclear weapon, but conventional bombs are referred to by their gross weight.
Sent from my D5503 using proboards
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Post by saratoga on Aug 12, 2014 17:27:40 GMT 12
Bloody armchair experts,ah? ..almost as bad as Journalists! ...; )
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Post by beagle on Aug 12, 2014 17:38:21 GMT 12
those bombs "plummeted" down from the Orion
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Post by suthg on Aug 12, 2014 17:44:46 GMT 12
those bombs "plummeted" down from the Orion Yeah - doesn't say anything about the training and accuracy they achieve - that's the point of real life trials and properly configured bombing runs.
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Post by pjw4118 on Aug 13, 2014 17:53:05 GMT 12
A bit late on this discussion. But bombs of the HE type were on gross weight , so the 220000lb had 9000lb of Torpex. I seem to recall seeing a doco of this being poured into the casing as a liquid from big buckets and taking days to cool and solidify. Mind you it was bang for your buck and Churchill asked his boffins why a German 500lb went off so well. They added Aluminium and these went off with a real crack. I remember some trials where strontium gave a most beautiful pink to the bang, phosphate a lovely blue, while the favourite nitrate/diesel buried down rather than up. A pallecon ( 1000litres ) of this mix slid out of a Hercules makes a serious bang. And Shorty , I too stood in front of the bofors to be showered in Bakerlite and smell the gunpowder , thats what boys did ....what you say ??
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