German bomb releases
 

I've read enough stories about Soviet fighters attacking German bombers and the German bombers escaping after releasing their bombs on their own troops. I assume that the Germans had a switch to make them safe before release. So was this in all the bombers and fighter bombers?

Re: German bomb releases
 

All bombs were "safe" unless they were dropped after the charging circuits were switched "on". To release bombs safely all they need to do was pull the jettison handle.

The German bomb fusing/racking system is described clearly in the appendix of our book "Dive-Bomber and Ground Attack Units of the Luftwaffe, Volume 2", which will be released (pun!) this coming March.
HLdZ
DGS

Re: German bomb releases
 

I think that in many of these stories the dropped bombs just fell in no man's land, or Russian forest, and either the Soviet airmen thought that they bombed their own lines as they made them turn back, or it was just added by wartime propaganda.

Re: German bomb releases
 

Thanks Doug for the answer. I assume that the switch was hit just before the bomb release to avoid any last minute problems such as advances, etc. Laurent your probably right about the wartime propaganda as it would make the enemy look stupid bombing their own troops but it would still ruin your day to have dead weight metal drop on you or near you.

Re: German bomb releases
 

Doug, since the jettison handle was purely a mechanical release (I will be uploading a video on that this weekend) they would naturally drop unarmed.

Is it possible to arm them from the arming switch before they where jettisoned?

I have seen and played with 1940's electro-mechanical triggering device. Quite impressive (will put that video up soon)

Re: German bomb releases
 

Yes, the jettison system was purely mechanical. The jettison handle was linked to a number of cables which were connected to each bomb rack which when pulled mechanically unlocked the "hook" mechanism which supported the weight of the bomb. This caused the bomb to fall regardless of anything. If the charging circuits were armed the bomb would fall "live". If the charging circuits were "off" then the bomb would fall inert. The arming and safing is described in some detail in the appendix of Volume 2 of our Dive Bomber Units book.

The jettison cable is often visible in photos at the back of ETC racks. In ESAC racks they are led to the rack via pullies over the top.


DGS

Re: German bomb releases
 

Good, I correctly interpreted the system (almost done with video).

Thanks

Re: German bomb releases
 

OK, Doug!

Here is the video, and I am sure you will find errors.
Please rip it apart!

(PS, video taken Sept 2007)

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=.../0/IUn9N2haoc8

Re: German bomb releases
 

Another question:
Is it ture that all bombs needed min 2sec after release to be "scharf" / active?
In the Cescotti-book, I read something about 0.5seconds...

So my quetsion goes: What is the minimum time after release of german bombs until they were "active"?

PS: Please don't hit me, this is related to forthcoming IL2-4.10-patch...