How come bombers don't have their bomb loads pointed downwards?

Question

I always see footage of WWII bombers dropping their payloads and notice that the bombs always face forward and are loaded in the bomb bay facing forward. Wouldn't it be better to have the bombs vertical facing down? It would probably drop faster and be more accurate, and you'd be able to fit more in the plane, well as much as weight limits would allow.

Answer 1

The air would make them tumble, they are loaded that way so the air hits the front and they glide like a rocket being shot from the wing then the weight of the nose of the bomb rotates them 90 degrees after they slow down.

Answer 2

You would be correct if they were dropping there bombs from a static or non-moving platform, but those planes were traveling between 120-200 mph so when they release there payload, the bombs are actually going in the direction they are facing not straight down. If you were to drop them from a vertical position, they would just tumble and be less accurate,

Answer 3

Then you didn't see footage of German HE-111 that drop there bombs tail first. The answer is the bomb won't tumble so much and thus not throw off accuracy. Bombs dropped face down will immediately tumble and can tumble so fast they bang the bomb bay doors on the way out. Tail first bombs tumble over into the nose first position and plunge very fast to there targets but you lose accuracy. Check out the military channel when they have wings of the world on or wings of the Luftwaffe.

Answer 4

You're all wrong. It's just for looks. A vertical bomb would look silly. However, the first bombs dropped from airplanes and lighter-than-air aircraft were dropped vertically either by hand or from racks mounted on the aircraft. But remember that those first planes were very slow, so aerodynamics weren't much of an issue. The bombs weren't accurate, either. Aerial warfare was very crude.

Answer 5

hmmm

well all the answers dealing with the speed and aerodynamics are correct. The only group i remember that had their bombs arrange already in a downward arrangement nose first were the Zeppelin's. of course, they were very stable and slow enough not to cause to much of a problem.

the main reason my dad told me when i was young was that it referred to the delivery system for the bombs themselves. since bombs were made to be unilaterally the same for a light air craft or a heavy bomber in ww II, the bombs came with two point shackle points on the casings sides. this allowed them to be attached to two point connections on the wings or belly of a small aircraft, and the rail drop system of a bomber. He also mentioned something about that when you dropped them horizontal to the fuselage they had a lesser chance of being wind struck and veered into the body before dropping very far.

everything else said about the aerodynamics and tumbling effects are essential correct.

Answer 6

Aerodynamics. When the bomb falls from the plane you want a streamline effect. If the elongated side of the bomb faced the oncoming wind at hundreds of miles per hour the bomb would be thrown off course and any accuracy would lost.

Answer 7

Actually there are two reasons that bombs are mounted horizontally in the bomb bay. Firstly the aircraft, and this can vary from 100mph to over 500mph, when in flight drop the bombs horizontally to allow them to enter the external slipstream of the aircraft cleanly so that their tradjectory remains as the bomb aimer has set, and to allow stable acceleration to the vertical decent path, and secondly if bombs were mounted in the bomb bay vertically, aircraft would have to be very tall in the fuselage. Some bombs are over 20' (6 metres) in length.

Answer 8

several reasons. #1: depending on wind speed and direction, a downward facing bombload could be blown off target. #2: some larger bombs were longer than the width of the plane. and #3: depending on the speed of the plane, a bomb could possibly hit the inside of the plane. hell, i wouldn't be here if they had been vertical. my grandfather was in a RAF Lancaster that had an auxiliary fuel tank in its wing sliced open by the tail fins of a bomb dropped by another bomber. if they had been dropped vertically, my grandfather would have been in a flying fireball.

Answer 9

Airplanes are moving at hundreds of miles per hour in a forward direction. Thus, when the bombs are released, they, too, move in a forward direction at hundreds of miles an hour. In order to have any accuracy whatsoever in predicting targets, you have to plot the trajectory in a predictable manner - thus the shape of the bomb and its aft section that retards its flight.

If the bombs were pointed straight down, it would be nearly impossible to predict where they'd go, since the aerodynamics of the bomb would be completely ruined. Additionally, you'd have to launch them while directly over the target, as opposed to dropping them in a manner that allows them to maintain their momentum forward.

Answer 10

I used to load bombs in vietnam on f4 aircraft. I think it may have something to do with the arming impeller on the bombs. on the nose of the bomb there is an impeller device that when the arming wire is pulled, starts the impeller which then lines up the fuse that detonates the bomb. I would think it armes the bomb quicker if it already has the forward motion. hope that helps