More specifically; how were the munitions of such bombers armed? In a situation of dire necessity, could their payloads be released without being armed; ad hoc leaving undesignated areas unharmed? Everything I have heard suggests that it was all or nothing.
2006-10-25 19:45:17 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Cars & Transportation ➔ Aircraft
Bombers in WWII like the B-17, B-24 and B-29 were armed in flight. They could be dropped in times of emergency without being armed thus rendering them useless.
2006-10-26 03:19:17 · answer #1 · answered by Chris S 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In most cases the fuses for the bombs were safed by means of a "arming wire" . The arming wire was a brass wire that ran through the fuse and prevented the bomb from fusing while it was in the bombay. The other end of the wire was generally attached to a point on the bomb rack. So when the bomb was released the wire pulled out of the fuse (like pulling the pin on a grenade) and stayed with the aircraft. If there was time an aircraft with internal bombays someone could gain access to the bombay and cut the wires. The bombs would then fall in a safe mode. Anything hung externally on the aircraft the pilot would have to select bomb rack jettison and the whole rack of bombs would fall in a "safe mode".
2006-10-27 01:49:21 · answer #2 · answered by CatLady 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that others have answered this question quite well, I just wanted to throw out a little more. Bombers didn't always carry bombs. Sometimes they carries equipment for resistance fighters in occupied countries. In some cases, the Army Air Corps and the US Coast Guard carried life boats and rafts to drop from underneath a B-17.
Hope that helps some, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
2006-10-28 15:37:56 · answer #3 · answered by Rob O 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The B17 bomb bay was on the sides of the fuselage, behind the cockpit area. There was a walkway right past them, and they could be armed at any moment. The usual load for a B17 was about 4,000 pounds, as the flight was very long on most missions.
Most modern fighters can carry much more.
2006-10-26 11:05:56 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
By going into the bomb bay and disconnecting the wires that pulled out the arming pins when the bomb fell would disarm the bomb. Most crews simply dumped there bombs into the sea so that if upon landing they crashed they would have less chance of blowing up. Also if you dump your disarmed bombs you will cause casualties any way as each bomb weighed 100's of pounds dropped from thousand's of feet will kill and destroy homes just with there weight.
2006-10-26 12:21:40 · answer #5 · answered by brian L 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They had a safety clip on the nose fuse, which was cabled to the structure. When they released, the cable held the clip as the bomb fell away, disengaging it and arming the fuse.
They could crawl into the bomb bay and manually unhook the cable to keep the fuse unarmed.
2006-10-26 10:18:30 · answer #6 · answered by strech 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If they could crawl to the bombay they might have been able to safe them
2006-10-26 04:06:06 · answer #7 · answered by planedws 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋