Bomb and Bomb-Bay Sizes (1 Viewer)

[MiTasol]

384th Bomb Group shows, for the aircraft I have looked at, 10 x 500lb GP for 17 August.

View attachment 794422

The maximum bomb load for a Mosquito in the period (August-October 1943) was 2,000lb (B.IV) or 3,000lb (B.IX, if any were around).

Schweinfurt should be well within range of a B.IV Mosquito with 2,000lb bomb load.

Thanks. I did not realise the early Mosquitos did not have the later bomb load capacity. My memory is that the B-17 and B-24 bomb loads dropped on the later models as the empty weight grew from turrets and waist guns, Tokyo tanks, etc.

From the same chart for the B-17 it seems its heaviest internal load was 6 1600 lb bombs or 9600 lb but it may have been able to carry a couple of lighter bombs above the larger bombs. As someone already said tho, the 1600 lb bomb was rarely used.

 

[wuzak]

The normal B.IV usually carried 3x500lb & 1x250lb bomb due to it suffering fore and aft instability at altitude with 4x500lb and needed to be "flown" all the time, which was of course tiring for the pilot.

Not heard/seen that before.

I always thought the standard bomb load was 4 x 500lb.

The 250lb could also be a TI, since TIs weren't available in 500lb.

 

[Jugman]

The maximum internal bomb load for a B-17 was 8*1590lb AN-Mk1 AP bombs. It seems late in 1943 this was changed to six. Physically it was still capable of carrying eight. I assume it was related to the wing bending problem at high weights that required fuel to be left in the outer wing tanks to keep things in check. The six bomb configuration had better bomb release angles and about 50% more fuel at the typical maximum takeoff weight of 65,000lbs.

 

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

Mosquito IV finished production in June 1943, with 273 built as bombers, there were 54 mark IX bomber April to November 1943, mark XVI bomber production began in November 1943, with 109 built to end June 1944.

To start with Mosquito HE loads only, Bomber Command Mosquitoes dropped 758x250 pound HE bombs for the war and after dropping 10 of them on the night of 3/4 November 1943 only dropped another 21, the last on 11 March 1944. Mosquitoes first dropped Target Indicators on 27 January 1943.

1942 raids, ratio of 500 pound to 250 pound HE
May 1 to 1
June 1.1 to 1
July 1.7 to 1
August 2.3 to 1
September 20.6 to 1
October 31.9 to 1
November, December 341x500 pound and no 250 pound bombs dropped. January to May 1943 1,706x500 and 66x250 pound HE, 307x250 pound incendiary, 208 of the TI where no HE bombs were dropped. Also mostly in February 1943 loads of 3x500 pound were being carried.

The period June to October 1943 saw 2,050x500 and 535x250 pound HE bombs dropped or around 3.8 to 1, nightly figures routinely report a 3x500 and 1x250 pound load. Add the 681x250 pound target indicators and the ratio is 1.7 to 1. To type slowly, removing the 361 TI dropped on targets when there were no HE bombs dropped leaves a ratio of 2.4x500 pound to 1x250 pound. Given the number of nights when the Mosquito force was a mixture of bombers and pathfinders it seems clear enough most sorties with 500 pound bombs on board the ratio was 3 to 1 with exceptions, in November 1943 it was 1,263x500 to 15x250 pound and from then on HE loads were usually 4x500 pound unless a 4,000 pound bomb could be carried.

All this when from 1942 into early 1944 the majority of Mosquitoes with Bomber Command were mark IV and the arrival of the Canadian built types which were roughly mark IV equivalents.

As examples,
30 August 1943
11 Mosquito attacked Munchen-Gladbach,3x500, 1x250 pound HE, 32x250 pound TI (Main force target)
10 Mosquito attacked Duisberg 30x500, 1x250 pound HE, 2x250 pound TI
3 Mosquito attacked Foret D'Eperleques, 12x250 pound TI
For the night 33x500, 2x250 pound HE, 46x250 pound TI.

23 September 1943
6 Mosquito attacked Mannheim 24x250 pound TI (Main force target)
8 Mosquito attacked Darmstadt 24x500 pound HE, 8x250 pound TI (Diversion)
6 Mosquito attacked Aachen 18x500 and 6x250 pound HE

HE only raids 24, 25 and 26 September 1943
23 Mosquito attacked various targets 69x500 and 23x250 pound HE

From May 1944 onwards the reporting splits Mosquito sorties into Oboe and non Oboe.
Non Oboe 6,826x4,000, 14x1,000, 23,657x500 pound HE, 8x4,000, 347x1,000, 15x500, 3,928x250, 10x100, 4,340x4 pound incendiary
Oboe 1,106x4,000, 5,033x500 pound HE, 6x1,000, 10,319x250 pound incendiary

 

[EwenS]

Not heard/seen that before.

I always thought the standard bomb load was 4 x 500lb.

The 250lb could also be a TI, since TIs weren't available in 500lb.

1942/43 there were only 4 Mossie bomber squadrons and their role changed over time.

105 - started receiving Mosquitos for training in Nov 1941 but it was the night of 30/31 May 1942 before they flew their first sortie.
139 - reformed 8 June 1942 and initially used 105 squadron aircraft until it began to receive its own in Sept.

These squadrons flew an increasing number of low level daylight bombing sorties from Sept 1942. So carrying 4x500lb would not have been such a problem at low level (note I said the instability problem was at altitude and it fits with Geoffrey's data about the ratio of 500lb to 250lb bombs). Then in June 1943 they were switched to 8 Pathfinder Group, where 105 became the second Oboe squadron (see below) while 139 continued night nuisance raids until acquiring other bombing aids like G-H (from Oct 1943) and then H2S (from March 1944)

109 - this unit was initially concerned with Wireless Development / Recce / Investigation. It began to receive some Mossies from Aug 1942 for Oboe development work and then concentrating on this bombing aid, flying its first Oboe mission in Dec 1942.

It was Nov 1943 before the next Mossie bomber squadron became operational, to be followed by another 6 during the course of 1944 and the last in Jan 1945.

Edit:- First operations by the various bomber Mossie versions were as follows:-

B.IV - 30/31 May 1942
B.IX - 13 July 1943
B.XVI - 10/11 Feb 1944
B.XX - 2 Dec 1943
B.XXV - 9 Oct 1944

 

[wuzak]

Greg's Planes and Automobiles weighed in on the Mosquito vs the B-17 debate.


View: https://youtu.be/7Wdq0bkRdzE?si=8Hatj475yXgU7ONF

It is mostly fair.

To me it does seem like he suggests that the "cookie" was only used against cities, and the "cookie" was the only 4,000lb bomb that the Mosquito could carry.

And he seemed to suggest that it was only used against cities.

Also suggests that RAF accuracy was measured against the area of an entire city, compared to USAAF using a 1,000ft circle around the aiming point.

 

[EwenS]

Greg's Planes and Automobiles weighed in on the Mosquito vs the B-17 debate.


View: https://youtu.be/7Wdq0bkRdzE?si=8Hatj475yXgU7ONF

It is mostly fair.

To me it does seem like he suggests that the "cookie" was only used against cities, and the "cookie" was the only 4,000lb bomb that the Mosquito could carry.

And he seemed to suggest that it was only used against cities.

Also suggests that RAF accuracy was measured against the area of an entire city, compared to USAAF using a 1,000ft circle around the aiming point.

The "Cookie" was the High Capacity 4,000lb bomb. The charge to weight ratio was 75%

Bomb, 4000 lb HC, Mk 2, Mk 3, Mk 4, Mk 5, Mk 6

Description The body consists of a fabricated steel, cylindrical shell with a domed plate welded to the nose end, parallel sides, and a closing plate bolted to the angle ring,

www.bulletpicker.com

When De Havilland designed the 4,000lb conversion, the RAF gave them both a "Cookie" AND a 4,000lb Medium Capacity bomb to play with. Dimensionally both are virtually the same length wise and exactly the same diameter, but their appearance is different, the latter more resembling a typical bomb with a tail fin rather than a dustbin. The MC bomb had a thicker case and therefore a reduced charge to weight ratio of 58%. But the MC bomb was able to be fitted with a delayed action fuse unlike the HC bomb

Bomb, 4000 lb MC, Mk 1, Mk 2

Description In the Bomb Mk I the exploder containers screw into the nose and male base plate. The body has parallel sides, an ogival nose, and a slight taper at the body base.

www.bulletpicker.com

Unfortunately the data I have only refers to "4,000lb bomb" dropped without breaking it down between the two types. AIUI the "Cookie" was not fitted with delay action fuses as its thin case and Amatol filling were highly likely to explode on impact anyway! The MC bomb could be fitted with delayed action fuses.

A delayed action 4,000lb bomb was used by the Mossie. For example on 1 Jan 1945 16 aircraft from 571, 128 & 692 squadrons attacked railway tunnels in western Germany from altitudes of 100-200ft with the objective of slinging their delayed action bombs into the tunnel mouths. The delay was to ensure that they would explode in the tunnels if aimed accurately. They achieved some success, with some making multiple runs on their targets..