Found in Garage - Can anyone ID this small aerial bomb ?

[Mikeusa777]

Hello,

I'm wondering if anyone has any info on the pictured small bomb attached? It was in a garage. It has been "demilled", as there is nothing inside. Hollow all the way through. The nose has a small circular removable metal cap in it, held with a pin. The front is very heavy. Looks like someone had painted the fins blue, but it was over existing paint. Looks too detailed, intricate and heavy for any training bomb. I was thinking WW1 ??

Any help would be greatly appreciated !

Thanks,
Mike Reid
Pennsylvania

 

[bacarnal]

Mike, Looks like one of the many iterations of the Mk 76/BDU 33 (Bomb Dummy Unit 33) 25lb practice bomb still in current use with the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force. Since it is hollow from stem to stern, it is missing the spotting cartridge. The cart looks like a long aluminum 12ga shell that has a smoke mixture (WP or FS). Held in by a pin (that's what the small holes near the nose are for) is a free floating firing pin that looks like a small set of dually rims/disks with a nub on one of them. When the bomb is prepared, a cart is loaded and the firing pin, nub towards the cart, follows. A pin is placed in the space between the two disks which holds everything in. When dropped, dirt or other foreign matter pushes on the first disk and shears the holding pin, allowing the firing pin to contact the cart. The cart then expels its smoke at a HIGH rate of speed, marking the drop. Even though it is practice, people have been injured and even killed on range clearances by these practice bombs with spotter carts (think sawed off shotgun), so encountering any that have the plug in the front, treat it as a live item until proven otherwise.

This is me getting down from my Hobby Horse. Cheers, Bruce.

 

[Mikeusa777]

Wow, Bruce - That was some seriously fast work !! Thanks much for the detailed reply. Very much appreciated. You really know your stuff !! ........ Looked up the MK-76 and you are dead on - that is the critter.............

Yes, that top cap is in the nose, but it comes out and you can see clear through from nose to tail - totally empty.

Thanks again !!

 

[Slick]

Here's what one of the spotting cartridges looks like. It's the long silver tube in front of the little bomb.

 

[US-Subs]

If I recall correctly however, it does not contain WP or FS/FM as a smoke charge. It should be a standard pyrotechnic mixture.

 

[BOMBSaway1980]

even for a practice bomb it shoots off one hell of a charge, More US EOD tech's have been injured by that item state side than any other item.

 

[bacarnal]

Subs, I stand corrected. The MK4 Mod3 that Slick has pictured has stabilized RED phosphorus (RP) while the CXU-3 would contain the Titanium Tetracloride (FS) smoke. My bust. Cheers, Bruce.