Air Bombs

Taihape Daily Times, 11 July 1918, Page 3

Air Bombs

HOW THEY ARB DROPPED. A great number of people still think that an airman who wishes to drop bombs lifts them up iums hands and drops them overboard himself one by one. If they realised the weight of the modern bomb, its size, the accurate sighting, which is used in order to hit the targets, and the necessity for instantaneous release, they would Understand that this is impossible. A bomb-dropper as a rule never handles or touches his bombs in any way, and may not even see them. They are slung up on hooks, of on loops of vire, and. are released by the pul! of a handle in the observer’s or pilot’s seat. The bomb-dfopper can then drop one, two, or a dozen bombs at once, if be wishes to. He can do it with ease and with safety, and need not move his eyes from Eis “sight” or his objective while he does ft.

All' bombs —German, English, or French—have some safety device attached to them to ensure their harmlessness until such time as “they are dropped. In the German bombs this generally consists of a pin, and it is very probaible that those which have been dropped in London and have failed in explode still contained the metal pin, which the German airmen, perhaps through excitement and nervousness, forgot to withdraw. This operation is generally performed by another handle near the dropping lever, which pulls the pin out of the bombs by means of a wire. Strange though it may sound, bombs are very difficult things to explode, and even if a bomb were to be dropped from a very great height witn the safety pin in it, it would probably not detonate although it would strike the ground with terrific force.

In the Zeppelins, which carry a great jiumber of bombs, the dropping consisted of Tows of small electric switches, each of which released Ja, bomb by means of an electrical contact, which lifted a hook and allowed, a bomb to fall.

.jSombs are aimed nowadays with s|ghts, almost as accurate as those of big guns. The Germans use a long telieseppe-like sight, which protrudes through the floor of the machine. By means of timing certain distances on the earth the speed of the machine is discovered, and the telescope, or a prism, -within it, is set at a certain angle. the objective appears in the field of view the bombs are released. A cargo of bombs is rarely releasee in one salvo. They are dropped slowly, one by one, a fact which has undoubtedly saved many lives, as this method gives people in the vicinity the few moments warning which may be vital to their own safety. If a machine,crosses its objective iff a perfect line, and the airman allows his bombs to fall at intervals of about 20 he will probably do effective , - 'T r C •- “drop ’even though the first two pi} three bombs fall short. If he were td clrpp.Them all at once he would

miss it entirely. As tp the bomb-dropper's feelings as h? le£s' his terribleT'cargo go crashing Iq earth—he has none. He pulls a lev- , .f,o ‘IV b* over a map. He has no sense of I e. t dropping, death and destruction. He has no sense of there being human beings and buildings and railway stations below him.

As he goes back to ms station no picture of loaded ambulances or wailing women rushes to his mind. If it did, and if he realised what his lighthearted action had done, 'it is doubtful whether he could ever do it again. He sits in warm clothes in a little car; below him moves slowly a little map. He arrives as it were at the spot painted hue. He pulls a wooden lever. ,