tc464
Posts: 126
Joined: 2/27/2004 From: Sodom on Potomac Status: offline
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I don't have access to my books at the moment, so I'm going off experience here. I'll be checking on it at home though, this one is a good challenge. I don't think this is a projectile, for a couple reasons... Not streamlined enough. The shape of the nose in the picture indicates a large bomb to me. Rough surface. Projectiles were machined on the outside. Granted, this one may be dirty, but not that dirty. Rotating band. First, I don't recall any projectiles with rotating bands located that far up on the body. Also, rotating bands on projectiles that size would be far more noticeable (2"-4" in width) Nose fuze. All nose fuzes on projectiles are streamlined, making the projo look like it has a nice pointy tip. Again, if this is a dud, that nice pointy fuze would be mangled, but the small gap between the body and the widest part of the fuze is also suspicious. You wouldn't see that on a projectile fuze. Now, as far as bombs go, this one fits better. It has a rough, or semi smooth body, a common shape to the nose, and the fuze reminds me of a typical nose impact fuze (possibly the M103 ?). Lugs may or may not be present, either due to impact, or because some bombs had strapped on lugs. If it's a dud, the fins may not be present. I rarely found a large size bomb with intact fins, and if I did, it was almost always the first thing I removed, in order to gain access to the tail fuze pocket. I also thought it might be a breech loaded mortar round, like the ones used by Coastal Artillery, but I don't recall one being that big (I think 12" was the largest diameter). I actually measured my hand and used at as a way to try and measure the pic, and it came out to about 16"-18". I think its a bomb, 1,000 to 3,000 lb range, general purpose, fragmentation or demolition. Like I said, I'll be hitting the books later. Just my .02
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