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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

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Bullets against Zeppelin


Pavel_D

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I'm looking for info and photos (cross-section) for british incendiary and explosive bullets (Pomeroy, Buckinghamem, Brock) in use during First World War against Zeppelin. You can me help?

Thanks

Pavel

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Hey Pavel, I don't know the answer to your question, but, have found some information stating that Germany flew a total of 115 military Zeppelins during the war, of which 77 were destroyed, 7 captured, 22 scrapped and 9 surrendered to the Allies at the Armistice. Can anyone confirm these figures? Cheers Shelley :rolleyes:

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Guest Pete Wood

Welcome to the forum, Pavel.

Patents for these incendiary bullets were taken out by their inventors. Immediately after the war, the claimants of these bullets were awarded money by the Government as a reward for allowing the inventions to be used.

A special board was set up which investigated the claims against the government, presided over (usually) by a Lord. The crown also had a patent lawyer whose jo was to make light of the invention, in order that the government paid out as little as possible.

However, in high profile cases like this (and the tank, for example), where the proceedings were likely to be reported in the press, lengthy reports were made.

All this means that you will find a veritable treasure trove of information, including drawings and test reports at the National Archives in Kew, London.

The awards for inventions are in the Treasury (T) section:

Go to The National Archives catalogue

and look at:

T 173/740 Claimant(s): Pomeroy, J. Nature of Invention: Incendiary bullet

T 173/395 Claimant(s): Pomeroy, J. Nature of Invention: Incendiary bullet

Also look at the Munitions (MUN) pages:

MUN 7/429 Papers on:- Bullet invented by Mr.J. Pomeroy

Obviously all the other bullets, inventions and drawings can also be found in the archives.

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Guest Pete Wood
Hey Pavel, I don't know the answer to your question, but, have found some information stating that Germany flew a total of 115 military Zeppelins during the war, of which 77 were destroyed, 7 captured, 22 scrapped and 9 surrendered to the Allies at the Armistice. Can anyone confirm these figures? Cheers Shelley :rolleyes:

Shelley, I admit I have not seen these figures before. Where did you find this info, please?

The 'captured' figure seems dubious to me, especially when you have also mentioned those which were surrendered (and most of which were sabotaged anyway, so were useless).

In 1919, ahips also had to be built (or handed over) by the Germans, to the allies, as reparations, including one for Japan.

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This information came from "An Illustrated History of The First World War", author is John Keegan, published by Alfred A. Knopf, Random House. copyright 2001 John Keegan. It is the first american edition, it states that much of the text is abridged from "The First World War" published in Great Britain by Hutchinson. I found this information on page 104. Wondered about the numbers, that is why I posted. cheers Shelley :)

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Guest GeauxTigers

I'd venture to say that 99% of the modern (WWI and WWII) tracer/incendiary bullets are made the same way. That is, a lead core with a gliding metal jacket. The base of the bullet would be hollow and filled with phosphorus. The powder charge in the casing would ignite the phosphorus, but only on contact with air after leaving the muzzle. Another point, the weight would have to be close to ball ammunition so the trajectory would not change much. Hope this is of help.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank all for replay

I found a picture of ww1 bullets filled with white phosphorus (see picture No 1), but in this picture isn´t Pomeroy bullet. I read about Pomeroy explosive bullet that it is filled nitroglycerine and they were so sensitive they had to be wrapped in cotton wool to prevent accidental explosion.

I don't know whether nitroglycerine create by the reaction glycerine and nitric acid after fire (analogous to shells from the 19. century) or nitroglycerine was filled directly into bullet? I found the picture bullets or shells of first ( see picture No 2) and second construction (see picture No 3).

Pavel

post-23-1087421143.jpg

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