German Bombs carried by Gothas, Giants and Zepplins

[researchingreg]

Were the bombs carried by aircraft such as the Gothas and Giants different to the type carried by Zepplins? Looking at pictures of German bombs they differ in shape. Was there a specification given by the Navy or Army that differed from each other for manufacture? I think the bombers were operated by the Luftstriekkrate (Imperial German Air Service)and the Zeppelins by the Kaiserliche Marine. The range of bombs carried by Gothas and Giants. From left to right are 50kg, 100kg, 300kg, and 1,000kg bombs, with the man in the centre holding a 12.5kg bomb. Where the French photo shows a child by a 100 kg bomb of a different shape (would this be a Zeppelin bomb?)

 

[The Dark]

My understanding (which is limited and could be in error) is that the Carbonit bomb was used universally up into 1916, being gradually replaced after that with the P.u.W. bombs (Prufanstalt und Werft der Fliergertruppe) for both fixed-wing and lighter-than-air bombers. There were also incendiaries, but those were much smaller than 100 kilograms and most of them were wrapped with tarred rope to sustain the fire started by the filling of thermite and benzol.

The French bomb doesn't look like any of those. There are some good pictures here of all the types of German bomb I've mentioned, with Carbonit from 50 to 300 kilograms in the top right photograph and a picture at the bottom right of the P.u.W. bombs with a Gotha bomber.

Hopefully someone will recognize what that is in the French photograph, because I don't recognize it at all and I'd like to know more about it.

[Aspern]

The photo of the child with the bomb may be from Belgium. During the very first Zeppelin raids on Belgium in August 1914 it appears there were no specialised aerial bombs available so modified artillery shells were taken and dropped over the targets. This appears to be an artillery shell with the addition of hand-made vanes to aid stability.

Army Zeppelin commander Ernst Lehmann wrote in his book, 'The Zeppelins':

'Early in August the Z-6 set out to assist in the attack on Liege. She carried a few 6 and 8-inch artillery shells in lieu of bombs. They were to be dropped on forts.'

[The Dark]

On 01/02/2023 at 05:28, Aspern said:

The photo of the child with the bomb may be from Belgium. During the very first Zeppelin raids on Belgium in August 1914 it appears there were no specialised aerial bombs available so modified artillery shells were taken and dropped over the targets. This appears to be an artillery shell with the addition of hand-made vanes to aid stability.

Army Zeppelin commander Ernst Lehmann wrote in his book, 'The Zeppelins':

'Early in August the Z-6 set out to assist in the attack on Liege. She carried a few 6 and 8-inch artillery shells in lieu of bombs. They were to be dropped on forts.'

Thank you for mentioning the possibility it was an artillery shell, because that made me go poking into some different references.

The 250mm diameter makes me think it could be a shell from a 25cm schwerer Minenwerfer. Its heavy shell was 97 kilograms, which is close enough to 100 kilos for a trophy description, and they were 1 meter long, which the fins very well could extend to 1 meter 50. They'd make good candidates for Zeppelin bombs, since they were less reinforced than standard artillery shells and had a higher proportion of explosive - almost half the weight of the shell was its bursting charge.

[Lee Smart]

During the Great War, German airships were operated separately by the Army Luftstriekkrate (Imperial German Air Service)and the Navy (Kaiserliche Marine) with both services having ordered them from Luftschiffbau Zeppelin, the Army buying their first two examples in 1909 and the Navy not taking the plunge until 1912. During the war, the Navy Zeppelins were mainly used in reconnaissance missions for the German Fleet but some later used as coastal raiders against targets in England. 

The first famous Bombing missions, initially over France and Belgium (Paris, Lyons, Liege and Antwerp) were conducted by the Army Zeppelins - they didn't turn their attention to London until January 1915 when the improvement in engines enabled them to get there with confidence against a prevailing wind. 

[Tawhiri]

On 01/02/2023 at 05:28, Aspern said:

This appears to be an artillery shell with the addition of hand-made vanes to aid stability.

If you look closely at the rear end, just above the bolted band holding the fins on you can see a series of slightly raised parallelogram shapes on the surface. I wonder if these are the driving bands which would have engaged the rifling in the gun barrel and started the shell spinning as it was fired.