Picture of the day

donor said:
Excellent pictures Diopter.Notice Cooper bombs still in use.Quantity of those bombs was supplied to Finland along with Lysanders sold there. How long were Cooper bombs produced?I doubt they still had them in stocks since ww1.Who produced them? As for wheel spats mounted guns there was few planes designed with those.Afaik only Lysander was mass produced with them and used in war.
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The earlier 20 lb Hales bomb was declared obsolete by the end of the war, and although I don't know how long the 20 lb Cooper was produced, it wasn't introduced until around 1917 and probably lasted longer in use (and inventory) than the Hales. There was also a 20 lb Mk III fragmentation bomb in British service that I think came about later. The size of bombs began to increase significantly (to 250, 500 lb and larger varieties) as WWI drew to a close.
 
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Ranken Dart, Hale, Cooper & 112 lb bombs at IWM Duxford.

When you read about RAF bombing done with single engine bombers (WW1) it was often done with 112LB.


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Dark Alley Dan said:
That's a fantastic pic. Plenty of detail. Thanks for that, donor.

The wheel spats make an interesting place to locate guns, but sensible - outside the prop arc and otherwise unused.
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My dad mentioned a few times when his battalion, during training , prior to going to join the BEF in France , 1940 , how Lysanders played the part of “ Enemy “ aircraft, dropping flour bags and stimulating strafing , it no way compared to when they were attacked by German Stuka dive bombers , or strafed by Messerschmitt 109 fighters
 
There was a military buying free - for -all in the nineteen thirties due to at least one gruesome crash with one of the one engined airliners doing a night flight in the USA. This crash or these crashes resulted in a Bureau of Air Commerce prohibition on single engined airliners in the USA. In Spain some similar Vultee former airliners mysteriously appeared as warplanes. The RCAF must have gotten on the bandwagon but the Deltas were Cdn. built.

I do not know what incident sparked this prohibition. I was thinking the crash that resulted in the death of Knute Rockne but that was a wood framed trimotor aircraft, a Fokker F10. Interestingly the Bellanca single engined transport affected by the ban had more lifting power than the average trimotor aircraft.

These were used as bush planes in Northern Canada until the 1970's.

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Some interesting lineage to the craft mentioned at the link

http://royalaviationmuseum.com/big-bellancas-carried-big-cargoes-and-became-a-bush-plane-legend/
 
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Ranken Dart info from IWM:

description
Physical description
dart the Ranken dart consisted of a tinplate tube 23cm long, with a cast iron pointed nose at one end, and a plug and three spring loaded arms at the other. The arms were kept closed in storage by means of a cap, either tin or rubber, which acted as a buffer when the dart was in its dropping tube. When released, the arms opened up and locked in place to act as a grapnel, thus ensuring that the body entered the fabric. The Dart contained high explosive, black powder and phosphorus which were ignited when the head penetrated the airship's outer skin.
Label
Developed for use against German Zeppelin airships by Engineer Lieutenant Commander Francis Ranken, initially as a Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) weapon but was also adopted by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in 1916.
History note
Developed for use against German Zeppelin airships by Engineer Lieutenant Commander Francis Ranken, initially as a Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) weapon but was also adopted by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in 1916.
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Looks like scores of the little bastards in the dispenser. Everyone fuzed & filled with black powder, white phosphorus, & 'high explosives.' Sounds sketchy. I suppose not much sketchier than having five hundred rounds of belted 20mm ammo in your plane's wings. . .

It appears the only time they were used to effect was during raids on German air bases in Belgium.
 
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Mr Wolverine said:
A beautiful Vickers "K" in what appears to be an improvised Scarf mount, very light and "handy" but obsolete as an aircraft gun before the start of WWII, never the less she saw use through out WWII, was fitted to the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Fairy Swordfish torpedo bomber among others. The Vickers "K" gained fame in the hands of the SAS in North Africa but that is another tale. I see we have at least one AG (Air Gunner) and a Polish pilot in the photo, I wonder where and when this photo was taken? My own example (Vickers "K") lives on my desk, she maintains peace in the office. :) Every "Boss" should have at least one.
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I recently found out that the British Commandos issued a Vickers K variant with a buttstock, pistol grip and bipod as a squad automatic weapon during the Normandy invasion. With such a high rate of fire, it must have been quite a difficult job to keep them supplied with ammo.

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Higgs602 said:
I recently found out that the British Commandos issued a Vickers K variant with a buttstock, pistol grip and bipod as a squad automatic weapon during the Normandy invasion. With such a high rate of fire, it must have been quite a difficult job to keep them supplied with ammo.

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First time I have time I have ever seen a Vickers K with buttstock, pistol grip and bipod, issued to help suppress the German MG 42 with its high rate of fire ,be handy if the Commandos had a few jeeps and Universal carriers for ammo supply
 
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August 3, 1967, friendly fire by 155mm howitzer.

There are a lot of FF incidents listed on this page I had never heard heard of. Quite surprising.
https ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_friendly_fire_incidents#World_War_II
 
HuskyDude said:
Interest site. Wow!
Re: the pic posted
I find it rather odd no one in the picture is looking at the plane crashing.
Seems everyone is looking to right of the lens.
Even the guys on the middle platform are not looking up...Hmmm.
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Things happen really fast. Picture taken as just the right moment.
 
HuskyDude said:
Interest site. Wow!
Re: the pic posted
I find it rather odd no one in the picture is looking at the plane crashing.
Seems everyone is looking to right of the lens.
Even the guys on the middle platform are not looking up...Hmmm.
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The fragments in the air appear to be just the empennage (tail portion of an aircraft); they may very well be looking at the crash of the main part.
 
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