British Home Defense Armament

[jado]

I recently read in Kenneth Poolman's "Zeppelins Against London"a description of the different armaments that the RAF tried to use against the Zeps. *I quote from pg 82:

"Armament was to consist of R.L. electric tubes and incendiary bombs, bomb racks and twenty pound Hales bombs, and R.A.F. cutting missles if they were available."

Disregarding the obvious I am assuming R.L. electric tubes refer to rocket launched, electrically fired missles. *Can anyone tell me what was meant by R.A.F. cutting missles. *This is the only time that I have run into this weapon or term.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *VBR
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *Joe

[Graeme]

Joe,

RL was the designation given to bombs designed at the Royal Laboratory. There were nine versions of RL bomb, ranging from the 16-lb RL of 1914 to the the 550-lb RL of 1917; all were of the high-explosive type.

Several types of bomb were used on anti-Zeppelin duties, the most famous being the Ranken incendiary dart developed during 1915.

Another, also introduced in 1915, was the "Fiery Grapnel" an incendiary bomb ignited electronically as it passed down a tube in the aircraft's fuselage. It burned for about 40 seconds after ignition. Two versions were produced, one with two triple hooks attached to the bomb by wire (for use against aerial targets) and another without hooks (for use against ground targets).

Graeme

[jado]

Graeme:

Thank you, I'll have to cut and paste that for reference.


VBR,
Joe

[Boom]

Hooks? Electrical arming? Sounds whacky to YHS. How much were they used? How often did they hang in the tubes and incinerate the would-be dropper?

cheers, Boom

[Vigilant]

Boom

The War Office were apparently inundated with Londoner's nutty ideas for bringing down Zeppelins - only the more sensible ones made it to the cockpit!

I think the RL Tube was also used to drop flares for home defence recognition - colour of the night, and all that sort of thing.

Vig.

[Graeme]

From the book "Bombs Gone - the development and use of British air-dropped weapons from 1912 to the present day" by Wing Commander John A MacBean and Major Arthur S Hogben, Patrick Stevens Limited, 1990:

"Another device was the 3.45 inch diameter, 8 in long Bomb Incendiary 3.45 in. Two designs were produced, one with hooks for use against airborne targets, and the other hookless, for attacking ground targets. Both were released through a tube fitted in the aircraft's fuselage, but uniquely for the period they were ignited electronically on passing down the tube. After falling about 20 ft, both ends of the hooked version were blown off, freeing two triple hooks attached to the bomb by wire. At the same time, the incendiary composition was ignited and burnt fiercely for about 40 sec. Colloquially it was known as the 'Fiery Grapnel'. The hookless version was similar, except that it ignited 20 seconds after leaving the launch tube, and burnt itself out on the ground, as did the other if it missed the intended target."

I can't recall having read of such a device having ignited while still aboard the aeroplane.

The major problem was having to get above the airship before being in a position to drop the things and since not many of the Home Defence aircraft were able to do this, their use was probably fairly limited. There was also the problem of the bombs falling onto buildings while still ignited.

Graeme