What were the standard bomb weights used in ETO and PTO

[Jank]

I know that the Amercans used 500lb and 1,000lb bombs. Did the Americans use anythjing over 1,000lb?

[102first_hussars]

I think 1 toners were used by B-17's.

[Jank]

Anything used that weighed between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds?

[toffigd]

There were 1000 lbs, 1600 lbs (if I remember well) and 2000 lbs used the Americans.

[Gnomey]

The British also used the 4000lb 'Cookie', 12000lb 'Tallboy' and the 22000lb 'Grandslam' in the ETO.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

not just those..........

RAF bomber command used 4 main types of bomb during WWII, these were the GP (general purpose) bomb in the early years, but was not very effective and so gave way to the MC (medium capacity) bomb, HC (high capacity) and Incendiary, which some would not class as a bomb but the RAF classed as a "Fire Bomb"...........

The GP bombs were baisically the same as WWI bombs but bigger, they saw very little success despite extensive use, they came in 40lb, 250lb, 500lb, 1000lb, 1900lb and 4000lb, the latter two seeing very little use. None of the bombs had any better charge-to-weight ratio of 34%.

The Incendiaries were filled with Thermite pellets or a mixture of phosphorus and rubberised Benzol. At the start of the war the incendiaries made up about 6% of an average bomb load however when their effect was started to be realised they were used increasingly more and during the war this rised to anywhare up to 66% of a payload! They existed in 4lbs, 30lb and 250lbs.

These were then joined by the MC range, which replaced the old GP range. The MC range came in 3 sizes, 500lb, 1000lb and 4000lb and all had a charge-to-weight ratio of 50%, these were the most widely used bombs in bomber command, in particular the 1,000lb as 256,500 were dropped from 1943 to '45

Then came the HC bombs. These came in 6 sizes i believe, 500lb, 1000lb, 2000lb, 4000lb, 8000lb and 12,000lbs. The 8,000lb and 12,000lb were essentailly 2 or 3 4,000lb bombs bolted together. The 12,000 HC bomb IS NOT the tallboy, it is a different bomb. These bombs had a charge-to-weight ratio of 70%! the most powerful of these bombs were filled with Minol.

Also used by Bomber Command were a range of Specailist bombs, but the only ones used as standard was the Tallboy so i shall only speak of this one. She was, along with her big sister the Grandslam, classed as a "earthquake" bomb, very streamlined so that during the fall she exeeds the speed of sound and penitrates deep into the ground, when she detonates causing an "earthquake" effect. Over 800 were dropped operationally.

Also at one point during 1944 RAF Bomber command had to use American 500lb and 1,000lb bombs due to a shortage of their own, however these were not liked as their square tails meant not many could be carried (all British bombs had circular tails and our bombers were designed with circular tails in mind).

i hope this's helped, sorry i can't help with American bombs, there's a lot i couldn't be bothered to type so if you've got any more questions just ask, and remember i've only covered the major bombs, a lot of other, very important bombs i haven't mentioned because they are not standard.

[R Leonard]

USN/USMC ordnance deliveries were, for carrier-based and land-based aircraft, bomb type / number of bombs / tonnage / % of total tonnage (not including 1944 land-based results which are not available):

500 lb. GP / 91,776 / 22,944 / 29.7%
100 lb. GP / 294,380 / 14,719 / 19.1%
250 lb. GP / 100,776 / 12,597 / 16.3%
1000 lb. GP / 18,100 / 9,050 / 11.7%
2000 lb. GP / 4,907 / 4,907 / 6.4%
500 lb. SAP / 11,384 / 2,846 / 3.7%
250 lb. Napalm / 15,864 / 1,983 / 2.6%
1000 lb. SAP / 3,632 / 1816 / 2.4%
2000 lb. Torpedoes / 1,605 / 1,605 / 2.1%
260 lb. Fragmentation / 10,472 / 1,309 / 1.7%
250 lb. Depth Bombs / 8,296 / 1,037 / 1.3%
250 lb. Other Incendiary / 9,690 / 969 / 1.3%
200 lb. Mines / 5,260 / 526 / 0.7%
500 lb. AP / 1,772 / 443 / 0.6%
Unknown / n/a / 397 / 0.5%
TOTAL / 577,914 / 77,148 / 100.0%

USN/USMC rocket expenditures were 555,670 for 1944 and 1945.

Rich

[Jank]

So, toffigd mentioned thast he thinks the U.S. may have used 1,600 pounders. Can anyone verify that?

Great info R. Leonard. Any Air Force data?

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

The standard Luftwaffe bombs were:

Armor Piercing/Anti-Armor Bombs
PC 500 Anti-Armor
PC 1000 Anti-Armor
PC 1400 Fritz Anti-Armor
PC 1600 Anti-Armor
PD 500 Armor Piercing
PD 1000 Armor Piercing
SB 1000
SB 1000 Parachute
SB 2500 Heavy Load

Rocket Assisted Armor Piercing Bombs
PC 500 RS Rocket Assisted AP
PC 1000 RS Rocket Assisted AP
PC 1800 RS Rocket Assisted AP

Semi-Armor Piercing Bombs
SD 1 Fragmentation
SD 2 Fragmentation "Butterfly"
SD 4 HL Hollow Charge
SD 10 Fragmentation
SD 10C Anti-Personnel Bomb
SD 50 Fragmentation
SD 70 Fragmentation
SD 250 Fragmentation
SD 500, SD 500 A and SD 500 E Fragmentation
SD 1000 Fragmentation
SD 1700 Fragmentation

General Purpose Bombs
SC 50 Bi General Purpose
SC 50 Grade I General Purpose
SC 50 Grade II General Purpose
SC 250 General Purpose
SC 500 Grade III General Purpose
SC 1000 General Purpose "Herman"
SC 1200 General Purpose
SC 1800 General Purpose "Satan"
SC 2000 General Purpose
SC 2500 General Purpose

Incendiaries
B1 Series (1 kg. & 1.3 kg.) Incendiary
B2EZ Incendiary
B2.2EZ Incendiary
Brand 10 Liquid Filled Incendiary
Brand C50 A High-Intensity Incendiary
Brand C50 B High-Intensity Incendiary
Brand C250 High-Intensity Incendiary
FLAM C250 Liquid Incendiary
FLAM KC250 Liquid Incendiary
FLAM 500 Liquid Incendiary
Sprengbrand C 50 Incendiary Bomb
Strbd C500 Anti-Personel Liquid Incendiary Bomb

Concrete and Converted Bombs
SBe 50 Concrete Fragmentation Bomb
SBe 250 Concrete Fragmentation Bomb
SC 10 Concrete Fragmentation Bomb
SD 15 Converted Projectile Bomb

Smoke Bombs, Flares and Markers
NC 50 Smoke Bomb
NC 50 WC ND D/SEE Smoke Bomb
NC 250 S Smoke Bomb

Misc. Bombs
1/2-kg Antipersonnel Parachute Bomb
SD 1 Type Practice Bomb
SD 2 Type Practice Bomb
ZC 10 Concrete Practice Bomb
ZC 50 Concrete Practice Bomb

[R Leonard]

Any Air Force data?

Oh, not without a lot of digging . . . and I try to stick to Naval Aviation when I can.

Seriously, I just had some guys in today putting in new wall-to-wall carpeting and all my resources are stacked in the garage . . . behind the furniture. I suspect it will be several days before I can get to them.

Sorry.

Rich

[Salim]

This info is great! Thank you all for posting it.

One thing that I would like to say that I do believe that the Russians used a 5000 kilogram bomb when overloading the PE-8 for short haul missions (Unless I am mistaken, of course) and I also believe that 1600 lbs bombs were indeed used by the USN and USAAF, although I'm entirely sure what was the frequency of their use or other specification of how much explosive they had relative to their overall weight. If I find any more information, I'll post it here.

Thanks once again for the info about the German bombs, I've been wondering about them for quite a while now.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

For the German bombs, for the most part the number in the designation of the bomb denots the weight. For instance the SB2500 is a 2500kg bomb or 5511,5 lb bomb. I also believe that is the heaviest bomb used by the Germans.

[Jank]

Salim -

Interesting that you indicated that the Americans used 1,600 pound bombs. That's what I was trying to confirm.

Does anyone else have any information on bombs betseen 1,000 and 2,000 pounds?

[the lancaster kicks ass]

the only British bomb between those weights was the 1,900GP bomb, which saw very limited used due to fusing problems and the fact it kinda sucked

[Jank]

Sorry, I meant Americans using bombs between 1,000 and 2,0000 pounds. Can anyone confirm what Salim said about the 1,600 pounders?