AN-M69

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
AN-M69


General Information
Designation: AN-M69
Type: Napalm bomb
Country of origin: United States
Manufacturer: Standard Oil Company , DuPont , Chemical Warfare Service
Development: Standard Oil Company, National Research Defense Council
Commissioning: 1944
Technical specifications
Combat weight: 2.81 kg
Length: 495 mm
Diameter: 73 mm
Detonator: M1 delay detonator
Combat charge:

1.18 kg

Incendiary material :

napalm

Lists on the subject

The AN-M69 was an American napalm - cluster munitions used during the Second World War was produced and used.

development

In October 1941 the Standard Oil Company was commissioned by the US government to develop a new incendiary bomb . Since there was a shortage of aluminum in the USA at that time, the new incendiary bomb should contain little or no aluminum parts . Gelled fuel should be used as the incendiary material . The AN-M69 was then developed together with the Research Defense Council . In contrast to the geometrically similarly structured thermite fire bomb AN-M50 , the AN-M69 contained only very few aluminum parts.

In 1943, the Committee of Operational Analysis (COA) was working on target planning for bombing raids on the main Japanese islands . The committee concluded that Japanese homes were mostly made of wood and other combustible materials. Wood was also often used as a building material in industrial buildings . As a result, the greatest potential for damage was to be expected when incendiary bombs were used . As a result, the Joint Incendiary Committee was founded in June 1944 . This investigated how the urban areas on the main Japanese islands could be burned down most effectively with incendiary bombs. The committee recommended the widespread use of small incendiary bombs with thermite or liquid fuel . As a solution, the Standard Oil Company presented the committee with the AN-M69 bomb. Since the end of 1943, a village made of Japanese residential buildings had been built on the Dugway Proving Ground test site in Utah . This village was named Little Tokyo . Different types of incendiary bombs were tested on the buildings. The best results were obtained with the AN-M69 bomb. These bombs could set a wooden building on fire in three minutes and burn it down in 15 to 20 minutes. Immediately after these tests, the first batches of AN-M69 bombs were delivered to various units of the US Army Air Forces for further tests . The Twelfth Air Force flew test missions against supply depots in Italy in 1943 . The Seventh Air Force bombed targets on Pohnpei ( Micronesia ) with AN-M69 bombs in February / March 1943 . The Fourteenth Air Force bombed the city of Changsha , Republic of China, with the new incendiary bombs in October 1944 . The most extensive tests were flown by the XX th Bomber Command against targets in the Japanese-occupied parts of the Republic of China and Japan. The largest test use of this unit was carried out on December 18, 1944. On this day 84 accused bomber of the type B-29 Superfortress 500 tonnes of AN-M69 from bombs on Japanese supply depot in the city of Hankou in China. Large parts of the city burned for three days after the attack. Simultaneously with these test missions, 20 million AN-M69 bombs began to be made available for the bombing missions against the main Japanese islands.

technology

Bombs

The bomb had an elongated fuselage shape with a hexagonal cross-section and no stabilizing wings. The bomb body was made of steel and had a gray base color. A purple stripe marked the AN-M69 as an incendiary bomb. The bomb was 0.495 m long, had a diameter of 73 mm and weighed 2.81 kg. The M1 delay fuse was located in the fuselage head. Immediately behind it was a load of gunpowder . Behind it was a 1.18 kg napalm filling . The fire mix of type IM , which consisted of gasoline , butyl methacrylate, stearic acid and calcium oxide , was also used as a test. The incendiary mixture was in a cotton cheesecloth in the bomb. In the rear of the fuselage was a package with 91 cm long fabric straps. These served to stabilize the bomb in the fall. The bombs were packed in litter boxes and cluster bombs for dropping . The M19 (E46) cluster bomb was used the most. This was loaded with 38 AN-M69 bombs and weighed 159 kg. After the cluster bomb was dropped, it followed a ballistic curve . At a height of around 610 m (2,000  feet ) the snap rings and thereby the bomb sheeting were blown away. The AN-M69 bombs were now distributed over the target area using the watering can principle . The bomb cover of the AN-M69 was constructed in such a way that the bomb could penetrate roof tiles and concrete slabs up to a thickness of 76 mm. Between 3 and 5 seconds after impact, the M1 fuse and the gunpowder detonated in the head of the bomb. The pressure ejected the gel-like fuel from the rear of the fuselage. The pressure was enough to spray the burning napalm up to 30 m. The napalm burned for 4 to 5 minutes at around 800 ° C. The following versions of the AN-M69 bomb were made:

  • AN-M69: Initial version with a filling of 1.18 kg of napalm . Total weight 2.8 kg.
  • AN-M69A1: Like the AN-M69 version, but with an M2 timer .
  • AN-M69WP: With a filling of 1.0 kg of napalm and 0.18 kg of white phosphorus .
  • AN-M69X: With a filling of 0.91 kg napalm and a fragment load with 130 g Tetryl which produced 300-400 fragments. Detonation by time fuse with a 1.5–6 minute delay. Total weight 3.2 kg.

Cluster bombs

The AN-M69 were assembled as a bundle in litter boxes and cluster bombs . These were circular or hexagonal in cross section. This allowed them to be put together as a bundle with different equipment and weights. The B-29 Superfortress bomber was normally armed with 40 M19 cluster bombs. The B-29 could carry a maximum of 56 M19 cluster bombs. Thus, a single bomber of this type could deploy 2,128 AN-M69 bombs. A bomber loaded in this way was theoretically able to set fire to an area of ​​over 64,700 m². Well-known cluster bombs and containers for the AN-M69 were:

  • AN-M12: with M4 adapter with 14 × AN-M69, weight 48 kg
  • AN-M13: with M7 adapter with 60 × AN-M69, weight 227 kg
  • M18: (E28) with E6R2 adapter with 38 × AN-M69, weight 159 kg
  • M19: (E46) with M23 / E23 adapter with 38 × AN-M69, weight 192 kg
  • M21: (E74) with M23 adapter with 38 × AN-M69X, weight 192 kg
  • E18: with 45 × AN-M69, weight 193 kg (only small series)
  • E36: with E21 adapter with 38 × AN-M69, weight 159 kg

commitment

The first regular air attack with AN-M69 bombs took place in the context of island hopping on February 15, 1944. Between February 15 and 26, US bombers of the 7th Air Fleet dropped this type of bomb for the first time on targets on the Pacific island of Pohnpei . The first large-scale operation with this type of bomb took place on February 4, 1945. The destination was the city of Kobe , located on the main Japanese islands . Of the 110 B-29 Superfortress bombers launched, 69 dropped their bomb load over the city. Each bomber was loaded with 3,098 kg of AN-M69 bombs. This attack destroyed 0.25 km² of industrial and residential areas. Then the AN-M69 was used in the devastating attacks on Osaka , Kobe, Yokohama , Tokyo , Kawasaki , Nagoya and other cities. Between January and June 1945, over 22,716 tons of AN-M69 were dropped on Japanese cities. Over 10,050 tons of bombs of this type were dropped over Tokyo alone during this period. In total, over 36,287 tons of AN-M69 bombs were dropped on Japan during World War II. In the attacks on the Japanese cities, in addition to the AN-M69, cluster incendiary bombs of the type AN-M50 , AN-M54 and AN-M74 were used. These attacks caused enormous civilian casualties and large parts of the urban areas were burned down. The AN-M69 bombs accounted for 53% of the total bomb load dropped on Japanese cities.

After World War II, the AN-M69 bomb was used during the Korean War . Again it was recommended that the population centers of North Korea be bombed with small incendiary bombs. The cities of Pyongyang , Hoeryong, Hŭngnam , Hamhŭng , Chongsong, Chinbo, Kusu-dong and Sinŭiju were bombed several times with cluster incendiary bombs of the type AN-M69, AN-M50, AN-M54 and AN-M74. These operations also resulted in enormous civilian casualties. In some cases, entire cities were burned to the ground by the large fires that were ignited. During the Korean War the stocks of the AN-M69 bombs were used up, so that from then on other types of incendiary bombs were used.

See also

literature

  • Robert F. Dorr: B-29 Superfortress Units of World War 2 , Bloomsbury USA, 2002, ISBN 978-1-84176-285-2 .
  • Robert M. Neer: Napalm. Harvard University Press, 2013, ISBN 0-674-07545-5 .
  • R. Cargill Hall: Case Studies in Strategic Bombardment. Air Force History and Museums Program. 1998, Washington, ISBN 0-16-049781-7 .
  • US Army: TM 9 1385 1 Surface Explosive Ordnance Disposal , War Department, Department Technical Manual, 1961, ( full text online )
  • US Navy: OP 1664, US Explosive Ordnance, Volume 2 , Department of the Navy, Bureau of Ordnance, dated 28 May 1947, ( full text online )
  • US Army: TM 9-1904 Ammunition Inspection Guide 1944-03-02 , War Department, Department Technical Manual ,, dated 2 March 1944, ( full text online )

Web links

Commons : American WW2 incendiary bombs  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Who Made That Firebomb? Alex Wellerstein's blog , accessed November 6, 2014
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j National Defense Research Committee (NDRC): Summary Technical Report of Division 11, Volume 3: Fire Warfare, Incendiaries and Flame Throwers , Washington DC 1946, pages 8-94.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Dr. Phil John M. Curatola: 180 Degrees out: The Change in US Strategic Bombing Applications 1935-1955 , University of Kansas (2008), pp 116-122.
  4. ^ Robert F. Dorr: B-29 Superfortress Units of World War 2 , accessed November 6, 2014
  5. ^ A b Joint Target Group: Study of Incendiary Bombings for Employment by the United States Army Air Forces , NARA-M1655, Washington DC October 1944, pages 14-23.
  6. ↑ How we fight japan with fire, Popular Science May 1945, pp. 100-109 , accessed November 6, 2014
  7. ^ The 6th Bomb Group - B-29 Performance , accessed January 26, 2015
  8. ^ R. Cargill Hall: Case Studies in Strategic Bombardment . 1998. p. 316.
  9. ^ Robert M. Neer: Napalm. 2013, p. 140.
  10. ↑ Inferno: The Fire Bombing of Japan, March 9 - August 15, 1945 Edwin P. Hoyt, Madison Books, October 11, 2000 , accessed November 6, 2014
  11. ↑ Firebombing Japan, Flying Magazine Oct. 1945 pages 64,94,98 , accessed November 6, 2014
  12. ^ The Strategic Air War Against Germany & Japan, Office of Air Force History, United States Air Force, Washington, DC, 1986 , accessed November 6, 2014
  13. ↑ Strategic Bombing by the United States in World War II: The Myths and the Facts, December 13, 2002, Stewart Halsey Ross, McFarland, December 13, 2002 , accessed November 6, 2014
  14. ↑ US Strategic Bombing Survey Report 90, Effects on Incendiary Bomb Attacks on Japan , Accessed November 6, 2014
  15. ^ Robert M. Neer: Napalm , Harvard University Press, Apr 1, 2013, p. 254 , Accessed Nov. 7, 2014
  16. ^ Jörg Friedrich: Yalu. On the banks of the third world war . Propylaen Verlag, Munich 10/2007, ISBN 978-3-549-07338-4
  17. ^ Cumings, Bruce: Napalm on North Korea . In: Le Monde diplomatique . No. 7536 , December 10, 2004, p. 5-7 ( monde-diplomatique.de ).
  18. ↑ Crane Conrad: American Airpower Strategy in Korea 1950–1953 , University Press of Kansas 2000.