(Fig. 33)

The purpose of the container is the carriage of thirty-six 1 Kg incendiary bombs. The whole container is realeased from the aircraft and falls for about five seconds before col-lapsing and releasing the bombs, the collapse being effected by a clockwork mechanism set in motion at the moment of release from the aircraft, by an electro-magnetic unit.

The container consists of three side pieces, A, B and C, and a separate end piece D. A second end piece, E, is hinged to A. The sides are of aluminium of about 14 S.W.G. and the end pieces appear to be a light, strong alloy. Felt washers are glued to the inside of the end pieces. The piece B has the following attachments:

A lug for attachment to the bomb carrier. This lug could be removed and screwed into the end of the central rod, enabling the container to be hung on the light se-ries carrier of the E.S.A.C. 250 vertical bomb cell, four containers being carried in each cell.

A release unit. This contains a spring-driven vibrating pallet, which is held fast by a lever. The lever is released from the pallet by a small electro-magnet, thus allowing the clockwork mechanism to function and rotate a spindle. The spindle holds a small steel strip in place, and after five seconds from the starting of the clockwork me-chanism, turns to such a position that the strip can be pulled on. The release mag-net coil is marked 24V, though it does not operate on less than 36 volts. Its resis-tance is 2,000 ohms, and it would appear to operate on the 150-240-volt charging current without danger of burning out in the very small time during which the cur-rent flows. Marks on the surface of the piece "A" examined correspond with the crutch position of the tier stowage carries of the Ju 88 aircraft.

Fig. 33

It appears that the bombs would be stowed in three tiers of twelve with partitions bet-ween each tier. The only known German bomb suited to the dimensions of the container is the 1 Kg incendiary. The container with 36 of these bombs would weight about 42 Kg, which is well within the limit of 50 Kg for the carrier.

The bombs are placed on the side piece C with the partitions between them, and the piece B is placed over them. The end pieces D and E and the central rod are then fitted, and the piece A is folded over B. The safety pin is next fitted, in the end piece D, secur-ing it to A, and the release strip and pin are inserted in the release unit, which is then cocked by turning back its spindle (thus winding the clockwork mechanism and locking the release strip in place).

The container is attached to the carrier hook, crutched up, and the fuzing plug is inser-ted in the connector. The safety pin is then withdrawn.

This is effected in the usual way, the collapse of the container is initiated by the charg-ing of the Rheinmetal fuze gear. The container falls for five seconds as a complete unit. At the end of this time the clockwork mechanism allows the release strip and pin to be with-drawn by the pressure of the slip-stream tending to force the pieces A and B apart. The hinged piece E then opens and withdraws the fork from the end of the rod, allowing the pieces D and E to fall away and release the sides B and C.