Japanese Explosive Ordnance – Bombs, Bomb Fuzes, Land Mines,
Grenades, Firing Devices and Sabotage Devices |
Chapter 1 – Section 1 |
Japanese Army Bombs |
Type 99 30-kg. High-Explosive Bomb |
Over-all length: 33 1/4 inches. |
Length of body: 19 3/4 inches. |
Diameter of body: 5 7/8 inches. |
Thickness of wall: 9/32 inches. |
Material of wall: Tubular steel. |
Type of suspension: Horizontal. |
Suspension lug: Normal Army suspension lug. |
Color and marking: Black over all with a red band around the nose and a yellow band and white band around the body forward of the suspension lug. |
Length of tail: 13 1/2 inches. |
Width of tail: 8 1/4 inches. |
Width of tail fins: 3 1/4 inches. |
Dimension of tail struts: Length, 5 3/4 inches; width, 1 inch; thickness, 1/16 inch. |
Material of tail: Sheet steel. |
Type of filling: Cyclonite, 48 percent; TNT, 52 percent in 3 performed blocks. |
Weight of filling: 25 pounds, 12 ounces. |
Total weight of bomb: 66 pounds. |
Charge/weight ratio: 39 percent. |
Construction of body: A cast-steel nosepiece is screwed into a tubular steel body. A tail cone is welded to the after end of the steel body. |
Construction of tail: Four tail fins are spot welded to the cone, and are braced by a single set of box-type struts. |
Remarks: This bomb has been found with sheet steel plates welded to the outer edges of the fins to form a box-like reinforcement for the tail fins. They cover the area from the after end of the fins to a point just forward of the curve in the fins. This is a antishipping adaption using the A-8 (a) and B-8 (a) fuzes. Documents report that an antipenetration device is used on the tail of the type 99 30-kg. bomb for minimum altitude bombing. |
Figure 3 - Type 99 30-kg. High-Explosive Bomb. |
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