Hi all!

I´m building the Tamiya Lancaster in 1/48 for the Bombs Away build.

What color and markings did British bombs have during WWII?

Can anybody please help me here!

Cheers!

Stefan E

Olive green with RAF Dark Green fins. Bright green stripe around the nose and red tip. 4,000 Cookies olive green with a red and green stripes.

Some of the lighter bombs (up to 1000 pounds) were still seen in the pre-war overall Buff colour (light brown-yellow), which was used to designate an explosive filling. They were still seen until quite late in the war.
A mix of green and Buff would look okay for the lighter weapons.

Jeff W

Prior to WWII there existed an ‘old’ and ‘new’ system for marking ordnance laid down in AP 1243.

The old system was as follows:

All service bombs painted yellow with a red band around the nose denoting that the bomb is filled. A plain green band with no fraction or other marks indicated an 80/20 Amatol filling. A plain green band with a fraction below indicated an Amatol filling of that fraction. A plain green band with the word ‘Trotyl’ stencilled on the green band in three places indicated a TNT filling. This system applies to all stocks filled prior to January 1928.

A new system was introduced for uniformity between Admiralty and War Office production. All H.E. bombs (Amatol, TNT or Baratol) were painted yellow overall and marked as follows:

A red band around the nose denoted the bomb was filled.
A green band around largest diameter of the bomb denoted filled with Amatol or TNT.
A white band above the red denoted the bomb was S.A.P.
A white band either side of the red denoted the bomb was A.P.
Stencilling was also applied.
Bar 10/90 or other fraction below the green band in three places denoted the bomb was filled with Baratol.
The word Trotyl on the green band in three places denoted the bomb was filled with TNT.
80/20 or other fraction below the green band denoted the bomb was filled with Amatol.
G.P. 120lb or other nomenclature round the body between the red and green bands denoted the nomenclature of the bomb.
I or other numeral around the body between the red and green bands denoted the Mark of bomb. W or other initial or trademark around the bomb between the red and green bands denoted the name of the firm or filling station.
25/2/27 or other date around the body between the red and green bands denoted the date of filling.
1234 or other number around the bomb between the red and green bands denoted Lot. No.of filling.
118lb or other weight around the bomb between the red and green bands denoted the actual weight of the bomb complete with vanes but without components.

Don't know if this will help.. I usually find a picture is easier to follow..



Hope this helps..

Paul

Those are I think anti-shipping sea mines, not bombs.

Antoni, Jeff and Paul; Thanks for all the information and pics!

This was exactly what I needed as I will load my Lanc with bombs and a 4000lbs cookie.

Thanks again guys!

Btw, the cookie included in the Tamiya kit is very much undersiezed so I robbed a Airfix Mosquito kit for a better one!

You can have a look on my build in the Bombs away campaign.

Cheers!

Stefan E

Now that I found the ongoing discussion, what do you make of the colours for these bombs ? Looks like a 2- tone - lighter back end and darker front end. Could it be the "old" yellow tails with olive green fronts ?


Could a mix of "old" yellow and olive bombs be possible in a mid-1944 bomb load ?

Thanks for the help (again),

Brian

Undersized is an understatement. You can also get a proper sized 4,000lb cookie from Belcher Bits set BB9. Suggest you add .040 card spacers to the centre rows of bomb mounts so that you get the right difference in levels between the inner and outer rows of bombs. I expect you know you have to remove four of the centre mounts to fit a proper cookie. I think the fuses should be silver or steel.

Hi Antoni!

Please, excuse a "metric" guy, how much is .040 in millimetres?

I´ll use the Airfix cookie as i already had the B. MkXVI/PR XVI kit, and I won´t (ever!) build a Mossie with those ugly bulged doors!

The SAMI Lancaster Datafile book have several plans for different bomb loads so I have already removed the (bomb) mounting pins beside the cookie.

Thanks for Your help!

Cheers!

Stefan E

Still sell card in thousands of an inch here. If the expansion of the Universe hasn't altered things since I was at school, by my calculations .040 is 1.016 mm.

If the photo was taken with ortho film then yellow would appear almost black. As the yellow of the roundel is almost white then then this photo was taken with pan film. The body of the bomb must be green as it appears too dark to be yellow. Despite its name, RAF Dark Green isn't all that dark, more of a greyish green. Judging by the tone of the first bomb I would say the fins are green. It doesn't surprise me that they look lighter than the Olive Green. The photograph is quite contrasty and parts look a bit overexposed and so might appear much lighter than they really were.

Thanks Antoni et al for the info.

I think I need to re-phrase my last question though:

Would a bomb load in mid-1944 have included a mix of all -yellow bombs and all -green bombs ?

Forgive my complete ignorance on British ordnance, but I'm actually a figure modeller - I'm wanting to include a couple of 500 pounders on the base with my most recent figure project, an RCAF Typhoon pilot in France suring the Summer of '44.

Again, my thanks for any clarification you can provide.

Brian