The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models designated as various LB-30s, in the Land Bomber design category.
An unguided bomb, also known as a free-fall bomb, gravity bomb, dumb bomb, or iron bomb, is an aircraft-dropped bomb that does not contain a guidance system and hence simply follows a ballistic trajectory. It includes all aircraft bombs in general service until the latter half of World War II, and the vast majority until the late 1980s, which were known simply as "bombs".
The Mark 82 is a 500-pound (230 kg) unguided, low-drag general-purpose bomb, part of the United States Mark 80 series. The explosive filling is usually tritonal, though other compositions have sometimes been used.
A glide bomb or stand-off bomb is a standoff weapon with flight control surfaces to give it a flatter, gliding flight path than that of a conventional bomb without such surfaces. This allows it to be released at a distance from the target rather than right over it, allowing a successful attack without exposing the launching aircraft to anti-aircraft defenses near the target. Glide bombs can accurately deliver warheads in a manner comparable to cruise missiles at a fraction of the cost—sometimes by installing flight control kits on simple unguided bombs—and they are very difficult for surface-to-air missiles to intercept due to their tiny radar signatures and short flight times. The only effective countermeasure in most cases is to shoot down enemy aircraft before they approach within launching range, making glide bombs very potent weapons where wartime exigencies prevent this.
Fritz X was a German guided anti-ship glide bomb used during World War II. Fritz X was the world's first precision guided weapon deployed in combat and the first to sink a ship in combat. Fritz X was a nickname used both by Allied and Luftwaffe personnel. Alternative names include Ruhrstahl SD 1400 X, Kramer X-1, PC 1400X or FX 1400.
The Texas Instruments BOLT-117, retrospectively redesignated as the GBU-1/B was the world's first laser-guided bomb (LGB). It consisted of a standard M117 750-pound (340 kg) bomb case with a KMU-342 laser guidance and control kit. This consisted of a gimballed laser seeker on the front of the bomb and tail and control fins to guide the bomb to the target. The latter used the bang-bang method of control where each control surface was either straight or fully deflected. This was inefficient aerodynamically, but reduced costs and minimized demands on the primitive onboard electronics.
Aphrodite was the World War II code name of a United States Army Air Forces operation to use worn out Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated PB4Y bombers as radio controlled flying bombs against bunkers and other hardened or reinforced enemy facilities. A parallel project by the United States Navy was codenamed Anvil. The missions were not generally successful, and the intended targets in Europe were either overrun by the ground advance of Allied troops or disabled by conventional attacks by aircraft.
The ASM-N-2 Bat was a United States Navy World War II radar-guided glide bomb which was used in combat beginning in April 1945. It was developed and overseen by a unit within the National Bureau of Standards with assistance from the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Bell Telephone Laboratories. It is considered to be the first fully automated guided missile used in combat.
A guided bomb is a precision-guided munition designed to achieve a smaller circular error probable (CEP).
USAAF unit identification aircraft markings, commonly called "tail markings" after their most frequent location, were numbers, letters, geometric symbols, and colors painted onto the tails, wings, or fuselages of the aircraft of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during the Second World War.
Silverplate was the code reference for the United States Army Air Forces' participation in the Manhattan Project during World War II. Originally the name for the aircraft modification project which enabled a B-29 Superfortress bomber to drop an atomic weapon, "Silverplate" eventually came to identify the training and operational aspects of the program as well. The original directive for the project had as its subject line "Silver Plated Project," but continued usage of the term shortened it to "Silverplate".
Royal Air Force Deopham Green or more simply RAF Deopham Green is a former Royal Air Force station located near Deopham Green 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Attleborough, Norfolk, England.
Royal Air Force Debach or more simply RAF Debach is a former Royal Air Force station located at Debach, 3 miles (4.8 km) northwest of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England.
GB-4 was a precision guided munition developed by the United States during World War II. GB-4s used a television guidance system with the weapon being steered by a TV bombardier operating a joystick in the launch aircraft.
The 93rd Air Refueling Squadron is an active United States Air Force unit, stationed at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, where it is assigned to the 92nd Operations Group and operates the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker aircraft conducting air refueling missions.
A precision-guided munition (PGM), also called a smart weapon, smart munition, or smart bomb, is a guided munition intended to hit a specific target, to minimize collateral damage and increase lethality against intended targets. During the Persian Gulf War guided munitions accounted for only 9% of weapons fired, but accounted for 75% of all successful hits. Despite guided weapons generally being used on more difficult targets, they were still 35 times more likely to destroy their targets per weapon dropped.
The ASM-A-1 Tarzon, also known as VB-13, was a guided bomb developed by the United States Army Air Forces during the late 1940s. Mating the guidance system of the earlier Razon radio-controlled weapon with a British Tallboy 12,000-pound (5,400 kg) bomb, the ASM-A-1 saw brief operational service in the Korean War before being withdrawn from service in 1951.
The VB-3 Razon was a high-angle freefall guided bomb developed by the United States Army Air Force during the 1940s. Razon was a standard AN-M65 1,000-pound general-purpose bomb, the same basic ordnance unit used for its AZimuth-ONly guided predecessor, the VB-1 Azon guided ordnance, with the Razon concept fitted with flight control surfaces that also enabled adjustment in the vertical plane, like the Luftwaffe's heavier Fritz X armored anti-ship guided ordnance. Development of the Razon began in 1942, but it did not see use during World War II although it was combat ready in the summer of 1945. The VB-4 used a 2,000-pound bomb.
The Pelican, also known as Bomb Mark 55 and, in one version, SWOD Mark 7, was a guided bomb developed by the United States Navy during World War II. Guided by semi-active radar homing, Pelican was produced in 1,000 lb (450 kg) and 1,500 lb (680 kg) sizes; the program reached the stage of live trials before being cancelled.
The High Speed Low Drag (HSLD) bomb is a family of new generation short range air-dropped precision-guided munition that is currently being developed by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). This general-purpose bomb is made for the Indian Air Force (IAF) and can be used against the destruction of strategic high value enemy infrastructure from stand-off distances. HSLD is comparable to Mark 80 series of bombs used by United States Air Force (USAF).
