SD 1700

Last updated
SD 1700
Sd1700.jpg
Type Fragmentation bomb
Place of originFlag of Germany (1935-1945).svg  Nazi Germany
Service history
Used by Luftwaffe
Wars World War II
Specifications
Mass1,703 kg (3,754 lb)
Length3.30 m (10 ft 10 in)
Diameter660 mm (2 ft 2 in)
Warhead Amatol
TNT
Warhead weight730 kg (1,610 lb) [1]

The SD 1700 (Sprengbombe Dickwandig 1700) or thick walled explosive bomb in English was a fragmentation bomb used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

<i>Luftwaffe</i> Aerial warfare branch of the German military forces during World War II

The Luftwaffe was the aerial warfare branch of the combined German Wehrmacht military forces during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the Luftstreitkräfte of the Army and the Marine-Fliegerabteilung of the Navy, had been disbanded in May 1920 as a result of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles which stated that Germany was forbidden to have any air force.

World War II 1939–1945 global war

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

Contents

History

The second most used category of bombs was the SD series which were high-explosive bombs but with thicker casings which meant their charge to weight ratio was only 30 to 40% of their total weight. At first glance, they were difficult to distinguish from the SC series of bombs, but the two series were color-coded the SC series having yellow tail stripes, while the SD series had red tail stripes. Bombs in this series were the SD 1, SD 1 FRZ, SD 2, SD 10 A, SD 10 FRZ, SD 10 C, SD 15, SD 50, SD 70, SD 250, SD 500, SD 1400, and SD 1700. The number in the bombs designation corresponded to the approximate weight of the bomb. [2]

The SD series was used primarily in two roles that were determined by the type of fuze and accessories fitted to the bomb. The first was as a fragmentation bomb with instantaneous fuze and when the bombs exploded above ground the case created large fragments which would kill enemy personnel and destroy unarmored vehicles. The second role was as a general-purpose or armor-piercing role. In this role, the bombs were fitted with a time delay fuze which detonated the bomb after it had pierced a target destroying it with a combination of its blast and fragments. [2]

General-purpose bomb type of air-dropped bomb

A general-purpose bomb is an air-dropped bomb intended as a compromise between blast damage, penetration, and fragmentation in explosive effect. They are designed to be effective against enemy troops, vehicles, and buildings.

Armor-piercing shell type of ammunition designed to penetrate armor

An armor-piercing shell, AP for short, is a type of ammunition designed to penetrate armor. From the 1860s to 1950s, a major application of armor-piercing projectiles was to defeat the thick armor carried on many warships. From the 1920s onwards, armor-piercing weapons were required for anti-tank missions. AP rounds smaller than 20 mm are typically known as "armor-piercing ammunition", and are intended for lightly-armored targets such as body armor, bulletproof glass and light armored vehicles. The classic AP shell is now seldom used in naval warfare, as modern warships have little or no armor protection, and newer technologies have displaced the classic AP design in the anti-tank role.

Design

The body was of one-piece forged steel construction which was filled through the base and was fitted with a magnesium alloy 4 finned tail with a cylindrical strut. Around the nose of the bomb was a kopfring - a metal ring, triangular in cross section, designed to prevent ground penetration or to stop forward momentum when hitting water. A single transverse fuze was located in the middle of the body and two central exploder tubes ran the length of the bomb through the Amatol or TNT filling. The SD 1700 was horizontally suspended by an H-Type suspension lug in a bomb bay or fuselage hardpoint. The bombs were either painted black or sky blue with red stripes on the tail. [1]

Momentum conserved physical quantity related to the motion of a body

In Newtonian mechanics, linear momentum, translational momentum, or simply momentum is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction in three-dimensional space. If m is an object's mass and v is the velocity, then the momentum is

Amatol Explosive

Amatol is a highly explosive material made from a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate. The British name originates from the words ammonium and toluene. Similar mixtures were known as Schneiderite in France. Amatol was used extensively during World War I and World War II, typically as an explosive in military weapons such as aircraft bombs, shells, depth charges, and naval mines. It was eventually replaced with alternative explosives such as composition B, torpex, and tritonal.

TNT chemical compound

Trinitrotoluene (; TNT), or more specifically 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. This yellow solid is sometimes used as a reagent in chemical synthesis, but it is best known as an explosive material with convenient handling properties. The explosive yield of TNT is considered to be the standard measure of bombs and the power of explosives. In chemistry, TNT is used to generate charge transfer salts.

See also

Related Research Articles

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A Butterfly Bomb was a German 2 kilogram anti-personnel submunition used by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. It was so named because the thin cylindrical metal outer shell which hinged open when the bomblet deployed gave it the superficial appearance of a large butterfly. The design was very distinctive and easy to recognise. SD 2 bomblets were not dropped individually, but were packed into containers holding between 6 and 108 submunitions e.g. the AB 23 SD 2 and AB 250-3 submunition dispensers. The SD 2 submunitions were released after the container was released from the aircraft and had burst open. Because SD 2s were always dropped in groups the discovery of one unexploded SD 2 was a reliable indication that others had been dropped nearby. This bomb type was one of the first cluster bombs ever used in combat and it proved to be a highly effective weapon. The bomb containers that carried the SD 2 bomblets and released them in the air were nicknamed the "Devil's Eggs" by Luftwaffe air and ground crew.

SC1000 bomb aerial bomb

The SC 1000 was a large air-dropped general-purpose thin cased high explosive demolition bomb used by Germany during World War II. Weighing more than 1,000 kg (2,200 lb), it was nicknamed the Hermann by the Germans in reference to the portly Luftwaffe commander, Hermann Göring.

AB 70-D1

The AB 70-D1(Abwurfbehälter) was a cluster bomb dispenser used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

AB 250-2

The AB 250-2(Abwurfbehälter) was a cluster bomb used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

BDC 10

The BDC 10 was a cluster bomb used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

SB 2500

The SB 2500 (Spezialbombe) was a luftmine or aerial mine in English used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

SD 50 (bomb)

The SD 50 or thick walled explosive bomb in English was a fragmentation bomb used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

SD 70 (bomb)

The SD 70 or thick walled explosive bomb in English was a fragmentation bomb used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

SD 250

The SD 250 or thick walled explosive bomb in English was a fragmentation bomb used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

PD 500

The PD 500 or thick walled armor-piercing explosive bomb in English was a armor-piercing bomb used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

PC 500

The PC 500 or cylindrical armor-piercing explosive bomb in English was a series of armor-piercing bombs used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

PC 1000

The PC 1000 or cylindrical armor-piercing explosive bomb in English was a armor-piercing bomb used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

PC 1400

The PC 1400 or cylindrical armor-piercing explosive bomb in English was a armor-piercing bomb used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

PC 1600

The PC 1600 or cylindrical armor-piercing explosive bomb in English was a armor-piercing bomb used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

SD 15 (bomb)

The SD 15 or thick walled explosive bomb in English was a fragmentation bomb used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

SBe 250

The SBe 250 or concrete fragmentation in English was a fragmentation bomb used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

SBe 50

The SBe 50 or concrete fragmentation in English was a family of fragmentation bombs used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

AB 500-3A

The AB 500-3A(Abwurfbehälter) was a cluster bomb used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

AB 500-1B

The AB 500-1B(Abwurfbehälter) was a cluster bomb used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

AB 500-1

The AB 500-1(Abwurfbehälter) was a cluster bomb used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

References

  1. 1 2 United States War Office (1953). German explosive ordnance : (bombs, fuzes, rockets, land mines, grenades and igniters). United States Government Printing Office. OCLC   713755660.
  2. 1 2 Visingr, Lukáš. "Německé letecké bomby: Smrticí arzenál Luftwaffe". Vojsko.net (in Czech). Retrieved 2019-03-07.
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