Incendiary bomb clusters

At the end of May, Shadle expressed his satisfaction with the chemical offensive potential and ammunition status in the North African theater. His view seems to have been overly optimistic since smoke pots, tear gas, and HC smoke grenades were the only ammunition items available in sufficient supply. All the chemical supply officers reported urgent requests for unavailable white phosphorus grenades. The Twelfth Air Force reported limited quantities of ANM50A1 4-pound incendiary bombs, a few Mja yoo-pound incendiary bomb clusters, and a considerable number of My4 loo-pound incendiary bomb clusters. There was no other chemical ammunition in the theater although the New York port had promised that 120 days supply of high explosive and smoke shell was en route for the three chemical mortar battalions which had recently arrived in the theater. Aside from a small amount of artillery shell stored by Ordnance, no toxics were available in the theater and none was scheduled to arrive until the fall of 1943. The March theater plan for gas warfare, the first such plan, was based on meeting possible enemy gas attack with this plainly inadequate supply of artillery shell. The new War Department policy for retaliation in event of enemy initiation of gas warfare called for the use of aerial munitions as the principal gas weapons. Shadle s satisfaction with the toxic supply status can be explained by the fact that he did not con-... 

In the last months of the Pacific war aerial incendiaries played an increasingly important role in both the strategical and tactical spheres. The assault on Iwo Jima, for example, was preceded by a lo-week bombardment by planes based in the Marianas incendiary bomb clusters formed a significant part of their load. Air operations com-... 

Jigs for simultaneous handling of up to nine 55-gallon drums of toxics were in use there during 1944, and similar methods came into use for loading the awkward incendiary bomb clusters. ... 

By the summer of 1S>42 the first shipments of incendiary bomb clusters were beginning to fill the new facilities. As the carloads arrived, the 100-pound clusters were manhandled into the igloos from the railroad docks via trucks and roller conveyors arid stacked inside by hand, as many as twelve to a stack. This procedure, time consuming and laborious as it was, remained without much change for more than a year until the use of fork-lift trucks and pallets became general. A number of devices had by then been improvised for handling 100-pound and 500-pound clusters. 

F. B. Shaw, Jr., "Packing Incendiary Bomb Clusters, Armed Forces Chemical Journal, III (April 1950), 20-21, 40. 

Note An "aimable cluster" consisting of a number of incendiary bombs held in a single container is briefly described in... 

See Vol 4, this Encycl, pp D940-R D941-L). The Rockeye is a new cluster bomb which can contain either anti-personnel or antitank bomblets. The Fireye is a new incendiary bomb and the Sadeye is another cluster bomb designed to be air-launched. It contains a large number of bomblets. The Weteye is a new chemical bomb of the non-lethal variety designed to replace the Navy MK 94 Ref R.L. Johnston, "Air Armament , Ordnance 61, 121(1966)... 

Aim able Cluster. This consists of a number of incendiary bombs held in a single container. When dropped from a plane, at a high altitude, the container opens a few thousand feet above the ground and allows the bombs to scatter over an area. For this reason it is called the delay opening type, and is distinguished from the quick-opening or short-delay type, which opens and scatters the bombs almost immediately below the airplane. As the parts from the quick-opening clusters constituted a major hazard to the planes... 

A cluster of fragmentation, gas or incendiary bombs is usually so arranged that more than one bomb c an be suspended and dropped from a single station of the bomb rack of an airplane... 

Darts. An Amer term for small incendiary bombs dropped in clusters during WWII from... 

Memo for the Secretary, Ordnance Technical Committee. 1 Apr 4l, sub Bombs. Standardization by Army, Navy, British Purchasing Committee. Cited as ref a, CWTC Item 1220, Obsoletion of 40-lb Steel Case Type Incendiary Bombs and Clusters for Same, 11 Jan 45. (2) Bomb, Incendiary, 4-lb, and Bomb, Incendiary, 40-lb, Classified as Standard and Designated Bomb, Incendiary, 4-lb, AN-M50, and Bomb, Incendiary, 40-lb, AN-M51, 19 May 4l. OCM 16816. (3) Bombs, Incendiary, 4-lb, AN-M50-X, 4-lb, AN-M50, and 40-lb, AN-M51, Clearance for Procurement and Classification as Standard, 22 Jul 41. OCM 17028. 

CWTC Item 1220, Obsoletion of 4-lb Steel Case Type Incendiary Bombs and Clusters for Same, 11 Jan 45. (2) CWTC Item 1288, same title, 22 Mar 45. 

The Ordnance Department began development of the first American adapter. The CWS inherited the item when it accepted responsibility for incendiary bombs. The device was made up of two end plates, two longitudinal bars, and four steel straps, and it held together thirty-four bombs. The adapter was designated as Model M5, the entire cluster of bombs as the AN-M6. A larger adapter, holding 128 bombs, was developed shortly afterward. This adapter was standardized as the M6, the cluster as the AN-M7. 

CWTC Item 924, Standardization of Adapter, Aimable Cluster, MlO (500-lb size), 21 Jan 44. (2) Seth Q. Kline, Development of Aimable Cluster E4, 500-lb, for Incendiary Bombs AN-M50. TDMR 724 1 Sep 43. (3) CWTC Item 1019, Standardization of Cluster, Aimable, Incendiary Bomb, AN-M17A1, 5 May 44. (4) TB CW 11, Aimable Cluster, AN-M17A1, 27 Jun 44. 

In incendiary clusters for the Air Forces, the CWS packed approximately 20 percent explosive incendiary bombs. Model AN-M6 quick-opening cluster contained 34 bombs, of which 6 were explosive. Quick-opening cluster AN-M7 held 128 4-pounders, including 26 of the explosive type. Aimable cluster M17A1 carried 88 incendiary and 22 explosive. 

Nellie Anson, Clusters and Adapters for Chemical and Incendiary Bombs. ETF 420-21, 1 Dec 47. 

This plant at Edgewood turned out the AN-M54 incendiary bombs which were used in Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle s raid on Japan, 18 Apr 42. See (1) Ltr, Brig Gen T. H. Marshall to Hist Off, 24 Jan 54. Marshall at that time was a captain working on the incendiary bomb program at Edgewood. (2) Seth Q. Kline, Robert E. Patchel, and Charles T. Mitchell, Development of Quick-Opening Cluster Adapters M4, Ms, M4 M7, and M8 for Incendiary Bombs. TDMR 1015, 16 Apr 45. 

As with other small incendiary bombs, the M 4 was loaded and clustered not only under private contract, but at certain CWS arsenals as well. Rocky Mountain and Huntsville Arsenals loaded, clustered, and packed this bomb. No serious complication arose in filling the M74, but the Ml42 fuze caused a considerable amount of trouble. The design of this fuze, which was manufactured under private contract at the Ordnance Fire-lands Plant, Marion, Ohio, was such that visual observation did not reveal whether the fuze was armed. After several accidents caused by explosion of the fuze, the CWS changed contractors. The new contractor, the Ferro Enamel Corp., initiated a number of changes to improve safety and handling procedures, which resulted in satisfactory working conditions and a satisfactory fuze. ... 

For the greater number of CWS items, boxes of one sort or another were devised and specified. In some cases the specifications were changed over and over again in the attempt to attain the best possible protection in the face of a variety of hazards. The 500-pound aimable cluster, Ml9, an adapter holding thirty-eight M69 incendiary bombs, was one such ex-... 

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