-
Forum Update: We've upgraded the software to improve security, performance, and the overall experience.
👉 Read why we made the change | Support the Forum
Two more mystery items.....
- Thread starter msinc
- Start date
Register to hide this ad
OLDNAVYMCPO
US Veteran, Absent Comrade
The first item is a fletchete and the second is a cluster munition from a cluster bomb.
labworm
US Veteran
First picture is a prototype of Commando Cody's spaceship.
You are real close on the first one...nailed it on the second. It's actually an anti-personnel mine out of a cluster bomb.
First item is a "Yellow Dog" also sometimes called a "Devil Dog". They are solid steel and were dropped on enemy troops as antipersonnel devices during WWII. It is said that they could penetrate an engine block, so just imagine what they would do to a human being.
Never heard them called devil dogs but yellow dog was one name. The most common name was "Lazy dog" bomb.
" An F-84 flying at 400 knots and 75 feet above the ground served as the test bed while a jeep and a B-24 were the targets. The result was eight hits per square yard. Tests revealed Shapes 2 and 5 to be the most effective. Shape 5, an improved basic Lazy Dog slug, had the force of a .50 caliber bullet and could penetrate 24 inches of packed sand. Shape 2 could penetrate 12 inches of sand — twice as much as a .45 caliber slug fired point blank."
They were used up until the Vietnam war and were favored because of their effectiveness {8 hits per square yard} on ground troops below the jungle canopy.
I was always told that they were dropped from high altitude by a B-52 by the thousands...apparently high altitude is not necessary.
" An F-84 flying at 400 knots and 75 feet above the ground served as the test bed while a jeep and a B-24 were the targets. The result was eight hits per square yard. Tests revealed Shapes 2 and 5 to be the most effective. Shape 5, an improved basic Lazy Dog slug, had the force of a .50 caliber bullet and could penetrate 24 inches of packed sand. Shape 2 could penetrate 12 inches of sand — twice as much as a .45 caliber slug fired point blank."
They were used up until the Vietnam war and were favored because of their effectiveness {8 hits per square yard} on ground troops below the jungle canopy.
I was always told that they were dropped from high altitude by a B-52 by the thousands...apparently high altitude is not necessary.
THE PILGRIM
Member
The MC is correct. Never heard them called mines.
Also never heard of fletchetes being used by B-52s.
The 52s mostly used 500lb and 750 lb bombs.
Sometimes they dropped CBUs.
The Army shot fletchetes out of 105s and 90mm tank guns.
Last edited:
ordy
US Veteran
Very interesting. We learned about cluster bombs and how they worked in school but never loaded any of them. The cluster bomb had an explosive bolt in the nose that was triggered when it hit the right altitude. The bolt would explode and allow the clam shell bomb casing to open and unleash whatever you put in the thing. Fleshettes were originally small metal arrow shaped projectiles but I was told that later they were made out of clear plastic. The latter were not picked up by x-ray...nasty!
Last edited:
rog8732
US Veteran
Kinda like labworm, I didn't perceive the seriousness of the things and thought it was a lawn dart and a kick-ball.
OLDNAVYMCPO
US Veteran, Absent Comrade
Your icon shows you are an Army vet, the very sight of cluster bomb munitions lying on the ground in the vicinity of an infantryman would make his heart pound out of his chest. They come in a number of different sizes and shapes but they all work in essentially the same manner. The spinning action as they fall arms them. Depending on the type, they may explode at a set altitude or number of spins, or may explode on impact. The danger is that un-exploded munitions are armed and can detonate with the slightest jar. Just walking near one can detonate it. On bombing ranges, EOD must be called in regularly to dispose of them. I am familiar with the process as I have been involved in just such an exercise.
Never heard them called anything but a mine. They were dispersed in a pattern out of a cluster bomb to deny boots on the ground access...when you step on one it blows you up. Isn't that what the entire world calls a mine?????
The other one IS NOT a flechette...it is in fact a lazy dog bomb.
THE PILGRIM
Member
Where are you getting your information?
I always heard them called bomb-lets or submunitions.
Never mines.
Here's an unexploded BLU-26 Bomblet up on the Plains of Jars, located in NE Laos.
We dropped a lot of CBUs up there, some dudes. If CBUs were dropped too low they didn't get enough time to arm. And some were just duds.
Attachments
Last edited:
This particular example is in fact an anti-personnel mine. It simply lands on the ground and awaits some unlucky bullet catchers foot to press against it, move one half of it a predetermined distance in relation the other half to detonate.
A good example of these in use was depicted in the movie "Bat 21" when the NVA soldier made the crashed helo crew member walk around in the water until he stepped on one.
I do have several other inert examples of cluster munitions that are designed to deny/destroy different objectives if any one would like to see them. Clever but nasty little devices all of them.
You are absolutely correct...the lazy dog is often called a bomblet but it is not a "munition" per se, as it contains no explosive. The titles bomblets or submunitions are used to describe many smaller devices {cluster} delivered in a larger container. This particular "bomblet/munition" is in fact an anti-personnel mine. When the main container is dropped it detonates above the ground at a set altitude. The little fins cast on the sides are supposed to cause it to disperse in a pattern. This pattern is meant to deny access by ground troops. There are two halves held together by a rivet. When stepped on one half "miss-aligns" with the other causing detonation. An ounce or so of C-4 under foot doesn't do your legs a whole lot of good.
Yes, that is in fact a "detonate on contact" type. Notice the steel balls cast into the pot metal body. That one was really a kind of aerial "claymore" just with smaller steel balls. You did not want to be anywhere near where that thing lands at the time of impact. That one is about four times the size {as well as way more explosive contents} of the APM I posted, which has no steel balls. I have one of those as well.
Last edited:
Walter Rego
Member
I have one of each. I too heard the term "lazy dog" for the small finned object, and was told they were dropped in huge numbers over jungle cover in Viet Nam. I can imagine that at terminal velocity a hit from one, coming down nose first would be pretty effective. My cluster munition is similar to the one shown but not identical. You can clearly see the ball bearings or shot or whatever they are cast into the outer shell. The band around it appears to be brass, and the shell is painted blue. Please tell me it is inert....
Yes, it is inert...that is what the color blue denotes. I believe in use they were all unpainted. Your cluster is probably larger in diameter as well. The one I have pictured is only about 1 1/2" in diameter. Yours is probably around 3" or so {I am guessing here}. The ones with the steel balls cast into them were designed to explode on impact and do the same as a grenade or Claymore.
Walter Rego
Member
Here is the one I have been using as a paperweight. It is about the size of a tennis ball.
