Hey, WW 2 buffs! Help!

[sackett]

In all my desultory but determined reading about Bomber Command in WW 2, I've never found a description of the target markers dropped in such profusion over Germany.

They were pyrotechnic devices, obviously, but how exactly did they work? Who designed them? When?

They were a key technology in the night bombing offensive, AND I DON'T KNOW DIDDLY SQUAT ABOUT THEM!

I repeat, "Help!" C'mon, be a buddy.

[666]

Don't know if you've seen this page (http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/target.html)? It describes some techniques but doesn't describe the construction of a flare, though.

[dudalb]

I am a huge WW2 aerial warfare buff, and you got me.
They were probably just a slightered altered version of the standard phosphorus based incindary bomb. But the technology was not new,that much I can tell you.

[sackett]

that I read not long ago: Some target markers used oil-soaked cotton as a payload. But just how, and how much, the author irritatingly didn't say.

No, it wasn't a new technology precisely, but it must have evolved rapidly to meet Bomber Command's needs -- and to react to German countermeasures, which certainly proliferated.

Odd, the way such recent history becomes obscure.

[jmercer]

Some data:

http://www.geocities.com/skidaddy20000/Bombs.html

Can also look here:

http://rcaf434squadron.squarespace.com/glossary-terms/

TI – Target Indicator. A 250 pound bomb case packed with 60 9-inch green, red or yellow candles, or a 1000 pound bomb case packed with 200 candles

Hope this helps.

[sackett]

Roger and thanks, jmercer. Now I'm 0.001% less ignorant than I was.

[TX50]

[clicky the little thumbnails to get a bigger version of each image]

Pathfinder Force stores (all c. 1943 -1944):
================================

Target flare No. 1 Mk. I
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/images/th_TgtFlareNo1Mk1.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/images/TgtFlareNo1Mk1.jpg)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/images/th_TgtFlareNo1Mk1Sect.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/images/TgtFlareNo1Mk1Sect.jpg)

Cluster delivery unit for Flares, Skymarker No. 1, (@4 or @7).
Note the propaganda message stencilled on the cannister
("The Fuehrer is to blame for the war"):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/images/th_flareclusterdeliveryunit.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/images/flareclusterdeliveryunit.jpg)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/images/th_flareclusterunit.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/images/flareclusterunit.jpg)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/images/th_flareclusterunitsectioned2.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/images/flareclusterunitsectioned2.jpg)

Flare igniter units:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/images/th_flareclusterunitigniters.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/images/flareclusterunitigniters.jpg)

Flare, Skymarker, No.1:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/images/th_skymarker.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/images/skymarker.jpg)

Sectional view of Flare, Skymarker, No.1:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/images/th_skymarkersection.jpg (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v692/whisky01/images/skymarkersection.jpg)

[sackett]

sackett to TX50: Jolly good! Bang on!

[BenBurch]

Great find, TX50!

[dudalb]

For once I agree with Ben. Very nice find.