Pumpkin bomb
| Pumpkin bomb | |
|---|---|
A pumpkin bomb
|
|
| Type | Conventional high-explosive bomb |
| Place of origin | United States |
| Service history | |
| In service | 1945 |
| Used by | United States Army Air Forces |
| Wars | World War II |
| Production history | |
| No. built | 486 |
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 5.26 long tons (5.89 short tons; 5.34 t) |
| Length | 10 feet 8 inches (3.25 m) |
| Diameter | 60 inches (152 cm) |
|
|
|
| Filling | Composition B |
| Filling weight | 6,300 pounds (2,900 kg) |
Pumpkin bombs were conventional aerial bombs developed by the Manhattan Project and used by the United States Army Air Forces against Japan during World War II. The pumpkin bomb was a close replication of the Fat Man plutonium bomb with the same ballistic and handling characteristics, but used non-nuclear conventional high explosives. It was mainly used for testing and training purposes, which included combat missions flown with pumpkin bombs by the 509th Composite Group. The name "pumpkin bomb", which was the actual reference term used in official documents, resulted from the large, fat ellipsoidal shape of the munition casing, meant to enclose the Fat Man's spherical "physics package" (the plutonium implosion nuclear weapon core), instead of the more usual cylindrical shape of other bombs.
Pumpkin bombs were a means of providing realistic training for the 509th Composite Group's Boeing B-29 Superfortress crews assigned to drop the atomic bomb. The pumpkin bomb was a close, but non-nuclear replication of the Fat Man plutonium bomb with the same ballistic and handling characteristics. Specifications for the bomb required that it be carried in the forward bomb bay of a Silverplate B-29 bomber and be fuzed to be effective against actual targets.
Pumpkin bombs were produced in both inert and high explosive variants. The inert versions were filled with a cement-plaster-sand mixture that was combined with water to 1.67 to 1.68 grams per cubic centimetre (0.060 to 0.061 lb/cu in), the density of the Composition B high explosive versions. The filler of both variants had the same weight and weight distribution as the inner spherical "physics package" of the Fat Man plutonium bomb. The concept for the high explosive pumpkin bomb was originated in December 1944 by U.S. Navy Captain William S. Parsons, the head of the Ordnance Division at Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory, and United States Army Air Forces Lieutenant Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, commander of the 509th Composite Group. Prior testing was carried out with an inert version.
...
Wikipedia