[303rd-Talk] Bill Runnels - A Few More Questions

[bill runnels]

They could be salvoed electrically from the nose position by the bombardier. There were two other emergence (salvo) release points on the B-17. One at the pilot's station and one on the step at the forward end of the bom bay catwalk. These control points were also electric.
   
  Bill Runnels
  Bombardier

Guy Schlegel <guyschlegel at comcast.net> wrote:
  Bill,
If you salvoed the bombs, did you have to go back to the bomb bay and 
dissconncect the armature wires manually from the bomb shackles or could you 
do so remotely from your nose position?

Only the Best!
Guy Schlegel

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "bill runnels" 
To: "303rd Bomb Group Talk Forum" <303rd-talk at 303rdBG.com>
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 1:05 PM
Subject: Re: [303rd-Talk] Bill Runnels - A Few More Questions


> The fuse cotter keys were in place to provide safety during handling of 
> bombs on the ground and loading them in the aircraft. As soon as the 
> wheels left the ground on take-off, I headed for the bombay to pull the 
> cotter keys, check the bomb release unit settings, shackles and armature 
> wires. I had to complete this work and be back in the bombardier's nose 
> position before reaching 10,000 feet when we went on oxygen.
>
> Ends of the armature wire(s) ran through the bomb nose and tail fuse. 
> This provided protection while in the air. The other end of the wire(s) 
> was connected to the bomb shackle. When the bombs left the aircraft, the 
> armature wires remained connected to the shackles, thus allowing the fuse 
> vanes to start spinning. When the bombs were salvoed (safe mode) the 
> armature wires were released from the shackles and left the aircraft with 
> the bombs.
>
> The nose and tail fuses were different:
> 500 lb. nose fuses - M103 or M118 or M119
> tail fuse - M101
>
> 1000 lb. nose fuses - same as the 500 lb. bomb
> tail fuse - M102
>
>
>
> Bob Van Pelt wrote:
> Bill: Wasn't a piano like wire sometimes attached to the cotter keys with 
> the other end of the wire attached to a hard point in the bomb bay, so 
> when the bombs were released, the cotters keys were pulled as the bombs 
> dropped? Seems I've read or seen this somewhere. Or did you always pull 
> the key by hand? When did you pull the keys - over the Channel, closer to 
> the IP, before t/o?
>
> You said in a message a while back that the front fuse had a millisecond 
> delay and was a back-up for the fuse in the tail. How did one set the 
> delay? And could the M101 or M102 be used for both the front and rear fuse 
> or was one specifically for the rear and one specifically for the front?
>
> Thanks, Bill, for helping me understand this!
> Bob.
>
> Bob Van Pelt wrote:
>
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