Why can't an aerial bomb that explodes as soon as it lands explode on the plane?

Since the birth of the world's first heavy bomber in 1913, aerial bombs have begun to play a vital role in wars.

To this day, aerial bombs are still an indispensable and important weapon in war. Whether it is to strike tactical targets or strategic targets, this traditional weapon is very useful. On the surface, the principle of aerial bombs is very simple, that is, relying on the impact of the bomb when it lands to make the firing pin inside the bomb hit the primer to cause an explosion. But have you ever thought about this question, why do these bombs explode when they land, but they don’t explode when they are on the plane? Maybe you will say that no one hits it when it is on the plane, so of course it won’t explode. The fact is not that simple.

When the aerial bomb was still on the plane, no one crashed into it, but the plane itself was an unstable factor.

Flying bombers cannot always stay stable, especially in the battlefield where bullets are flying. Bumps are inevitable. If the plane is hit, it will cause violent shocks. However, the aerial bombs on the plane have never exploded. Why? The reason why grenades will not explode is that they have a fuse. As long as the fuse is not removed, the grenade is absolutely safe. However, this fuse cannot be used on aerial bombs.

First of all, bombers don’t always drop bombs one by one. Sometimes carpet bombing is needed, and many bombs are dropped in a short period of time.

If ordinary fuses were used for aerial bombs, they would likely explode due to collisions in the air. Not only would they not be able to hit the target, but they would also blow up their own planes, which would not be worth the loss. Secondly, even if they were dropped one by one, there was no guarantee that the bombs would not collide with other objects in the air, causing an accidental explosion. This shows that aerial bombs require a special fuse.

I don't know if you have noticed that there is a small propeller in front of the aerial bomb.

Aerial bombs cannot fly, so why do they need propellers? In fact, this propeller is its fuse. The reason why aerial bombs do not explode when they are mounted on an airplane is that the firing pin and the primer are not in a straight line inside the bomb, so no matter how it hits, it is impossible for an explosion to occur. When the bomb leaves the plane and begins to fall at high speed, the small propeller in front of the bomb will begin to rotate at high speed under the influence of the airflow. A screw is connected to the back of the propeller. As the propeller rotates, the screw will gradually spin out. When the screw is completely screwed out, the firing pin blocked by the screw will return to its original position and be in the same straight line as the primer, so it will explode when it hits the ground.

The design of this propeller-type fuze is very clever, but in fact, there are more than one propeller on the aerial bomb. If you pay close attention, you will find that there is another small propeller at the tail of the bomb. What is this propeller? In fact, it is also a fuze.

Why is there a need for two fuses for a bomb? This is to provide more options for bombing methods. The targets that bombers want to bomb are not always visible, and sometimes they have to bomb invisible targets.

For example, if the target of the bombing is a weapons factory, the bombing method must be changed.

Why? Because when an aerial bomb contacts the roof of a factory, it will explode due to collision, and it is very likely that it will not be able to cause a devastating blow to the equipment inside the factory. At this time, the rear fuse will be used. The main difference between the rear fuse and the front fuse of an aerial bomb is that the rear fuse has a delay, which means that the bomb will not explode when it falls on the roof, but will explode when it penetrates the roof and falls into the interior. When dropping a bomb, the pilot can decide which fuse to remove and whether to turn the front propeller or the rear propeller.

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