P-38 Armed with Depth Charges
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Depth charges loaded on a 459th FS 80th FG P-38, taken at Chittagong, India, January 1945.
Anybody know more details about this.
Duggy the inquisitive !!!! -
I don't know anything about this particular aircraft but depth charges where used as anti-personal weapons over the jungle as they'd explode on contact rather than sinking into the undergrowth first such as an ordinary bomb would do. I've seen photos of Kiwi Corsairs armed the same and I read somewhere that it was the Brits who came up with the idea.
HB -
Thanks, I never knew about this, it does make sense as Chittagong is in today's Bangladesh, miles away from any U-boat action.
I guess they were used as a for-runner too, today's " daisey cutters".
Might be an interesting mod, if someone had the time.
Regards Duggy. -
HBPencil
I don't know anything about this particular aircraft but depth charges where used as anti-personal weapons over the jungle as they'd explode on contact rather than sinking into the undergrowth first such as an ordinary bomb would do. I've seen photos of Kiwi Corsairs armed the same and I read somewhere that it was the Brits who came up with the idea.
HB
?? That only makes sense if they were fused differently; Normally you wouldn't want depth charges exploding on the surface.
What would make sense to me is that they had a very high ratio of explosive to weight (due to thinner casings) and were designed for purely concussive effects. That could possibly be more effective in jungle which cam absorb a lot of fragments from a more conventional bomb.
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Jarink
?? That only makes sense if they were fused differently; Normally you wouldn't want depth charges exploding on the surface.
What would make sense to me is that they had a very high ratio of explosive to weight (due to thinner casings) and were designed for purely concussive effects. That could possibly be more effective in jungle which cam absorb a lot of fragments from a more conventional bomb.
Yep you're right, this evening I found the reference I recalled reading some time ago (an autobiography by a Corsair pilot) and it goes:
"We were dropping 1000 and 500 pounders fitted with "daisy cutter" fuses and 250lb depth charges. The depth charges were very effective in the jungle because they burst on impact, producing a strong lateral blast which destroyed all cover for some distance around."
HB -
Duggy
Depth charges loaded on a 459th FS 80th FG P-38, taken at Chittagong, India, January 1945.
Anybody know more details about this.
Duggy the inquisitive !!!!
I can tell you with near certainty that the date listed above is not correct.
These photos were taken prior to December 1944. 1st Lt. William G. Baumeister, Jr., pilot of P-38 42-67842 "Irish Lassie", was shot down returning from a B-24 escort mission north of Rangoon, Burma on the 19th of November 1944. The burned out wreckage of his P-38 was found later on, along with human remains and a few small personal effects.
The depth charges are an interesting twist. I had never read anything about the 459th Fighter Squadron having used those. Could those have been utilized in a bridge busting role? Yet another intriguing mystery... -
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Thanks, Duggy. Several months of digging around with different sources have led to some insights.
First, these photos were almost surely taken between June 8, 1944 and November 19, 1944 (the date 42-67842 tail #4 "Irish Lassie" disappeared). Prior to June 8th this aircraft had been assigned to Major Willard Webb, who rotated back to the States on June 7, 1944.
Second, according to one squadron chronicle the 459th FS "Twin Dragons" used land (sic) mines against ground targets in Burma on at least two occasions: May 4th and July 5th of 1944. If I had to guess, I'd surmise these photos were taken on July 5, 1944. The Mark 13 mines in these photos were plentiful at the RAF base in Chittagong and were sometimes used in lieu of 1000 lb GP bombs when those were in short supply. In this particular instance these were employed against three supply trucks in the town of Pyaggyin.
The tall crewman wearing the baseball cap in the second photo is believed to be 459FS line chief MSgt. Ray "Beadler" Morris. -
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This is a little late however here's something I found when I was looking for 80th FG info which is relevant to this thread. It's a vid of the group commander's P-40 plus those of the 89th FS being loaded with depth charges. Sorry I can't embed it but CriticalPast won't allow it...
http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675061657_United-States-soldiers_80th-Fighter-Group_10th-Air-Force_loading-bombs
