Whilst my late father was training as w/op at 10 OTU Abingdon he flew on several bombing exercises. I am informed that the range was to the left of the A338 between Frilford and East Hanney. Can anyone tell me of a typical bombing exercise and if real or dummy bombs were used. I always thought live bombing was restricted to isolated ranges such as the Wash. Thanks for your responses in advance. Paul
To the best of my knowledge most Bombing exercises conducted at OTU used 11 lb. practice bombs filled with titanium tetrachloride. Some reference these as 10 1/2 lb. or 12 lb. bombs. These all emitted a flash-bang and puff of white smoke when they burst. The hits were recorded by Spotters in "Quadrant Huts" and the average error was calculated by the Bomb Aimer after he gathered the figures back at Base.
Generally I believe the aircraft carried about 8 of these practice bombs and they were individually aimed and the points of impact recorded. To score less than a hundred yard error was pretty good especially from altitude.
Bombing exercises at OTU occured both day and night (according to Dad's Skipper's & Navigator's Log) and includes Dual Bombing - Solo Bombing - High Level Bombing and Simulation Bombing Exercises. On longer Cross Countries when no bombs were actually dropped the Bomb Aimer received valuable bomb sight training through Simulation Bombing or Sim Bombing as they called it. Sim bombing I believe took a photograph of the intended target with the onboard F24 camera at the moment of "release".
Of course the other crew members had things they could practice as well and Dad's Skipper told me of losing a good deal of their trailing aerial one night which the WAG had deployed behind their tail when another unidentified aircraft crossed their path nearly head on. As his Skipper related, he didn't see the other a/c until the last second and only then by the fact the other aircraft had it's ****pit lights on. There was no time to react at all and it was over in a second. They landed shortly afterwards somewhat shaken and definitely shorn.
At Dad's OTU (No. 20) where Wellington Mk. 10s were employed they used the Mk. IX Course Setting Bomb Sight. The logs cite over a dozen listed Bombing Exercises but I'm led to believe they incorporated Bombing practice into other excercises such as their Cross Countries at OTU and later into GEE or H2S runs at HCU (No.1663) on Hally IIIs where they used the Mk. XIV bomb sight.
Towards the end of their OTU Course they flew longer Cross Countries at all up weight utilizing sand-filled 500 lb. bomb casings. The Range near to their Base at Elgin, Scotland was the Kingston Bombing Range.
At Rufforth HCU was the Nisson range and when they converted onto Lanc IIIs at Bottesford's No. 1668 HCU they used the range at Ragdale. There on Bullseye Exercises they also dropped coloured target indicators.
I imagine when they flew over water they also carried smoke floats and flares, etc.
There may well have been wooden floating pyramid shaped structures used for bomb aiming in the Wash as was employed in the B & G Schools in the BCATP but I rather thought the Wash was employed for the dumping of unused ordinance at the War's end though I stand to be corrected on that.
Apparently the Pilots had to adhere to a relatively strict cloverleaf pattern as there were always other aircraft on approach to or departure from the Ranges so it could be a fairly busy spot. There are numerous stories of errant bombs missing the intended target completely and causing considerable excitement where they misfell.
I have a Bomb Release Button (a.k.a. "Tit") and a Bomb Jettison release which my Dad kept as mementos mounted next to his Air Bomber's "B" brevet and crew photo.
Thanks for your reply, it has greatly increased my knowledge. My late father was a w/op so I can see he would have been practising his craft as well as bomb aimer etc. Thanks Paul.
