Grumman Avenger with two highball bombs

Now parse AV-8B. It is not a second variant of the AV-8A, but a different aircraft. The AV-8A is not a version of the V-8 (whatever that was?).
SR-71 is of course a classic inversion of the system.
The F-35 is just a silly mistake. (The designation, that is.)

Not at all.

A-6A = aircraft designed for Attack, 6th model of the category, first variant

E-6A = aircraft designed for Electronic warfare, 6th model of the category, first variant

EA-6A = aircraft designed for Attack (but modified for Electronic warfare), 6th model of the category, first variant of the modified version

A-6E
E-6A
EA-6A

…. and that’s under the new system…..

(Yes, I know what they all mean – I’m just poking fun)….

Ken

Point taken! I’m not into “modern” machinery (actually had to google this E-6A thingy – very interesting!) but looks like the system might still be a bit… puzzling indeed :).

Cheers – Art

Yes I was wrong….the splash hides the moment of impact and the bomb passes right through the structure till it’s way above the aircraft

silly and confusing.

A-6E
E-6A
EA-6A

…. and that’s under the new system…..

(Yes, I know what they all mean – I’m just poking fun)….

Ken

Thanks God they did it, because the previous system, especially during wartime (e.g. Mitchell being both B-25 and PBJ-1, or Liberator being both B-24 and PB4Y-1), was just getting silly and confusing.

I didn’t know that – learn something very day. And they changed it back again? A-10 Warthog and various others?

Until 1962 the US Army/Air Force and Navy used different systems. From 1962 they adopted a joint system of desigations. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1924_United_States_Army_Air_Service_aircraft_designation_system

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1962_United_States_Tri-Service_aircraft_designation_system

I didn’t know that – learn something very day. And they changed it back again? A-10 Warthog and various others?

Since we kinda hijacked the thread anyway… I’d just like to remind, that A-26 becoming B-26 didn’t happen “for no good reason”, but was a result of 1947 complete overhaul of USAF designation system, including “A” for “attack” being dropped and consequently any big thing flying with bombs being renamed to “B” for “bomber”.

Cheers – Art

in 1945 an A26 was an A26

Sorry, can you explain “dissed” please?

… not a B26. That was my point. I was being pedantic. Bit of a pet hate re the change of ID for the B26. Come war’s end the IMHO excellent B26 (Marauder) was summarily melted down and the A26 became the B26 … for no good reason! And therefore yes dissed = disrespected.

The US highball trials were conducted with an A26 Invader – not a B26 Invader.

Closely eyeballing those videos I’d say the highball bomb itself cut right through the fueslage.

cheers Don

When I watched the video of the A-26 drop and violent crash I got the impression that it was the impact of the water splash NOT the bomb which weakened the tail causing it to fail, and the wings were beginning to fail in negative-G as the aircraft impacted the sea, or did I get it wrong?

The Avenger will have been too overloaded for operations with two Highball.

In the book ‘Bouncing-Bomb Man’, page 117, it appears to show an Avenger dropping a Highball with another in the belly. However, you may be right and on ops this may have been reduced to one.

Baz

Sorry, can you explain “dissed” please?

Jamaican Vernacular English or African American Vernacular English, probably originally short for disrespect or disparage.

Highball was originally intended for use against ships and tested, successfully, against HMS Malaya moored in Loch Striven. One punched a hole through the side. A different method of aimed to that for Upkeep was required, resolved by Wallis’s design of a ring aperture sight fixed to a flying helmet.

There was also ‘baseball’ weapon proposed by the Admiralty in December 1944 for use by MTBs. It would have been a tube-launched weapon weighing 300 Ibs, half of it explosive, and with an anticipated range of 1,000 to 1,200 yards.

The Germans built their own version of a bouncing bomb but did not understand that it had to be spun. It was tested with a Fw 190 and found to be very dangerous.

Sorry, can you explain “dissed” please?

Talked about in a bad way.

Thanks chaps !

Sorry, can you explain “dissed” please?

B26 Invader.

Dave

That’ll be an A26 Invader.
http://napoleon130.tripod.com/id725.html

Always annoyed me the way the US dissed (IMHO) the B26

B26 Invader.

Dave

In one of the old films of the testing of dropping the “bouncing bomb” they showed the result of dropping it too low.
Where the bomb bounced up and took the tail off the aircraft.

What aircraft was that ?

Talked about here:

http://www.sirbarneswallis.com/BookInfo.htm

chapter 6

Baz