The AB 250-3 (Abwurfbehälter) was an

anti-personnel An anti-personnel weapon is a weapon primarily used to maim or kill infantry and other personnel not behind armor, as opposed to attacking structures or vehicles, or hunting game. The development of defensive fortification and combat vehicles ga ...

cluster bomb A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehicl ...

used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

AB 250-3

The AB 250-3 could be suspended horizontally within a bomb bay or fuselage or wing

hardpoint A hardpoint is an attachment location on a structural frame designed to transfer force and carry an external or internal load. The term is usually used to refer to the mounting points (more formally known as a weapon station or station) on the ...

. It also had

trunnions A trunnion (from Old French "''trognon''", trunk) is a cylindrical protrusion used as a mounting or pivoting point. First associated with cannons, they are an important military development. Alternatively, a trunnion is a shaft that positions a ...

so it could be dropped by dive bombers. The body of the AB 250-3 was constructed of mild sheet steel and was of clamshell construction and hinged at the tail. It was divided into three compartments; a dome-shaped nose compartment, a cylindrical center compartment, and a cone-shaped tail compartment. The AB 250-3 could carry 108 x SD 2 anti-personnel bombs in its center section. The AB 250-3 was similar to the other AB 250 containers except it had six tail fins instead of four welded to the container with braces riveted between each fin. The nose compartment housed the fuze pocket which was welded to a bracket on the upper half of the container. The two halves were held together by a shear wire which passed through a steel anvil, in the lower part of the fuze pocket. When dropped a time fuze was triggered and after a few seconds, the wire holding the container together was sheared by a small exploder under the fuze. The case then opened and allowed the bombs to fall out. The containers were painted dark green with two longitudinal red stripes on tail cone.

Gallery

File:Objects Dropped From The Air p06.jpg, A photo of a SD 2 from Civil Defence Training Pamphlet No 2: Objects Dropped From The Air (3rd Edition). File:Sd2 closed.jpg, SD 2 - Closed: The

fuze In military munitions, a fuze (sometimes fuse) is the part of the device that initiates function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fuze d ...

is not yet armed. File:Sd2 opened.jpg, SD 2 - Open: wings have flipped open and

screw threads A screw thread, often shortened to thread, is a helical structure used to convert between rotational and linear movement or force. A screw thread is a ridge wrapped around a cylinder or cone in the form of a helix, with the former being called a ...

at the base of arming spindle are visible: fuze is now armed.

References

{{WWIIGermanAerialWeapons World War II aerial bombs of Germany

AB 250-3

Gallery

See also

References