My "rocket" I found is really a WWII bomb, I donated it to museum with other finds

treblehunter

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Jun 18, 2013
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My "rocket" I found is really a WWII bomb, I donated it to museum with other finds

I went to the local museum for AAF WWII things and talked to their expert about the "hobby rocket" I found Monday. He is a nice older veteran that explained my rocket is a practice bomb used for targeting. It would emit smoke and a flare when shot from the plane. He surmised that it was either miss dropped, which he explained happened a lot. He said the pilots that were training there were focusing on formation flying more than bomb placement. Or it was a surplus buy and set off by kids back in the day just to see what it would do.
I also took two of my other finds from my lake hunting that both had AAF insignia's on them, one a sweetheart bracelet made of sterling silver and the other a ring made of white metal. I'm going to include pix of all the finds. They said they would display my finds at the museum and thanked me for donating them. It has been a long time since I found the jewelry items, but taking away from my treasure hunting time was very hard for me to do, lol. It's raining today so I really did not feel like getting all wet and muddy.
Enjoy the pix
HH & GL
Brad

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Upvote 25
Can't like this post enough man! Well done Brad and that's really cool that was actually a practice bomb. I hope they put them in a nice display for others to see and learn.
 

Wtg! And man, that ring is off the hook - love it.
 

Excellent finds and so good of you to donate them to the museum for others to appreciate! :icon_thumright:
 

Great job buddy! You are a great asset to this hobby and we all owe you a big thanks!
 

Can't like this post enough man! Well done Brad and that's really cool that was actually a practice bomb. I hope they put them in a nice display for others to see and learn.
Thanks, they told me they were putting all the stuff on display.

Wtg! And man, that ring is off the hook - love it.
Thanks

Nice stuff congrats
Thanks

Excellent finds and so good of you to donate them to the museum for others to appreciate! :icon_thumright:
Thanks

Thanks
 

Brother that is way cool!! I'm not sure if I would have touched the guy! Nice treasures and gifts too the museum!!
 

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That's a great find Brad! When you texted that pic I said "nice knowing you". Then you text me a pic with it in your hand?! lol. That was awesome.

I nominated your post to "honorable mention". I'm not even sure if I'm allowed to do that, but I sent something to the mods anyway. I think it's great that you donated the practice bomb to a museum. That's awesome.

It's also a great tip of the hat to all the WWII vets. Cheers bud
 

Hey Treb? Maybe they can give you a plug? Donated from the collection of that legendary metal detectorist, Treblehunter!!

Way to go!
 

Nice touch! I've done the same, but not on this magnitude. Congrats and good for you.

aj
 

Great job !
I like that bracelet.
 

Nice story. I tried to donate one of my WW1 Mark 1 practice bombs to Selfridge ANG museum and they were kind of rude. Told me they already had one. Along with the Lewis machine gun magazine. So I have kept them all. Glad they were interested in your unique find. I would love to find one of them however they stopped using the lake as a bombing range in 1920.

Your bomb is interesting. Do you know the name of it? Looks like the fins folded and sprung out when released. Do you know what kind of plane dropped them?
 

Way to go, Brad! And you can always "visit" your finds at the museum. -Lisa & John
 

Awesome post Brad, that's a cool deed you did. I also nominate honorable mention, ya can't get
much more honorable than donating finds to a museum. :notworthy:
 

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Brother that is way cool!! I'm not sure if I would have touched the guy! Nice treasures and gifts too the museum!!
Thanks Joe

That's a great find Brad! When you texted that pic I said "nice knowing you". Then you text me a pic with it in your hand?! lol. That was awesome.

I nominated your post to "honorable mention". I'm not even sure if I'm allowed to do that, but I sent something to the mods anyway. I think it's great that you donated the practice bomb to a museum. That's awesome.

It's also a great tip of the hat to all the WWII vets. Cheers bud
Thanks Steve

Hey Treb? Maybe they can give you a plug? Donated from the collection of that legendary metal detectorist, Treblehunter!!

Way to go!
Thank you Gary

Nice touch! I've done the same, but not on this magnitude. Congrats and good for you.

aj
Thanks aj

Great job !
I like that bracelet.
That bracelet was one of my all time favorites, I'm glad they loved it, it made me feel good that they did. Thanks Rick

Nice story. I tried to donate one of my WW1 Mark 1 practice bombs to Selfridge ANG museum and they were kind of rude. Told me they already had one. Along with the Lewis machine gun magazine. So I have kept them all. Glad they were interested in your unique find. I would love to find one of them however they stopped using the lake as a bombing range in 1920.

Your bomb is interesting. Do you know the name of it? Looks like the fins folded and sprung out when released. Do you know what kind of plane dropped them?
The expert told me the name, ha I don't remember, it was not a B52 I never asked a name for the practice bomb, but like I said it was a flare and smoke for targeting where they would bomb.
Thanks

Way to go, Brad! And you can always "visit" your finds at the museum. -Lisa & John
Thanks Lisa (and John) I figured that would be cool too, visiting them, lol

Awesome post Brad, that's a cool deed you did. I also nominate honorable mention, ya can't much more honorable than donating finds to a museum. :notworthy:
Thanks Kevin, and thank you for your service to our great country, that is MUCH more hororable.


And thanks to all you guys who served in our armed forces!
 

What diameter is the round? To me, that looks like a 30mm fin stabilized round. The fins are retracted in the shell casing, then after leaving the barrel, spring open. We used to pick up something similar from the A10....

Blue does mean training and/or inert.

30mm.jpg

Bomblets did not have the tip like that, the tips were rounded.
 

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treble, what in the world are you getting into man, digging rockets and stuff :laughing7:.. congrats on the bracelet, and the rocket:laughing7: thats one for the books
 

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