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

treblehunter

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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
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.

View attachment 1379910

Bomblets did not have the tip like that, the tips were rounded.
I no longer have the practice bomb to measure it. It is entirely made of aluminum, I'd say about one and a quarter inch in diameter, here are all the pix I have of it. I was at two different places ending in the museum, both places told me the same thing, it is a practice bomb that the holes down each side of it emit smoke and a flare shoots out the end where the fins are. At both places there are many different practice bombs of all different configurations and sizes. The "expert" at the museum also told me of wooden ones use to drop in water sites for practice bombing, that were also "markers" omitted smoke to show where to drop bombs. Here are the pix for you.
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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
Thanks, I always run into the "you never know what is going to come out of the ground" finds

Great post! Awesome finds and donations!
Thank you
 

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.

View attachment 1379910

Bomblets did not have the tip like that, the tips were rounded.
Resized_20161107_141841.jpgResized_20161107_123656.jpgResized_20161107_123901.jpg
 

Awesome finds! Congrats!
It's a really nice you donated those, and I'm glad it is a practice bomb. With my luck I'd find the live kind...makes for a bad hair day.
 

Awesome finds! Congrats!
It's a really nice you donated those, and I'm glad it is a practice bomb. With my luck I'd find the live kind...makes for a bad hair day.

Thanks Ms Beeps
 

okay, in the latest images, I see it looks much more rounded...

blue is good,

black with yellow, your a dead fellow....armor piercing high explosive

slide_8.jpg
 

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Wasn't sure of the qualifications for Honorable Mention, but you got my vote.......great find, wonderful donation!!
 

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