BOMBING UP TECHNIQUE - THE VALIANT AND THE VICTOR AIRCRAFT [Main Title]

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  • Title: BOMBING UP TECHNIQUE - THE VALIANT AND THE VICTOR AIRCRAFT [Main Title]
  • Film Number: AMY 285
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: An instructional film demonstrating the method of loading conventional 1,000-pound bombs into the bomb bay of a Vickers-Armstrong B.1 bomber.
  • Description: START 10:00:00 Intertitle 'Introduction'. Shot of an Armstrong-Vickers Valiant B. 1 bomber on an airfield apron, with bombs on bomb trailers being towed by Fordson tractor towards it. A description of the Avro 100 1,000-pound bomb carrier or rack fitted to the Valiant's predecessor, the propeller-driven Avro Lincoln, and the various bomb carriers designed for use in the Valiant and the Victor. 10:01:44 Intertitle 'Bomb Bay'. An RAF Sergeant uses a pointer to indicate the location of the six bomb stations inside the 32-foot long bomb bay. Number 3 bomb station is reserved exclusively for a giant 10,000-pound bomb (not seen). An explanation of the key features of the bomb bay with shots borrowed from AMY 269. 10:03:11 Intertitle 'Ground Handling'. A description of the Standard Airfield Bomb Transporter or SABT, capable of transporting up to 14,000 pounds of bombs, and the different bomb loads for both the Valiant and the Victor which it can carry. 10:03:50 The film shows the means whereby the SABT can be manoeuvred, especially the hand-cranked gears that allow the armourers to inch it into position directly under the Valiant's bomb bay and the hydraulic jacks that lower it onto the ground and raise it again. 10:07:05 A description of the Hydraulic Bomb Hoisting Gantry, an L-shaped steel structure mounted on a small powered trolley and the hydraulic jack with which it hoists bombs from the SABT into the bomb bay. It is equipped with an intercom that allows the driver and the hydraulic jib operator to maintain contact with the NCO in charge of bombing-up the aircraft. 10:09:03 Reel 2. Intertitle 'Loading Carriers and SABT'. Shots showing a Fordson tractor towing an SABT and a Type F bomb trolley carrying storage boxes for bomb tailpieces arriving at the bomb dump and collecting 1,000-pound bombs with the help of a Coles mobile crane. Ten 1,000-pound bombs are loaded onto the bomb trailer. 10:10:11 The film follows the tractor and its cargo of bombs to the Carrier Servicing Bay where two bomb carriers and the Tail Unit Storage Bay bomb tail sections are loaded onto the bomb trailer. At the Missile Preparation Building, armourers attach bomb racks to the 1,000-pound bombs, a complex and laborious task. 10:13:07 The tail sections with aerodynamically stabilising fins are then added. The fitting of fuses to the bombs that normally occurs at this point is not shown. The Fordson tractor tows the bomb trailer and its cargo of bombs out of the shed towards the airfield. 10:16:29 Intertitle 'Loading Technique'. The film shows all the special features of the Hydraulic Bomb Hoist Gantry, the 'Mechanism, Load Retaining' and the loading eye, devices which enable bomb carriers to be hoisted into the bomb bay. 10:19:17 Reel 3. A diagram shows the location of the load retaining mechanism inside a tunnel running between the bomb bay ceiling and the top of the fuselage and explains how the loading eye is raised or lowered and held securely in place. An armourer perched over a Valiant bomber in the arm of a Hydraulic Bomb Hoist Gantry lifts a load retaining mechanism out of the fuselage, checks to see that all its working parts are in order and re-inserts it into the aircraft with the help of two other special tools, a lifting rod and torque tube assembly and a compressor tube. Down below inside the bomb bay, the NCO in charge of bombing-up connects the loading eye at the bottom of the 'Mechanism, Load Retaining' to an H piece and a release unit adaptor. 10:21:15 The armourer on the gantry uses the lifting rod and torque tube assembly and the compressor tube to attach the load retaining mechanism to the hydraulic jack on the gantry arm. Once everything is connected up, the NCO in the bomb bay, who is in constant two-way communications with the driver and jack hoist operator over the Valiant's intercom system, supervises the hoisting of the first carrier-load of three 1,000-pound bombs onto the Number 2 bomb station. 10:26:47 Once this task is completed, the armourer on the gantry arm retracts the hydraulic jack and removes the compressor tube and lifting rod and torque tube assembly, which he puts back in their stowage box. His final job is to screw down the fuselage cover for the load retaining mechanism. 10:30:00 Reel 4. 'Hoisting and Positioning Carriers'. Opening with a shot of a Fordson tractor with three SABTs loaded up with bombs approaching a Valiant bomber parked on an airfield apron, this section of the film shows how twenty-one 1,000-pound MC Mk VI dummy bombs can be loaded into the Valiant's bomb bay (the two aircraft featured in this section are WZ371 and W362). A cutaway diagram reveals the station where the first bombs are loaded inside the bomb bay. Beginning with the opening of the bomb bay doors (borrowed from AMY 269), the laborious process of loading the bombs onto Number 2 and Number 1 bomb stations by the Hydraulic Bomb Hoisting Gantry is shown in detail to illustrate the point that bombing-up begins with the loads carried forward of the aircraft's centre of gravity. 10:34:14 The film shows how the SABTs are lined up with each of the remaining bomb stations before their loads are hoisted into the bomb bay. To hoist the bombs carried behind the Valiant's centre of gravity, the Hydraulic Bomb Hoist Gantry is moved to a position behind the main wing. 10:40:19 Reel 5. The last five bombs are hoisted into position inside the bomb bay at Number 6 bomb station. A cutaway diagram of the Valiant's bomb bay shows the number of bomb stations and the bomb cargoes each bomb station carries and the order in which they are loaded. 10:42:12 'Technique of Unloading'. The film explains how the bomb doors on the Valiant must be opened before 'de-bombing' can begin. A cutaway diagram of the bomb bay illustrates the layout of the bomb loads and with live action footage shows the disconnection of the bomb carrier and its load of bombs from Number Six bomb station. The commentary remarks that the bomb fuses are normally removed before this part of the operation begins. The cover for the load retaining mechanism at Number Six bomb station is made secure once more. A cutaway diagram of the bomb bay shows that the bombs have to be removed in reverse order to their loading sequence. End credits. END 10:50:10
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: AMY 285
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1946-1975
  • Production Date: 1956-05
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Air Ministry (Production sponsor) Marcus Cooper Ltd (Production company) Harrison, Harvey (Production individual) Orchard, Harry (Production individual) Myers, Thomas (Production individual) Stimson, Dorothy (Production individual) Lloyd-James, David (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords: Cold War 1945-1991 (theme) Defence of Great Britain since 1945 (theme) Great Britain post-1945 (theme) Military Aviation (theme) Royal Air Force 1945-2000 (theme)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 5 Footage: 4549 ft; Running time: 50 mins 10 secs
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    AMY 285

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    AMY 269 (THE VALIANT AIRCRAFT - SERVICING [Main Title])
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