A new whatziss for a lazy Saturday

By The Armorer on April 21, 2007 | | Comments (17) | TrackBacks (1)

Actually, that's a misnomer. Saturday is the lazy day for the server, being the lowest traffic day. Which suggests you guys are busy (as well as not surfing from work...)

So, whatizzit?

Let's see whose experience leads them where on this one.

The only hint I'll start you with is - this is *so* last century.

Update: The mystery deepens... here.

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Picture Puzzle: A new whatziss from on April 21, 2007 9:54 AM

The linked page states:
Let's see whose experience leads them where on this one.

The only hint I'll start you with is - this is *so* last century.

Read more by clicking through to the linked source page. Read More

17 Comments

By BillT on April 21, 2007 10:06 AM
Mechanism, Arming for Fuze, Base-detonating for Bomb, Aerial. Either that or the prop ejected from your Official Aerial Ossurbur Beanie...
 
By Casey Tompkins on April 21, 2007 10:38 AM
What BillT said. :) I'll even say it's WW2 issue.
 
By Instapilot on April 21, 2007 11:35 AM
Bill, "...base-detonting for Bomb"? You mean a tail fuze? (That's not a tail fuze) or do mean the device itself initiates the explosive train at its base? Looks to me like an arming vane taken out of a larger fuze assembly and I doubt it's from a design past WW II...but it DOES look like a classic spin-arm propeller typical of more modern free-fall bomb nose fuzes. Modern nose fuzes have that integrated into the whole fuze. I guess you could take it apart, but I've never seen one like that. Looks like it has a safety pin, too.
 
By BillT on April 21, 2007 12:36 PM
Nope, *not* a tail fuze -- the mechanism / vane (technically, there are five vanes) that arms the base-detonating fuze itself. Not that I'm betting the ranch on it, but the shaft looks like it had to be that long to insure the li'l spinner stuck into the aft slipstream and out of the turbulent burble generated between the stabilizing fins and the bomb's butt. And I think it's from the war that preceded "Remove Before Flight" banners clipped to the safety.
 
By Maggie on April 21, 2007 1:14 PM
I am surfing from work! You are making me feel bad.
 
By MajMike on April 21, 2007 1:49 PM
for issue with a Belgian Crap Sprayer Bomb, this is the Spritzer attachment (for producing more finer spray).
 
By BillT on April 21, 2007 2:17 PM
You are making me feel bad. Oooops. Sorry -- thought I was the only one tied up with chores. I'm pressure-washing the house, deck, dogs, walkways, driveway and two cars; reseeding the dead spots in the lawn; drenching everything with plant food; painting the trim on the house; etc. Then I'll start on the afternoon projects. I pop in when my shoes start putting more water on the ground than the pump does...
 
By BillT on April 21, 2007 2:17 PM
You are making me feel bad. Oooops. Sorry -- thought I was the only one tied up with chores. I'm pressure-washing the house, deck, dogs, walkways, driveway and two cars; reseeding the dead spots in the lawn; drenching everything with plant food; painting the trim on the house; etc. Then I'll start on the afternoon projects. I pop in when my shoes start putting more water on the ground than the pump does...
 
By sandman6actual on April 21, 2007 3:04 PM
'Fraid I'mma have to go with the experts (*Bill and Insta*) and say that it looks like the tail fin arming mechanism.....kinda like the one on that bomb that W.C. Fields rode out of the chute in that movie, whose name slips my mind at the moment.
 
By Instapilot on April 21, 2007 3:46 PM
Mebbe Bill dropped bombs in helos (who am I to protest?) but all the tail fuzes I've ever dealt with are, well, invisible to the casual observer. HOWEVER, comma, the arming vanes are quite visible, projecting up out of the rear portion of the bomb casing (forward of the fins) perpendicular to the casing. They look like itty bitty anemometers. You know, the little cupped thingies that spin around the top of a weather station measuring wind speed. They spin, the fuze's expolosive train is brought into line and the weapons is armed. But this thing is something for the FRONT of a munition. Either that, or it's an early 1900s colonoscope polyp removal attachment.
 
By John of Argghhh! on April 21, 2007 4:24 PM
it's an early 1900s colonoscope polyp removal attachment. Ooog. Bad visual.
 
By Maggie on April 21, 2007 4:39 PM
Thanks Chief! I feel much better now! I'm not working nearly that hard. I'm sitting in my office flirting with old men on the phone.
 
By Old Fat Sailor on April 21, 2007 6:39 PM
Fuze assy. for a Hedge-Hog or Mouse Trap ASW round.
 
By Casey Tompkins on April 22, 2007 3:30 AM
Aaack. Thanks, Instapilot, for clearing the fog in my head! I didn't read Bill's first post very carefully. What I have in my mind is the arming vane (arrg, again!) I've seen in shots of B-17s being bombed up, and the stuff on Lightings, Jugs, and company. Actually, weren't there two of those, one on the nose, and one in the base? Or am I thinking of something else?
 
By Nick on April 22, 2007 5:53 AM
Greetings to all of you, How do I get in touch with John? I read on a previous post that he was a battery commander in the ETO. I would like to talk to him about the XVIII Airborne Corps Artillery. Thanks, Nick
 
By John of Argghhh! on April 22, 2007 7:27 AM
Greetings to all of you, How do I get in touch with John? I read on a previous post that he was a battery commander in the ETO. I would like to talk to him about the XVIII Airborne Corps Artillery. Thanks, Nick
Nick - if by John, you mean me, John of Argghhh! the owner of Castle Argghhh, that's me - I'm also "The Armorer" on the blog, there's an email link on the right sidebar... all that said however, while I did command at battery level, it was in the First Infantry, at Fort Riley, in the late 80's. Looks like you were reading one of my history posts, and I apparently didn't make it clear something was a quote, likely an extract, from something else, prolly the US Army history of the war. Have you tried the 82nd Airborne Division veteran's groups? If anyone can find you a surviving battery commander, they should be able to. Cheers, John
 
By John S. on April 22, 2007 1:31 PM
Add another fat old sailor voting for Hedgehog arming device.