Yak-9T - incredible firepower (or maybe incredible tank's lack of armor?)

[gaunt1]

Originally Posted by bf-110

But I still believe bombs could do a nasty mess with tanks,even heavy ones.From 100 lbs bombs and above.Right?

As far as I know, bombs up to 250kg also required a direct hit against a medium or heavy tank.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by gaunt1

As far as I know, bombs up to 250kg also required a direct hit against a medium or heavy tank.

Yes and no. Even a small bomb could potentially be a tank killer if it hit in the right place (e.g., the PTAB bomblets). Large bombs increase the chance of a near miss injuring or killing crew due to overpressure, or damaging the tank or tipping it over.

[RPS69]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

Yes and no. Even a small bomb could potentially be a tank killer if it hit in the right place (e.g., the PTAB bomblets). Large bombs increase the chance of a near miss injuring or killing crew due to overpressure, or damaging the tank or tipping it over.

On Otto Karius memories, they narrate a friendly fire situation with 21cm nebelwerfers firing on his position. Those rockets carry a 550 Kg HE warhead.
They can´t do anything but lay down with their hands on their ears during the bombardment. They feel the shock waves from explosions, but no damage was reported.

Air bombs on WWII were saturation weapons. Even rockets were employed that way.

Heavy canons, were an elite crew option. Also pilots disregard it's effects as failures.

Russian Ptab's, were a primitive solution also employed by the germans, but more dangerous to the aircraft than for the intended enemy.

The state of the art were the germans AB bombs. Tested on the field against medium armor with success. Heavys were not that frequent on russian assaults. On Kursk, KV1's were few and kept at the rear.

HE bombs will generate supression when not scoring a direct hit, damage will be achieved as something unusual.

[majorfailure]

Originally Posted by RPS69

Russian Ptab's, were a primitive solution also employed by the germans, but more dangerous to the aircraft than for the intended enemy.

Care to elaborate?

Originally Posted by RPS69

HE bombs will generate supression when not scoring a direct hit, damage will be achieved as something unusual.

With bigger bombs near-misses can be fatal, too - overpressure effect on crew.

[swiss]

Originally Posted by RPS69

On Otto Karius memories, they narrate a friendly fire situation with 21cm nebelwerfers firing on his position. Those rockets carry a 550 Kg HE warhead.

550kg warhead in a 21cm Rocket?
Sure bro.
Maybe more like 40kg?

[gaunt1]

According to wiki, 550kg is the weight of the launcher with rockets. But still, it is a very powerful weapon, it fires 112kg rockets, which are stronger than a FAB-100 or a 250lb bomb.

Concerning PTAB. I highly doubt that it was dangerous to the plane that uses it. In reality, it was useless against tanks. However, against soft vehicles, it was devastating.

[majorfailure]

Originally Posted by gaunt1

According to wiki, 550kg is the weight of the launcher with rockets. But still, it is a very powerful weapon, it fires 112kg rockets, which are stronger than a FAB-100 or a 250lb bomb.

112kg for the total projectile, including propellant - this will make the warhead 20-50kg. So it is in the same category as a FAB-100, and that is pretty useless against tanks, and even direct hits may not show results

Originally Posted by gaunt1

Concerning PTAB. I highly doubt that it was dangerous to the plane that uses it. In reality, it was useless against tanks. However, against soft vehicles, it was devastating.

That I doubt. Shaped charges are not good against soft vehicles, there is not much fragmentation. Shaped charges generate a supersonic metal jet that punches holes in armour, and ignites or damages things inside - but their area effects are null.

[RPS69]

My bad, I was doing a fast search on the rocket weight, and pick the first number I spotted.
The anecdote still stands.

Now, not even the USA will drop 500Kg to kill some tanks. It will be seen as an absolute loss of resources. 250Kg will be much more popular with them for level bombing. And it was still shown on Normandy to be a total waste of bombs.

The PTAB were innertially armed, so on a crash landing it would have been very important for the pilot to release them before crashing. Do not confuse them with the safer PTAB 2.5m.
The first use by germans of the SD-2 was with a primitive releasing system from the wings that happened to be not fully efective, having the bad habit of keeping some SD-2 back to base underwing. They will become free on landing and exploding on hitting ground. The container use was a return to base free of bomblets insurance.

[gaunt1]

Originally Posted by majorfailure

That I doubt. Shaped charges are not good against soft vehicles, there is not much fragmentation. Shaped charges generate a supersonic metal jet that punches holes in armour, and ignites or damages things inside - but their area effects are null.

You are right, but the PTAB was large enough to do considerable damage to soft vehicles. An RPG-7 can easily destroy a truck, even though it is primarily an anti tank weapon. In terms of weight, its warhead is comparable to the PTAB (2.2kg vs 2.5kg)