The SC 2500 ( Sprengbombe Cylindrisch) or ''cylindrical explosive bomb'' in English was a

general-purpose bomb A general-purpose bomb is an air-dropped bomb intended as a compromise between blast damage, penetration, and fragmentation in explosive effect. They are designed to be effective against enemy troops, vehicles, and buildings. Characteristics ...

used by the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Design

The SC 2500 had a single piece machined aluminum body with a welded nose piece. Around the nose of the bomb was a ''kopfring'' - a metal ring, triangular in cross-section, designed to prevent ground penetration or to stop forward

momentum In Newtonian mechanics, momentum (more specifically linear momentum or translational momentum) is the product of the mass and velocity of an object. It is a vector quantity, possessing a magnitude and a direction. If is an object's mass ...

when hitting the water. The SC 2500 also had a circular braced tail ring with four fins. The SC 2500 was similar in construction to the

SB 2500 The SB 2500 (Spezialbombe) was a luftmine or aerial mine in English used by the Luftwaffe during World War II. History The SB series of bombs were designed to be high-capacity bombs that were intended to create the largest lateral blast ef ...

and the main difference between the two was the SB 2500's case was made of steel. There were two transverse fuzes one in the nose and one near the tail. The nose fuse had a centrally located break-up rod that crushed the nose fuze on impact triggering the explosives. The SC 2500 was filled with ''Trialen 105'', a mixture of 15%

RDX RDX (abbreviation of "Research Department eXplosive") or hexogen, among other names, is an organic compound with the formula (O2N2CH2)3. It is a white solid without smell or taste, widely used as an explosive. Chemically, it is classified as a ...

, 70% TNT and 15% aluminum powder. Externally there was a reinforced H-type suspension band and the bomb could be horizontally suspended in a

bomb bay The bomb bay or weapons bay on some military aircraft is a compartment to carry bombs, usually in the aircraft's fuselage, with "bomb bay doors" which open at the bottom. The bomb bay doors are opened and the bombs are dropped when over t ...

or horizontally mounted on a fuselage

hardpoint A hardpoint is an attachment location on a structural frame designed to transfer force and carry an external or internal load. The term is usually used to refer to the mounting points (more formally known as a weapon station or station) on th ...

. The bomb could not be dropped in a safe state and it was advised to not drop the bomb in low level attacks.

References

{{WWIIGermanAerialWeapons World War II aerial bombs of Germany