"SHL-6000" WW2 German Bomb project

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moin1900

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Hi everybody

I am searching for informations and drawings etc.
of the SHL-6000 "Hohlladungsbombe".
It is a german WW2 project for a big "HOLLOW-CHARGE" bomb.
Maybe someone can help ?

Many greetings and thanks a lot
 
To Justo: Thanks a lot for the GREAT Picture and Data.

To Jemiba: Mhmm a Mistel warhead
Maybe like this
http://www.capehobby.com/Aircraft_Resin_Models_White_Cat_Models--HEINKEL_HE_177.html

Many greetings
 
The "standard" mistel warhead had a weight of 3.500 kg, so 8.000 kg for the
one, which would have been fitted to a He 177-Mistel seems realistic.
Below the 3.500 kg warhead:
(from E.Peter "Der Flugzeugschlepp von den Anfängen bis Heute")
 

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Greetings

Here's what Wolfgang Fleischer's excellent book "Deutsche Abwurfmunition bis 1945" (roughly: "German air-dropped munitions until 1945"), ISBN 3-613-02286-9, has to say (My translation. Words in [..] have been added by me for clarity):

"A further development [of the SHL-4000, for the Ju-88 Mistel] was the SHL-6000, intended for use with an enlarged Mistel composite (Heinkel He 177 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190). There were plans to use the SHL-6000 during Operation Eisenhammer ["Operation Iron Hammer"], an attack on the power stations of the Russian armaments industry [somewhere beyond the Urals]"

The data for the SHL-6000 given in the book's appendix are similar to those posted here by Mr. Miranda.

In the Mistel composites, the warheads generally replaced the entire forward crew area of the lower (bomber) component, as shown in the image in Moin1900's Cape Hobby link

As a side note, I would suppose "SHL" is short for "Sonder-HohlLadung" ("Special Hollow Charge").

Regards & all,

Thomas L. Nielsen
Denmark
 
out of my woods to say nothing important but is the Japanese Sakuradan , some examples were loaded to Ki-67 bombers , related to these studies ?
 
r16 said:
out of my woods to say nothing important but is the Japanese Sakuradan , some examples were loaded to Ki-67 bombers , related to these studies ?
Click to expand...

The principle (fitting a large warhead to a bomber, and crashing it into the target) would appear to be the same in the two weapons (Mistel and Sakuradan). However the Sakuradan was, as I understand it, intended as a suicide weapon. Also, rather than a massive hollow charge like the SHL-6000, the Sakuradan apparently used a thermite-based directional incendiary charge.

Whether there is a direct, technology-transfer link between the SHL series of German weapons and the Japanese Sakuradan is difficult to say, but I would consider it plausible. The link below does claim that the Sakuradan was based on a German weapon, but doesn't mention the SHL-6000 specifically.

Here's what http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/weapons-systems-tech/hiryu-projects-9557.html has to say about the Sakuradan (Please note that I have no way of verifying this source as to credibility):

The Ki-167 was a Hiryu version specifically adapted to accommodate the so-called Sakuradan thermite bomb. The Sakuradan bomb installed in the Ki-167 was an unconventional 6,393-lb weapon, shaped somewhat like a pressure cooker with a diameter of 5 ft 3 in and the base facing forward and angled downward some 15 deg, demanded some structural modifications of the fuselage. The bomb was placed on the aircraft CG and its diameter necessitated the cutting away of some of the upper fuselage structure, the protruding portion being enclosed by a plywood fairing reminiscent of a camels hump. The rear casing of the charge was parabolic and 19.7 in thick in order to direct the blast forward.

The Sakuradan was based on a weapon developed in Germany in WWII, the plans for which were taken to Japan aboard the submarine I-30 in October 1942, and testing was conducted in the strictest secrecy at Pai-Chengzi in Manchuria. During these trials it was ascertained that the fierce flame generated by the weapon projected some 3,280 ft ahead of the point of detonation and at a distance of 985 ft from impact a medium tank could be totally destroyed. With insertion of the Sakuradan in the Hiryu, the starboard controls were deleted, the crew being reduced to pilot, engineer, navigator and radio operators, and all gun positions were faired over.

The first two Sakuradan-equipped Ki-167s were completed in February 1945, and after flight testing at Kagamigahara, these were delivered to the “special attack” unit of the 62nd Sentai at Tachiarai, to where the unit had transferred from Nishi Tsukuba. This unit also possessed several To-Go Hiryus, and the first mission with a single Sakuradan-equipped aircraft was flown from Kanoya, Kyushu, on 17 April, in concert with two To-Go Hiryus. The Ki-167 was piloted by Lt Kozaburo Kato and its target, as was that of the accompanying To-Go Hiryus, was the Allied carriers and other naval vessels off Okinawa.

The three aircraft took-off at intervals between 0715 and 0726 hours, successfully eluding interception by F6F hellcats SE of Tokunsoshima Island at about 0950 hours.

At 1010 hours, Lt Kato broke radio silence with the message: “Have found a carrier. Am attacking!” Shortly after this, Cdt Maemura, who was flying as navigator in one of the To-Go Hiryus, saw flame streaming back from the Sakuradan equipped aircraft, the nose of which suddenly pulled up sharply as it disappeared into cloud, and it was assumed that the Ki-167 was mortally hit before it could commence its attack on the target that Lt Kato had reported.

A second “special attack” unit was formed by the 62nd Sentai with two more Sakurandan equipped Ki-167s and two To-Go Hiryus, flying its first mission on 27 May from Kanoya against Allied naval forces west of Okinawa. Both Ki-167s disappeared after signalling that they were attacking targets and both To-Go Hiryus returned to base when they failed to find suitable targets. The “special attack” units of the 62nd Sentai were the only recipients of the Ki-167s, comparatively few of which were completed, at least one of these being destroyed in an accident and another as a result of sabotage. It is recorded that a unit equipped with Ki-167s under the command of Maj Isamu Katano was formed in June 1945, and was scheduled to leave Japan for an attack on Saipan on 16August, the day after official ceasefire, yet no example of the Sakuradan equipped aircraft was found by the Allies after the occupation.

Regards & all,

Thomas L. Nielsen
Denmark
 

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thanks for the response . As for the credibility of the source it is the exact text from the Air International article on the Hiryu , from 1983 or so , I know it because it is the only place that ı have ever seen the mention of the weapon .
 
In the latest issue of FliegerRevue Extra is a very comprehensive article about the
japanese suicide attacks during the battle of Okinawa. Among the many colour profiles
is one of the Ki-167 with the serial 5033 of the 62.Sentai, flown on 25th of May 1945
by captain Fukushima (don't know , if I got the rank correct).
As it is the latest issue of the mentioned magazine, just now available in the shops,
I post only a very low res scan as a teaser ...
 

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Interesting - look at the angle of the device and you will see it is not a regular HEAT-type hollow charge which are a narrow cone, but a shallow dish - it effect will be an explosively formed penetrator with a much greater standoff range. Basically it will fire a huge metal slug at very high velocity.
Tricky to get one that size to work, but it would eb quite effective if it did...
 
Interesting - look at the angle of the device and you will see it is not a regular HEAT-type hollow charge which are a narrow cone, but a shallow dish - it effect will be an explosively formed penetrator with a much greater standoff range. Basically it will fire a huge metal slug at very high velocity.
Tricky to get one that size to work, but it would eb quite effective if it did...
Click to expand...

An alternate interpretation is that this could be a fuel air explosive warhead. I note the large aerodynamic fairing of the SHL-6000 could be used to contain an atomised, or gaseous charge.
 
Kiwiguy said:
Interesting - look at the angle of the device and you will see it is not a regular HEAT-type hollow charge which are a narrow cone, but a shallow dish - it effect will be an explosively formed penetrator with a much greater standoff range. Basically it will fire a huge metal slug at very high velocity.
Tricky to get one that size to work, but it would eb quite effective if it did...
Click to expand...

An alternate interpretation is that this could be a fuel air explosive warhead. I note the large aerodynamic fairing of the SHL-6000 could be used to contain an atomised, or gaseous charge.
Click to expand...

It'd be an odd waste of capability to atomise the charge *before* it's been deployed.
 
once again risking myself as ı am not exactly sure if it is possible or conceivable but ı think lots of people believe the Monroe Effect of concentrating the explosive power would be used by Germans to produce results in their unfruitful ( my belief ) nuke program . Think of the gun system of the Hiroshima bomb to concentrate Uranium in a smaller volume to go critical . Hasten to add , ı am not in engineering and am simply parroting what ı have heard .
 

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