Hello, In reading a letter regarding the last moments of the B-26
"Wizard of Koz," it is mentioned that there was a bomb hung up
in the bomb bay after having made their bomb run. The radio
operator "kicked out a bomb that had hung up." Was it common
for bombs to get hung up? What caused it? Was it usually handled
by "kicking it out?"

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards, Dave Gorski

Dave,
 
It didn't happen often but when it did, one of the crew members would kick it out as the article stated.

My father, who served in the 9th AAF, 410th BG, 646th BS, told me a couple of stories.

One night at their airfield, the searchlights came on.  Since that was not a normal practice, all the men came out of the buildings and tents to see what was going on.  A B-17 was crossing back and forth over the runway at a low level with its bomb bay doors open.  The pilot had radioed the base and said that he believed he had one bomb that got hung up in the bay but was not sure about it.  They were using the searchlights to see if they could confirm that the bomb was actually there.  (I don't know why they would have to use lights from the ground to confirm it, but my father said that's what they were trying to do).  They finally decided to land the plane.  As soon as the wheels touched down, the bomb bounced out of the bay and slid down the runway out ahead of the plane.  It slid right toward the group of spectators that were gathered at the end of the runway.  My father said that you never saw a group of men scatter so fast as they all did.  Fortunately, the bomb did not detonate.

My father flew on A-20s and the bomb bay was not accessible by the crew in flight.  They were afraid of having a bomb hang up sometime without having any way to deal with the problem.  So they rigged up a cable through the wall and connected it to the electromagnetic release mechanism.  This way they could force the mechanism to relase a bomb if it failed to work properly.

Gregory

Dave,
 
I failed to answer one of your questions in my previous reply.  In most cases a bomb hung because one of the bomb shackle hooks did not open completely.

Bombs did hang up all too often. hey were "kicked out" by engaging the bomb axe into the A-2 shakle and twisting which rleasesd the shakle and allowed the bomb to fall free. I had to do that only once. and it worked fine

ArtKramer
Bombardier B-26 Willie the wolf
 344th BG 494th BS
9th Air Force
www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

In John Comer’s Combat Crew he talks about carrying a large screwdriver which he used to pry open a stuck bomb shackle or other wise dislodge a bomb.

In the B-26 we had a bomb axe clipped to the bulkhead in the bombay. It's purpose was to release hung up bombs.

Art Kramer
Bombardier Willie the Wolf