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Type 97 Land Bomb Gaine "A" - Army
Type 97 Navy Bomb Gaine - No U.S. Designation -
Japanese Navy Fuzes utilize a characteristic gaine, incorporating the entire explosive train. Similar in external appearance, they vary in size and internal construction.
The gaines are configured to adjust detonation delay times for various targets. The delay incorporated is indicated by the colored tip.
Inside are four functional sections (top to bottom): (1) Primer plugs, (2) Delay plugs, (3) Detonator plugs, and (4) Booster.
The gaine shown above, is missing the Delay plug.
The green tip indicates a .03 second delay. U.S. Documentation lists a Modification 1 gaine with a .115 second delay, but no color code is mentioned.

Above is the gaine mounted to the Type 97 Nose fuse. Also shown is a wood nose plug for the bomb, with the same shape as the fuze and gaine assembly.
This type of fuze and gaine are hard enough to find on the collector's market but the plug even more so. I guess it wasn't a popular item for souvenir collectors?

The Kanji on the tip reads: "Bomb Nose..... Design# 2" I don't know the two characters on the bottom left. (Any Help ?)


Markings on these examples appear to be 1943 (Japanese Standard calender year 2603) for the fuze on the left.
December 1941 (Showa 16.12) for the gaine and November 1941 (Showa 16.11) for the fuze on the right.

November 1941....
Could that nose fuze have been a trophy returned from Japan's triumph at Pearl Harbor?
While the gaine was manufactured too late for the attack, the November date for the fuze was early enough to have been on one of the carriers.
No way to tell and these aren't talking.... an interesting possibility though :)
13.10.19
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