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Type 97 "Rail Initiator" Tail Fuze - Navy

The Type 97 Tail Fuze - U.S. Designation B-6 - is a simple impact design used in the 31-kg practice bomb.
Although I don't have the translation, the red advisory tag typically provides information to the armorers for reference when attaching or removing the bomb.

On release from the aircraft, the safety fork is withdrawn and the vane assembly rotates twelve times and falls free, leaving the striker held back by a light creep spring.
On impact, inertia casues the striker to move against the spring and pierce the primer.



The early practice bombs were filled with concrete. Later bombs had gravel in the nose and a glass-filled main body.

The purpose of the glass, instead of concrete, was to lessen the damage to the target ship while still preserving the correct trajectory and balistics of the bomb.

Both bombs had a spotting charge (titanium tetrachloride) with a picric acid bursting charge in the tail cone.
Another photo for a sense of scale. This fuze is small. I didn't realise how small untill I actually had in in my hand.
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