Re: WWII Forums Quiz Part VII
PzJgr, you are correct and your go.
It was one of these that put my Dad in plastic surgery hospital for many months and changed his and eventually my life, as he was only being discharged as his unit left for Dieppe.
Unfortunately, I don't recall the source of the information below,
Luftmine ..... originally meant for use as sea mines and known to the Germans as Luftmine A (LMA) of 500kg and Luftmine B (LMB) of 1000kg they were known to the British public as 'land mines'. Basically there were only two sizes, 500kg, which was 5'8" long and 1000kg, which was 8'8" long and were triggered magnetically at sea, a clockwork fuse triggered the mine on land. They were first dropped in our coastal waters by Heinkel He 115 seaplanes flying at 900', in November 1939, and first employed intentionally against land targets on 16th September 1940. The luftmine had an explosive filling of between 60% and 70% and was capable of creating a lot of blast damage.
The parachute was made of sea-green artificial silk and was about 27' in diameter, secured by eighteen thick silk cords. There were two other types of parachute made up of 2" wide khaki coloured silk ribbons woven together or secured in circular patterns to form the desired shape, they fell at a rate of 40mph. Without the parachute the mines would not have withstood the landing impact.
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