Marine Corps aviators WWII – the AN-M66 General Purpose Bomb.

#FlightFriday – AN-M66 General Purpose BombIt’s #FlightFriday and today’s featured artifact is one of the most destructive bombs dropped by Marine Corps aviators during World War II – the AN-M66 General Purpose Bomb. Weighing in at 2,156 pounds, its forged, rolled and welded steel shell contained 1,156 pounds of Tritonal explosive — a mix of TNT and aluminum powder that delivered optimal blast effect.

With a box tail attached, it was 93×31 inches. The size of the AN-M66 often meant that no other bombs could be carried either internally or from external hardpoints. American aircraft carriers even had to limit the number of AN-M66 they stored because of the bomb’s bulk.Three types of Marine Corps aircraft used the AN-M66 most frequently. Torpedo bombers like the General Motors TBM-3E Avenger could only carry a single AN-M66 in its internal bomb bay. Fighter aircraft such as the Vought F4U-4 Corsair could carry a single AN-M66 on a centerline hardpoint.

Marine Corps’ North American PBJ-1s, a naval version of the famed B-25 Mitchell medium bomber, could carry around 4,000 lbs of bombs, but only one AN-M66 would fit in its bomb bay.

In 1944, famous flyer Charles Lindbergh toured American aviation units in the Pacific. His mission was to improve aircraft performance and he flew combat missions to prove his ideas. In September 1944, he visited Marine Aircraft Group 31 at Engebi Airfield on Eniwetok Atoll and worked with Marine Corps squadrons on improving the maximum ordnance load of their Corsair fighters.

With the assistance of Lt Francis Clark of Marine Fighting Squadron 311 and Marine ordnance crews, Lindbergh proved that the Corsair could carry three 1,000-pound bombs or, with a modified centerline hardpoint, one AN-M66 and two additional 1,000-pound bombs!Lindbergh personally proved the Corsair was capable of this remarkable feat by flying several combat missions with Lt Clark as an escort.

As part of a multi-squadron attack on the Japanese facilities on the island of Wotje in the Marshall Islands, Lindbergh destroyed a concrete coastal artillery fortification in a single diving attack. These actions set a record for the heaviest bomb loads carried into combat by an American single-engine fighter…

National Museum of the Marine Corps

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