First air-dropped bomb
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
In 1912, during the Balkan War, Bulgarian Air Force pilot Christo Toprakchiev suggested the use of airplanes to drop "bombs" (as grenades were called in Bulgarian army at this time) on Turkish positions. Captain Simeon Petrov developed the idea and created several prototypes by adapting different types of grenades and increasing their payload. On 16 October 1912 the observer Prodan Toprakchiev dropped 2 of those bombs at the Turkish railway station of Karaagac (near the besieged Edirne) from an Albatros F.II airplane piloted by Radul Milkov. This was the first use of an airplane as a bomber.
After number of tests Simeon Petrov created the final design, with improved aerodynamics, an X shaped tail and impact detonator. This version was widely used by the Bulgarian Air Force during the siege of Edrine. Later copy of the plans was sold to Germany and the bomb, codenamed "Chathaldza" ("Чаталджа") remained in mass prduction until the end of World War I.
The weight of the bomb was 6 kilograms. On impact it created a crater 4-5 meter wide and about 1 meter deep.
