Anybody know what this is or does?

[Jerry O'Neill]

I had one of these years ago and never knew what it was. I saw this at a military show yesterday and I'm hoping somebody out in WIX-land might be able to enlighten me.
It's labeled as a T-96 (haven't found much on the internet about it). It has hooks to mount on a bomb rack. The top is a wood sleeve and inside is a wire that uncoils when it's dropped from a bomb rack. The smaller fin area at the bottom comes off and a parachute deploys. Once hanging by the chute, there is some type of battery powered transmitter inside with a dial and numbers on it. All I can think of is that it's some type of jamming (radar or radio) device. The color looks like WWII vintage, but that might not be when it was made. Didn't see too many other markings that meant anything.

Any ideas?
Thanks.
Jerry

[ZRX61]

Sonor buoy?

[Jerry O'Neill]

It' doesn't appear water proof.

[Richard W.]

Could it be some type of emergency locating beacon?

[TROJANII]

I think you stumped WIX ....

[Jerry O'Neill]

Somebody has got to have an idea! It's the second one I've seen. (I owned one and it's now on display at NEAM)
I called the owner and he gave me a little more nomenclature from the side: T-96 M.F.P., APB 1945
Maybe that'll help!
Jerry

[JDK]

Fascinating. As no one's making a firm offer, I'm going with an early sonobuoy.

Note that it is clearly loaded to a bomb rack 'the wrong way' with the fins forward. That, to me says it's something that'd intended to drop retarded and land fins down, and the only things I can think of like that are some stores containers ('Storepedos') and sonobuoys - though I know little about either.

No images, but you could fit this package to this illustration:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sonobuoy.JPG

From here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonobuoy
And:
http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/man/usw ... ubwar.html

On the surface of it, the lack of waterproofing seems an issue with that, but of course sonobuoys are disposable - and they deploy into sections that eventually are lost; perhaps this is an unusually sophisticated view that the thing needs only survive for a period, or the casing isn't waterproof, but it has more durable contents.

Not managed to find any pics of this or W.W.II era sonobuoys, but it looks about the same size and layout as RAF Coastal Command used marine markers or later Depth Charges as used on B-24 Liberators, which might make sense for an early development weapon to be configured to fit existing logistics and drop equipment.

All guesswork, but...

Regards,

Last edited by JDK on Tue Oct 30, 2012 9:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[RAMC181]

In this context, what with the possible radio gizmo inside, the MFP would be expected to indicate it had recieved Moisture and Fungus Protection sealant/varnish.

I guess we really need to see the innards...

All the best,
PB

[JDK]

More data:

Modern anti-submarine warfare grew from the WWII convoy and battle group movement through hostile waters. It was imperative that submarines be detected and neutralized long before the task group came within range of an attack. Aircraft-based submarine detection was the obvious solution. The maturity of radio communication and sonar technology made it possible to combine a sonar transducer, batteries, a radio transmitter and whip antenna, within a self-contained air-deployed floating (sono)buoy.

Early sonobuoys had limited range, limited battery life and were overwhelmed by the noise of the ocean. They first appeared towards the end of WWII where they were first used in July 1942 by RAF Coastal Command under the code name 'High Tea', the first squadron to use them operationally being No. 210 Squadron RAF, operating Sunderlands. They were also limited by the use of human ears to discriminate man-made noises from the oceanic background. However, they demonstrated that the technology was viable. With the development of better hydrophones, the transistor and miniaturization, and the realisation that very low frequency sound was important, more effective acoustic sensors followed. The sonobuoy went from being an imposing six feet tall, two feet diameter sensor to the compact suite of electronics it is today.

http://www.worldnavalships.com/forums/s ... 381&page=2

The commander of its Composite Squadron 69 (VC-69), Lt. Cdr. Jesse Taylor, immediately took off in his TBF in pursuit of the Japanese sub. As Taylor patrolled in the darkness, his radarman, Chief Ed Whitlock, picked up a blip. They went after it and dropped flares, lighting up the 350-foot long cargo sub. Taylor closed in, dropping two depth bombs. I-52 dived and the TBF dropped a sonobuoy into the water. The newly-developed sonobuoys picked up long-carrying underwater noises and transmitted these back to the carrier. Following the sonobuoy's signal, Taylor dropped a Mark 24 "Fido" acoustic torpedo.

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=265547

Also: http://uboat.net/forums/read.php?20,58747,58747,quote=1

Use of Sonobuoys in WWII
(See Japanese submarine I-52 (1943) )

According to the article, the submarine was traced and later sunk thanks to sonobouys from TBF Avengers from the USS Bogue.

That article also provides some interesting details (albeit unreferenced) which aren't mentioned in this article:

"Taylor dropped a purple sonobuoy, a newly-developed device that floated, picked up underwater noise, and transmitted it back. A searching aircraft usually dropped these in packs of five, named purple, orange, blue, red and yellow (POBRY); the operator was able to monitor each buoy in turn to listen for sounds emitted by its target."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3ASonobuoy

I'm certainly intrigued. The British ones were codenamed 'High Tea' (how British...) but found no pictures under any search combination of 'High Tea' T-96' and 'sonobuoy'.

Regards,

[RAMC181]

See HERE for some images of the 1942 AN/CRT-1 Sonobouy.

There should be some more at http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/radar-14.htm but the page isn't loading for me properly right now.

All the best,
PB

[JDK]

Thanks Paul. Our T-96 isn't the same as the AN/CRT-1 in the diagrams. However (and I could be dead wrong here) I can see that the setup on an early sonobuoy could be seen to match this T-96's unitary construction.

Or it could be something completely different.

And that rear end fwd element is very notable.

Another real out-there guess - a jungle (land) sonobuoy?

But it has the look of a production, not prototype or short-run item.

hmmmm...

[RAMC181]

I guess it could come down to whether the T in T-96 is a Trial/Test title if it's ordnance-related, prior to whatever it is being assigned a regular M-xx number, or whether it's a radio-related Transmitter model number, in which case I'd have expected to see a system suffix i.e. T-96/ABC-123...

[JOHN MILLER]

What about a prototype of the seismic sensors later used in viet nam to detect movement in jungle are? only thing missing is a spike on nose. just a guess?

[JOHN MILLER]

I just found this article on sonobuoy development in WWII, it is only intended to last six hours at most. Diagrams first drawing looks close, but in deployed configuration.
http://www.eaglespeak.us/2008/09/sunday ... buoys.html

[K5DH]

Could it be a meteorological radiosonde? Given that it's air-dropped and has a parachute, it's a reasonable guess.

Any chance we could see the innards?