The Thermos bomb, formally the AR-4, was an Italian air-dropped anti-personnel mine of the Second World War, nicknamed for its resemblance to a Thermos vacuum flask. The cylindrical device was about 31 centimeters long and weighed roughly 3.68 kilograms including its TNT filling, and its motion-sensitive fuze could detonate if the bomb was disturbed after landing, with a later version adding a delay fuze that could go off sixty to eighty hours after arming. The Italian Air Force dropped large numbers of them against Malta and across the Middle East theater, and because unexploded examples were so dangerous to move, disposal crews typically destroyed them in place rather than attempting to defuse them.
Facts
Weapon Class
Weapon Class (category)Grenade / Explosive Device 1 Classification
Service Status Weapon Class Connections
Used In
Source Thermos bomb, Wikipedia
Sources
1. Thermos bomb, Wikipedia
Lead paragraph, first sentence
Thermos bomb was the informal name for the AR-4, an air dropped anti-personnel mine used by the Italian Air Force during World War II.
service status
Thermos bomb was the informal name for the AR-4, an air dropped anti-personnel mine used by the Italian Air Force during World War II
- Weapon class classified from the entity's own sourced description text.
- Used In: World War II, infobox wars field: 'World War II'
View the SourceWikidata: Thermos bomb
Wikidata Q3966617, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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