M5 bomb trailer

US bomb transport vehicle

The M5 bomb trailer is a 2½ ton capacity vehicle used during World War II for transporting bombs from munitions storage areas to the aircraft for loading. Up to six M5s can be towed in a train. The trailer weighs 7,200 pounds when fully loaded. The front pair of wheels are mounted on a caster assembly like a shopping cart. They are free to rotate 360 degrees about their vertical axes. There is a damper assembly that resembles 1/2 of a disk brake rotor that has friction pucks pressing against it to dampen oscillations of the caster assembly. These trailers would be towed out to the flightline all hitched together like a train and the train would stop at the first bomber and the last trailer in the train would be disconnected. The train would then continue on to the next bomber. After the train left, the crew would manhandle the trailer to a position under the bomber to enable the loading of the bombs. The front caster wheel assembly made this relatively easy. And so each trailer would be detached and when the towing vehicle had left the last trailer, it would circle around and go back and pick up the now empty first trailer detached. Then it would proceed to pick the rest of the trailers, one at a time.

This keyword could refer to multiple things. Here are some suggestions: