Flechette
Flechettes (fr. fléchettes, little arrows) were anti-personnel projectiles used from aircraft in World War I.
Initially called balles Bon (after their inventor, Lieutenand Colonel Bon, who took the idea from the famous French engineer and inventor Clément Ader), these fluted metal darts (pointed and grooved to remain vertical), weighing approximately 20 grams, were experimented with by the French as early as 1910. With prewar France expressing considerable enthusiasm for using the offensive capabilities of aircrafts, aero clubs, lobbyists and prominent ministers (e.g., Paul Painlevé and Louis Barthou) joined the call for exploring their capacity for bombardment in addition to reconnaissance missions. [...]
Once released (from an altitude of 800m during the War's early stages, and later above 2km, following the initial results), the flechettes formed an elliptical shower, gushing out while maintaining their "formation" all the way down [as the rare 1915 illustration shows, see p. 27], hitting with a ground speed of 150 to 200 m/s (when released at 2km). [...]
Like its successor, firearm flechette, free-fall air-dropped flechette enjoyed outstanding success psychologically. As a rain of steel silently dropped from the sky—earning another of its nicknames, "the silent death"—it caused widespread panic among soldiers on the ground. In fact, it had such grave consequences on the forces' morale that the German and French press alike attempted to minimize the dreadful effects by providing contradictory reports suggesting that the physical injuries could be easily addressed.[1]
The idea is traced to Ader's Ader, 1908, L'Aviation militaire (or back further). Lt. Col. Bon may well be the Jules Augustin Bon responsible for Patent US-1908-879079, which pertains to projectile stability (but is not a flechette).
References
- ↑ Barak, 2011, Deadly Metal Rain, pp. 24–26.
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