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In WWII-era films and newsreels, aerial bombs are often shown making a whistling sound as they fall; starting high pitched, then decreasing as the bomb approaches the Earth (example here, starting at about 0:50). I also remember it being mimicked in WWII-era Looney Tunes and the like that I saw as a kid (okay, and as an adult).

Did WWII-era bombs actually whistle like this? Why did they do so? Was it by design? I presume the bombs were falling slower than the speed of sound, so was the whistling audible from the ground - and soon enough to seek shelter?

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    Why would you design a bomb that warns you that it is falling?
    – Apoorv
    Jul 25, 2012 at 13:29
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    Warn the people below, you mean? I don't know; to damage infrastructure while reducing civilian casualties, maybe? That's part of the question, really…
    – Garrett Albright
    Jul 25, 2012 at 13:50
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    @Garrett Albright: The commendable modern desire to reduce civilian casualties is not relevant to WWII.
    – Felix Goldberg
    Dec 8, 2012 at 13:58
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    @MonsterTruck it would make military sense to design a bomb that warns you that it is falling. Aerial (and artillery) bombardment has two direct purposes - destruction and suppression (enemy ducking for any, even imaginary cover, making them unable to aim&fire). Assuming that the warning won't reduce destruction - you don't know where the bomb will hit, there's not enough time to get to a proper shelter , and the bomb would hurt anyone in blast range anyway - a warning sound would suppress also those enemies who wouldn't be hit by that bomb, giving an advantage to your troops on ground.
    – Peteris
    May 20, 2014 at 16:10
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    A siren on a bomb hardly gives anyone time to take casualty-decreasing countermeasures. Running outside would actually make casualties go up, not down.
    – Oldcat
    May 27, 2014 at 23:41

5 Answers 5

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It is true that bombs in World War II would make a whistling sound as they fell. This could be heard by both the pilot and the target, however due to the Doppler effect, they heard different things. The pilot would hear a high pitched whistle and as the bomb accelerated it lowered in pitch. The target would initially hear a higher pitched whistle than what the pilot heard because the target is in front of the bomb and the pilot is behind the bomb. The pitch would continue to increase until the bomb struck. This is assuming the bomb is going slower than the speed of sound. The bomb will not reach the speed of sound until it has fallen ≈19 500 ft.

The whistles were purposefully attached to the bombs. Their purpose was to weaken enemy morale and to enhance the intimidation of dive-bombing. Look at the Stuka dive-bomber, a similar case. What other purpose did it's sirens have? As far as warning the target, it's too late to get to safety once you hear the whistle if you're not there already (bombs fall fast). Not all bombs were equipped with whistles, but they still all made noise as they fell due to air displacement (just not the famous whistling sound). This Wikipedia page gives one example of bombs that were purposefully fitted with whistles.

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    The sirens were attached to the Stuka, not the bombs.
    – Oldcat
    May 27, 2014 at 23:40
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    Yes, but to the same purpose.
    – American Luke
    May 28, 2014 at 0:16
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    I doubt that the pilot could hear the whistle. The sound inside any high powered war plane, such as a B-17, Lancaster, Spitfire, even DC-3s and C-54s is deafening. Unless all the engines stop you cannot hear anything outside the plane. That's one of the reasons the crew wear headsets with speakers in them, so the intercom/radio speaker is right by your ear and the material or shell of the headset/helmet helps keep out the engine noise. Only a loud explosion very close to the aircraft might be heard. I'm pretty sure the crew would not hear any whistling bombs.
    – Flynn
    Jan 22, 2016 at 20:13
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    @user45959 Good point, but of course what I was talking about here was theoretical, assuming the whistle was loud enough to be heard in the first place.
    – American Luke
    Jan 24, 2016 at 6:25
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    @American Luke - I hope my comment did not come across as harsh. I thought you probably were talking theoretically about what the pilot might hear. I was intrigued by your answer; I didn't know the whistle was intentional - I'd assumed it was a just incidental.
    – Flynn
    Jan 25, 2016 at 16:50
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Yes, I can tell you from personal experience that they certainly did whistle. When I was a boy I lived in Nottingham, and until May 1941 we were lucky in that, although we heard (and sometimes saw) German aircraft, they usually passed over on their way to less fortunate cities like Sheffield, Coventry or Birmingham. But on the night of Thursday 8 May 1941, for the first (but not the last) time, Nottingham itself was the target. We were woken up by the sound of the warning sirens, but they were very quickly followed by the sound of falling bombs (including the terrifying whistling), and we were too scared to leave the house and go into our air raid shelter: we sat on the steps leading down to our cellar. There were a lot of people killed in Nottingham that night; luckily for us we escaped unhurt, and nobody we knew was killed. But I can tell you - nobody who has ever heard that whistling noise will ever forget it. I am nearly 81, and I was 8 at the time, and I can remember it all too well. So why did the bombs whistle? To warn people to take shelter? Don't make me laugh - there would be no time. There is only one reason that makes sense to me - it was to scare the hell out of those beneath them, and it certainly succeeded as far as I was concerned!

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    Wow, a first-hand account! Thanks for sharing your experience. :D
    – Garrett Albright
    Nov 19, 2013 at 18:30
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Yes I can tell you from personal experience also I was six years old we lived in Haverton Hill, County Durham, England, there was a lot of heavy industry in that area including Dorman & long steel works, the ICI Imperial chemical industries, Furness ship building company, and Smith's dry dock, for ship repairs plus many smaller companies. They were after these targets however many of the bombs landed on nearby housing estates, we were in a shelter in our back garden and the whistling bombs always sounded as if they were going to land right on your head. When they were falling everyone tensed up then after they exploded everyone relaxed till the next ones came then it was the same all over again, our house and all our belongings were destroyed by these bombs and we had to go and live with an aunt. The bombing raids would last from about 11pm untill 5am They were frequent and over a long period of time.This is the north east part of England on the river Tees, they also dropped incendiary bombs, and fired V2 rockets into our area

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Bombs (or anything metal with sharp edges) naturally tend to whistle as they fall, however, in many cases they were designed to enhance the whistle to make it louder and more intense, the purpose being to terrify anyone in the vicinity of the target zone. The patent diagram below shows a typical design:

gravity bomb

The elliptical cutouts labeled I5 in the diagram are modifications to the tailfin designed to generate a loud, piercing whistle.

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  • The patent specifically states that the cutouts are intended to produce a whistle.
    – Tyler Durden
    Oct 6, 2015 at 4:35
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    That's a 15, not I5.
    – DevSolar
    Jun 4, 2018 at 9:04
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This is true. The whistles nomenclature was Bomb Whistle MK. 1, MOD. 1 BU. ORD. DR. NO 301047. They were made by The Ohio Art Company Bryan, Ohio

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    Sources would improve this answer.
    – Lars Bosteen
    Feb 5, 2018 at 21:58
  • The referenced item seems to be discussed here, but I don't see a manufacturer listed in that discussion.
    – justCal
    Feb 5, 2018 at 23:40

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