VB-3 Razon

The VB-3 Razon was a 1,000-lb general purpose bomb (an AN-M65), with radio-controlled rear ailerons contained in a tail assembly, which was attached to the body of bomb. It was developed from the VB-1 Azon at the end of World War II and used in Korea. The tail assembly comprised the lift shroud and the control shroud, which in turn included the remote-controlled ailerons, the guide flare, the gyroscope unit, and the rear cover plate.

The rear or control shroud of the tail assembly had moveable surfaces, such as the ailerons and rudder, which responded to control inputs for pitch and yaw, or up-and-down and right-left. These moveable parts were operated through a small electric motor. The lift shroud, on the other hand, was added to furnish a forward force when increased range was needed. The displacement of the moveable surfaces contained in the control shroud during flight produced aerodynamic forces on the bomb, causing it to rotate from the reference provided by the directional gyro.

Since it was a radio-controlled bomb, the VB-3 Razon was steered by the bombardier after it was released and his inputs was in response to how well the bomb followed the desired trajectory. A pyrotechnic flare attached to the rear of the control shroud of bomb came on shortly after release and provided the bombardier a visual relative position of the bomb in relation to the target.

The tail assembly of the VB-3 Razon also housed a gyroscope unit, which consisted of two gyros; the gimbaled directional gyro, which provided a rotational reference plane for the bomb and maintained this throughout the bomb flight; the rate gyro, which provided inputs to the ailerons that controlled the rate of bomb rotation and its position relative to the reference plane.

Below, the tail assembly attached to the body of bomb.

The schematic of the ailerons control unit