Aasen Bomb

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An Aasen bomb is an early World War I hand grenade with a wooden handle and a small parachute. It was designed by Nils Waltersen Aasen, a Norwegian inventor, and developed in Denmark by his company Det Aasenske Granatkompani. Italy adopted the bomb in 1912 to aid the invasion of Libya; Germany and France used it briefly at the start of World War I. The bomb weighed about 3 kg, with an 80 mm diameter iron head, a head length of about 105 mm, and a 330 mm wooden handle (about 0.33 meters). Depending on the detonator, it could be used as a torpedo, a land mine, or an aerial bomb. For air drops, it used a highly sensitive contact exploder and a parachute to slow its fall and prevent burying itself. An internal arming mechanism activated during the fall, either by rotating the end of the handle or by burning a wool fuse, ensuring the device was armed on impact.