The bomb incident My fascination with things that go “BANG” probably started with my introduction to movies. At any rate, by the time I was 8 years old I was well on my way. That was the year I earned the nickname “boomer” for the rest of that school year of 1948. From one source or another I had acquired a toy metal cap bomb. The kind that you loaded with a paper cap pistol cap. When thrown, the fins and weighted head would guide it to a nose first landing, exploding the cap with a “bang”. Just minutes before our noon hour recess, I loaded my bomb with several caps for a louder bang and placed the bomb on my desk. HORRORS! The bomb rolled off my desk, hit the floor nose first with a most satisfying “KABAM”. Never before nor since have I seen a nun jump and squeal so high and loud. I’ll wager she wet herself at least a little. She looked over the class, summoned Nancy, a classmate, and the both of them stepped out into the hall. Nun returned, dismissed for noon everyone, but Ike I was made to sit at my desk and write on a sheet of paper, “I will not explode things in class”, until noon hour was over. Worse, she sat there and watched the whole time, so I had to write constantly. And I never saw my cap bomb again.
Fun read, Ike. I remember those bombs. I'm sure I had one. I was a sucker for all that goofy stuff. Cigarette loads, handshake buzzer, sneeze powder, X-Ray glasses and a lot more, I'm sure. Ever take a whole roll of caps and slam a big rock on them? And, lawn darts. Now there was a brilliant idea, not.
I also remember those cap bombs from when I was a kid; but I always hated them and certainly didn't have one. I did have the cap guns, and cowboy-style holster set though, and loved the sound and the smell of the caps going off when I "shot" the capgun. In 1948, I was only three though, so I was much more excited about my first tricycle that I received for my birthday that year. The cap guns happened later, early 1950's for me. Here I am on my new tricycle on my third birthday.
Oh yes, I had one of those cap bombs. It lasted for years, and it was probably still around the house somewhere when it burned while I was in college.
So you call that cap bombs, that red sheet with gunpowder. We call that permenante and it is sold in sheets containing around 50 or 60 of those powder bombs. My brothers used to play with that in the street. When I would here those bang outside, what followed was my mother's voice scolding my brothers. She always said that those cap bombs can explode and hit their eyes. But my brothers stopped playing with those cap bombs when one of their friends suffered a burn. The boy kept the sheet of cap bombs in h is back pocket and he forgot about it when he sat on a hot concrete. The cap bomb exploded by itself and burned the butt of my brother's playmate. That scared them all.
We mostly had them in rolls and those fit inside our cap guns. They made a delightful noise when they went off, and the smell was like a real gun to us when we were kids. I never knew anyone to get hurt with the caps; but I can see where it might well do that if you had a pocketful of them and they went off all at once. As long as we had them in the capguns, they were pretty safe. Here is a picture of my friend who always played cowboys with me. Note he also has spurs on his boots, as well as the cowboy outfit and gun and holster set.