The FAB-50 (fugasnaya aviatsionnaya bomba, фугасная авиационная бомба, ФAБ-50) is a series of unguided general purpose Soviet and Russian aerial bombs created before and during World War II. The FAB-50 series was widely used by the VVS during World War II. They consisted of both conventional bombs and modified artillery shells. The earliest models weighed 49.67 kg, but could weigh over 63 kg by 1943, depending on the variant. The basic FAB-50SV bomb consisted of two sections steel forged into a teardrop shape and welded together. All were armed by a single fuse (varied depending on type) matched to a propeller screw arming mechanism and were mounted via a single steel strap which made it possible to attach to most any bomb rack available. Fuses used included the AV-1, AV-1d/u, & ADP screw driven fuses. TNT was the most commonly used high explosive charge, but some bombs used Picric acid instead. At least 25 variations of the FAB-50 were produced.[1][2][3][4] On 17 September, 1942 the State Defense Committee issued decree number 2313 SS which stipulated increasing the number of completed FAB-50 bombs to 10,000 in September and 25,000 in October of that same year.[5]
FAB-50 bombs were used in numerous quantities, and unexploded bombs are still being found in Ukraine and Russia.[6][7][8][9][10][11]