Photoflash bomb

A photoflash bomb, or flash bomb, is explosive ordnance dropped by aircraft, usually military surveillance aircraft, designed to detonate above ground to create an extremely bright flash of light.

These bombs, which are capable of producing light at an intensity of up to hundreds of millions of candlepower,[1] assist surveillance aircraft in taking nighttime aerial photos without the need to fly low to the ground which would make them vulnerable to possible enemy detection.

[2] Due to the advent of better nighttime optics, satellite imagery, and stealth aircraft, these bombs are no longer used by the military.

[1] On 19 July 2015, a World War II-era M122 (45 kg or 100 lb) photoflash bomb washed ashore at St. Pete Beach, Florida, USA.

An Explosive Ordnance Disposal team from MacDill Air Force Base responded to the scene and detonated the device.

19-pound (8.6 kg) Flashbombs are loaded into a photo-reconnaissance De Havilland Mosquito at Melsbroek, Belgium . c.1944
A photoflash bomb detonates over La Spezia during an air-raid on the night of 13-14 April 1943. It has illuminated the town's dockyard and a berthed battleship (marked with an 'A'). The silhouette of one of the attacking Avro Lancaster bombers can be seen. Note the explosive shockwave faintly visible around the flash.