The BIGGEST Non-Nuclear bomb in World War 2
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- Опубликовано: 27 сен 2024
- The Grand Slam was the biggest non-nuclear bomb used in World War Two by the British Royal Air Force.
Designed by the renowned engineer and inventor, Barnes Wallis who also invented the Bouncing Bomb, used by 617 Squadron in the Dambuster Raids, Operation Chastise.
Designed to be far more powerful than general purpose bombs, these Earthquake Bombs were not designed to hit targets directly but rather penetrate deep underground alongside. The explosion would then create shock waves similar to an earthquake and destroy the foundations of nearby buildings and structures.
In March of 1945, fifteen specially modified Avro Lancaster Bombers of 617 Squadron were on their way to a strategic target in Western Germany. The allies had been attempting to demolish the Bielefeld Viaduct using thousands of bombs since the beginning of the war but with no success.
This time however, the 15 Lancasters were carrying just a single bomb each, each one capable of destroying the very foundations of the target.
One of which was a bomb that the world had never seen used before.
The Grand Slam!
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I think if I was a German soldier and witnessed a Mosquito fly past dropping nothing but a flare, I'd be long gone from the area.
that German would be considered most prudent.
we dont want to hear from you , you despotic dictator !
Elbows and heels man
@@Wlvrn-eo8tn "when the americans bombed everyone ducked". Still true to this day. US military, champions of blue on blue.
@JZ's Best Friend ..."DEATH WISH"-(?)
I once read the statement of a Russian general at the end of the war.... the war was won by British brains, American muscle and Russian blood.... I can't imagine a more accurate assessment.
And Patton
@@JDHogg -You get your history from Hollywood.
American industry, along with the Soviet Army are the top two reasons for the defeat of Nazi Germany.
@@scootergeorge9576 While Patton has become a Hollywood characature, his unwillingness to follow stupid plans saved the allies months, lives and a not insignificant amount of germany from Soviet occupation. But I mostly said it to be funny. Are you British?
Scooter George : And the British and its peoples, holding out for 3 years until the US eventually arrived, and after Germany turned on its ally: Russia.
Mosquito and Lancaster, stunning machines.
...YOU BETCHER LIFESAVERS-(!)
@@daleburrell6273 ,h a
G'day,
Both were good at what they were designed for, kinda - the Lancaster carried a big Bombload, and the Mosquito was fast.
Neither one was much of an actual success after WW-2 though, in Civilian life.
It takes a National Treasury to cope with operating any sort of a Fleet of Mossies or Lanc's.
Aerial Survey work, and Target-towing Contracts kept some Mosquitos going for a while, and as soon as anybody could aquire something better the "Lancastrian" was grounded and scrapped (after the Berlin Airlift they went extinct...).
There's more to life than being good for venturing aloft and pursuing and chastising the King's designated Enemies (Any Me's ?).....; one cannot be killing babies and burning grandmothers over Political differences, not all the time, y' know... !
Such is life,
Have a good one...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
Harris other mistake was ignoring the value of the high speed Mosquito for large raids. The plane could carry one 4000 pound “cookie” bomb to Berlin or a similar weight in incendiary bombs. Two Mossies with just four crew vs 10 in a Lancaster could carry more general purpose bomb load and drop with considerably better accuracy.
Lancs could deliver the super bombs but they were a late development.
I read Barnes Wallis's Biography - I was struck by the way he adopted 2 of his wife's sisters' children when their parents were killed in the early days of the Blitz - He and his wife on receiving the bad news just got in their car and drove to pick the two boys - they instantly became family there was no discussion it was just done. That gives you some measure of the man.
My step-father did a similar thing for my two sons after their mother and I went through a very messy divorce. He and my mother along with a few other grandparents successfully managed to get the law changed and get grandparents rights to see estranged grand children. He was a very upstanding gentleman, and an RAF retiree. I owe him many thanks and hope he rests in peace as he left his mark for grandparents of the future.
My grandfather was on these missions as a rear gunner in 617 squadron.
Here's one for you!
Outside the Main Gate at RAF Waddington, there used to be a display of Munitions used by RAF BC. This included a Grand Slam. Local children used to play all around the bombs and clamber all over them. One day, a technician noticed that the Grand Slam had no hole in it where the fuse was placed, so inspected it.
Yep!! You guessed it!! It was a LIVE bomb!! For over 20 years, at the time, Forces Brats and Drunk Airmen had been playing on a Munition that would have left a VERY large crater in rural Lincolnshire, and wiped out a Nuclear Bomber Base, if it had gone off!!
I believe that ROF Woolwich used a 16" shell as a "Drop weight" for many years before realising it was live.
This is a myth, there is no evidence whatsoever that it is true.
Sorry. Urban myth.
@@Coltnz1 Which one?
@@bobthebomb1596 The one about the live bomb being used as a gate guardian.
My professor at my steel technology course at college worked with Barnes Wallis on the steel casing for the bouncing bomb and the tallboy and said that the tallboy had a tungsten carbide tip on them approx 13 inches high for greater penetration
...THAT'S GOT TO BE ANOTHER REASON WHY THE TALLBOY BOMBS WERE SO EXPENSIVE!!!
Casing made by Vickers, now Forgemasters Sheffield.
Barnes Wallace a true hero.
Can you not at least do him the courtesy of spelling his name correctly?
My Dad was on the Bielefeld raid - his log book states simply “ Target destroyed”
Now there's a book I'd love to read.
A good friend of mine passed away a couple of years ago at the age of ninety-seven. Ex-Lancaster pilot, pathfinder squadron, he never spoke a word about the war although would wax lyrical for hours about his post-war flying.
His widow promised to let me read his logbooks, it's all I can do not to remind her. I'll just have to be patient.
@@aaronfahr9 My Dad said one of the worst pains was having breakfast with mates in the mess and them not returning for supper...
@H-star - those two words sum up the English character to perfection, don't they? And my sincere respects to your father.
Bombardier?
Bombardier?
A professional quality documentary. No hype or music, just well delivered narration and most interesting video. Many thanks. Subscribed.
There _was_ a music bed, albeit rather understated.
I hear music..
Take a look at Nazi's megastructures Hitlers mega ships there is a pretty good vieuw what the tall boy did.
what was that inspiring little noise in the background towards the end of the joyous little tale?? sounded much like feel good music to my ears Roger roger
Yes, I also can do without the frills, music and hype. I hope other presenters regard this one as an example
My friend 's grandfather had a hands on role in the filling with explosives of these bombs. He worked at the ICI explosives plant at Irvine. I'm not sure if all of them were made there or at other locations too.
The plant was compartmentalized so that if there was an accidental explosion the blast would travel upwards. Not all of the workers survived the war. Sometimes nothing was left of them. Forgotten heroes, many of them women.
Great video. Thank you.
All the best.
What an excellent video, many thanks for producing it. An amusing side note to the first successful mission with the Grand Salm was that when Fauquier realised his plane was u/s he signaled Calder that he would replace him as pilot. Calder declined to obey and started his take off run with his irate Group Commander running down the runway after him. Once airborne Calder knew he had to be successful in dropping his bomb in the right place.
I grew up in Effingham in the late 50s early 60s, where I lived was across the golf course from Barnes Wallis house in Beech Avenue. Many times a neighbour dragged me screaming and kicking to St Lawrence church on a Sunday but often the great man was there in the congregation which made the ordeal worth while.
I did read about Fauquier chasing after Calder, really quite amusing! Quite a bit of pressure on Calder after that.
"Barnes - we want some bombs."
"Fine. I've got big, exceedingly big, and enormous..."
"Hmm. Er, we'll have enormous, please."
"Right. Bouncing or non-bouncing...?"
YES
Sir Barnes Wallace also invented the Swing Wing Bomber as the TSR2.............What a GENIUS....................
@@johnsheldrick7523 You're the third one I have found on this forum who cannot do the man the courtesy of spelling his name correctly. Sir Barnes WALLIS!!!!
Fantastic video. Thanks!
I’ve always been amazed by the resolve of the British to stay focused and continue researching and developing while dealing with being attacked. Strong folks.
Very true, although as great as the Firefly was I wish they'd managed to get the Centurion out even a year earlier as that would've been a huge boost, a lot of good designs and projects were lost or delayed because the Gov at the time were too skittish over something new, just like the jet engine and the plane that was struggling a little with design, the Gov didnt think much of it and it was sold (along with Radar and a few others) to the Americans (and USSR) who made very good use of it.
@@will4may175 Well, it didn't take the Centurion that long to prove itself, since the Korean War happened like 5 years later. Those monsters blasted the crap out of Commie T-34s and other stuff, I've heard that our GIs were amazed by them. I'm pretty sure the British Centurions were likely the biggest, most powerful tanks ever fielded up to that time apart from the Germans' heavy armor (I know for a fact they were bigger than anything in even America's arsenal in 1950-51). Truly incredible fighting machines.
@@hawkeyeten2450 Oh yes, a proper game changer that the design idea is still used today, a shame our Chally has fell behind, missing a few mods for the top spot, still wouldn't want to face it in battle though.
@@will4may175 In times of TOTAL war, with materials and facilities greatly stretched and in demand, decisions have to be correct. for the consquencies can be catastrophic, if wrong.
@@will4may175 You'd be surprised by how good the Challenger II is compared to the competition. The Yank's M1 Abrams still uses Chobham armour, for example. Whilst the Challenger II is using Dorcester armour.
The only other country to use composite armour is Italy, who are believed to be using a variant of Chobham.
“Lads, our mission may not change history, but it will change geography”
Lancaster bomber wing commander to his crew.
This isn't a quote from WW2 even, this is a quote from a commander in the first World War speaking on the mining and destruction of the Germans Hill 60 trenches and fortifications. I recently watched a documentary on the event.
@@freelance60 true
@@freelance60 good eye, and follow up knowledge.
@@nick22091 appreciated
"Lads, our mission may not change history, but waterfowl will love us... after many heavy thunderstorms!"
-Me
Sadly Torpex was in use well before 1942, the Luftwaffe used the same formula. However, the real kicker was that the RN had been using it since WWI, principally for torpedoes ( Hence the nameTorp(edo) Ex(plosive)), depth charges and mines. The RAF was peeved not to have been told earlier, it meant aircrews were lost unnecessarily.
@Hoa Tattis Even worse then. The actual calculations done by RAF statisticians calculated the tonnage of bombs dropped to achieve an objective and set that against aircrew lost. It was straightforward to work out the numbers of excess crew lost by using non boosted explosives. The RAF really, really were unhappy with the results. Sounds like the Army knew but didn't communicate it either. Cock up not malice once more.
The statistician Freeman Dyson (the Dyson sphere Dyson) calculated later in the war that by stripping a Lancaster of all turrets and changing the fuel mix it could fly higher and faster. That too would have saved crews otherwise lost, not least because without turrets there would be fewer of them to lose.
Have we had this exchange before? I suspect we might have, terrible thing old age and memory loss!!
@Hoa Tattis Yes, it seems the Air Ministry really liked their turrets. They even drew up plans for installing them in the Beaufighter and the Mosquito, I've seen line sketches for both and they actually installed one for trials in a Beaufighter. Madness I reckon. Still not as bad as sticking one on a Skua and calling it a fighter.
Incidentally I tried to add more to the recent exchange on the Mk VII Spitfire. The point folk often overlook is that it isn't enough to quote ceilings without some consideration of how well the plane and pilot functioned once they clawed their way up there. The Mk VII was the real deal and a clever bag of tricks. The RAF's high altitude research flight had covered a lot the necessary ground pre-war. In the very low temperatures and pressures encountered you have to sort out control linkages, connexions and seals that could be relied on to keep working . Warm air was blown through the cockpit double glazing to maintain vision. Icing was a serious hazard that had to be countered. And... you had to keep the pilot alive and functioning (ditto the guns). The pressure in the Mk VII cabin was maintained at a level significantly below one atmosphere for practical reasons.
It staggered me to learn that the heroes of the seige of Moscow, the MiG 3 and MiG 1, were both configured as high altitude interceptors. The latter, the MiG 1 had an open cockpit (!). Clearly they breed them tough on the Steppes.
Anyway, the reason this piece is here is because in the proper place YT keeps coming up with "You have reached the limit" and locking me out of posting it.
@@TheArgieHVery annoying when YT does this 🫡
617 Squadron also called in one day at Hitler's Berghof mountain retreat and left their calling card.......
They had a Grand slam and a tall boy stood vertically on their tails outside the entrance to the admin block at RAF Lindholm when I was there in the 60's, they were overwhelming just standing by them, I also was once in close contact to our BlueSteel nuclear weapon which was many many times more powerful but in no way as impressive to me. I think Barnes Wallace was a brilliant scientist and his inventions saved many allied lives.
I’ve seen yellow sun at RAF Cosford and the tall boy and grand slam at RAF Conningsby, the ww2 weapons looked more frightening
Sir Barnes WALLIS. NOT Wallace
@@csjrogerson2377 Of course you are correct and I knew that, brain fart I guess.
The Grand Slam and Tall Boy may have been complex and expensive to make, but probably created more destruction than an equivalent cost of general purpose bombs.
It depends on the intention, during the sad bombing of Dresden the incendiary bombs destroyed the city. To do the same with Grand Slams would be almost impossible
@@mrcaboosevg6089 Agreed, the Grand slam and Tall boy were very situational and not anywhere near as useful as the smaller bombs, especially when they created firestorms. In the same way the Hurrican did far more damage than the spitfire...but never got the glory of history.
@@DaveCorbey There were far more Hurricanes than Spitfires.
@@mrcaboosevg6089 Why sad about Dresden? It was a legitimate target with its military hardware production and rail transport facilities.
@@Coltnz1 Because there was actually no need to bomb Dresden at that stage, the attack was clearly against what the policy was by that stage of the war as we had abandoned the area attack dehousing strategy which is why the RAF was keen to distance itself post war from it.
The problem has been that Bomber Harris had considerable autonomy from the whole of the establishment over his use of Bomber Command and that had led to friction in the run up to D day with his begrudging of the use of the planes on attacks on logistical and support targets and which continued afterwards with targets like Germany's depleted industrial base from late 1944 onwards.
The pinnacle of his attitude was Pfzorheim where the city was reduced to rubble in January 1945 and it had very little military value in terms of troop concentrations or support for ithe military ndustrial base, it was simply smashed because the RAF could do it.
You can argue that had Harris stopped dehousing and area bombing in 1944 and concentrated on transport, oil and preventing the movement of coal and iron ore then Germany would have run out of time far quicker.
There is also the fact that his policy was wasteful of resources with most aluminum production going to the RAF and also a large proportion of all imported oil which had to be paid for in the lives of the sailors who had to transport it and for whom Coastal Command was a cinderella service in terms of priority to Harris
Wallis: How big do you want it?
Harris: yes.
I’m living in Bielefeld and have been jogging under this very viaduct very often.
I’ve been told by my greatgrandfather wich lives nearby, that the viaduct was from different material in the middle section due to a destruction by a huge bomb that shook his cottage close to the farm of Müller zu Eisen by such amount that he was afraid the cottage would be destroyed as well.
Thanks for this other side of the story!
The profoundness of youtube->> Someone in one country writes a story about a historic event that occurred in another country, and someone that experienced that event so many years ago, firsthand, posts a comment about it to the video. The important history captured in comments should be permanently archived. Amazing!
@@MoreFormosa I really can’t tell you why, but this moved my heart in such amount, that I couldn’t hold my tears. And I’ve been a soldier for twelve years and am a trauma surgeon, I don’t cry easily.
@@jwtackleberry1577 Thank you for sharing and for your service!, prob just unusual to see something positive at all on the internet :-) Everything seems so negative nowdays.
used to go camping at mohne dam and you can see the repairs from them raids
That cottage must be well built. Some houses lay close to the line of fast roads for heavy traffic and deteriorated quickly.
I love the fact that the original concrete target markers are still inplace, in a valley in the new forest, at a place called godshill, where they tested it, just a couple of miles from my home
Next time I'm in Fordingbridge, I'll have to go and look.
There is a report of the archeological investigation of the bombing range on the New Forest website that might be of interest. As well as the Grand Slam, tallboys and bouncing bombs (highball) were tested. There is some archive footage of the highball tests - the observers were not that far from the drop point !
Saw that place as a kid about 25 years ago.
@@johnmurrell3175 yeah they was really close an think a highball bounced up an took off the tail of a us bomber doing the test
...YOU'RE LUCKY.
My dad was flight engineer on Lancasters...he did flights with a Tallboy bomb, but I don't think he ever flew in a specially modified Lancaster capable of dropping a Grand Slam, and sadly, I can no longer ask him.
My dad was a flight engineer on Lancasters too! RCAF.
Do you know which squadron he was with?
2:45 As a geological technician (the dudes who do the tests and get the information) I was inspired when Wallis read a pre-WW2 engineers report about a problem of hammer-driven concrete piles ends that were shattering at a site. The strike energy wave would travel down the pile and instead of driving the bottom end through the layer, it return back up the piling and into the air and fracturing the top. The solution was to let the hammer rest on top of the piling and absorb this shockwave kickback.
But what I admired was how Wallis saw a way to use the kickback shockwave in a bomb application and came up with Tallboy and Grand Slam.
That, is a sign of a genius.
I got a surprise when I read some years ago that Barnes Wallis was a vegetarian which in those days would have been unheard of.
Why Barnes Wallis and Alan Turing haven't both been given the recognition they deserve I don't know ??
@@larry4789 I surmise that the powers that be did not like the fact that Wallis, incensed that whilst others were financially rewarded for their wartime inventions his own efforts weren't recognised (a reminder perhaps of the animosity between him and certain governmental scientists in the earlier part of the war) had dared to fight for his royalties...which he then characteristically donated to charity (I think Christs Hospital) as it was the principle of the thing and not the money which was important to him...also he remained active in aviation fields (including swing-wing technology) for many years, which latterly at times led him into indirect and involuntary opposition to authority...the "establishment" has a long and venomous memory...
Wallis was a true genius when the air ministry laughed at the tall boy and grand slam saying there isn’t a plane that can carry that load he took the designs for the victory bomber out of his brief case and said there is now fyi he knew how to design aircraft as he was part of the design team for the Wellington bomber I personally compare him with Brunel and Stephenson as a man that built Britain
This was described in 'The Dambusters' by Paul Brickhill. Wallis initially struggled to recall a situation he had heard of years before which was relevant to shock waves. He then remembered the situation you describe, where piles were being driven in for foundations for a bridge. Its relevance to him was in connection with shock waves transmitted to a dam wall by bombs exploding in contact with it. It was not relevant to the Tallboy and Grand Slam, which were designed to cause subsidence of earth under foundations of targets, or to demolish reinforced concrete structures they penetrated.
@@larry4789 - Actually, vegetarianism was by no means uncommon during the Second World War. It was veganism that was much rarer back then.
From Leonard Cheshires book. The Royal Navy said (jokingly) that the RAF did not sink the Tirpitz as it was still sat a harbour. The fact that the Tallboy had blown the bottom of the ship away was omitted.
Most of the bases the lancs were based out of are very close to me. It's always special seeing the Lancaster up close at East Kirkby.
I feel its sad that the MOD is going to close - even worse SELL OFF - RAF Scampton!
Passed Kirkby monument on the way to Skegness, all called to see the Lancaster on the monument to the disaster
Nathan
I could see the flare path of Scampton from my house at Grasby- 4 th highest point in Lincolnshire.
Lincoln Cathedral was visible- especially when floodlit
we have a flying lancaster here in ontario canada we see it all the time in the good weather..u cannot miss the sound or the sight of it
It'll be even better when she takes to the air! Two lancs in British skies again! Magic!
I always thought that the heaviest bomb dropped was the grand slam which weighed in at 22,000 Pounds,whereas the earthquake bomb weighed 10,000 pounds
The Tallboy was 12,000 lb, the Grand Slam was indeed 22,000. Earthquake bomb was a generic name for the concept.
l am in my 80's and l though l had seen about every thing in WW2.....But no l had not seen this in such detail....WOW...l just Sub'ed to your excellent channel...Thanks very much....From Kentucky...!
Thanks for watching, appreciate the comment. Have a great day!
English passport?
1 second ago
During 1945 some Heinkel 111s stationed in Holland were modified and used to launch one Feisler V1 doodle bug as cruise missiles on each launch flight, they were launched from a safe distance away from our air defenses over the North Sea, each bomber doing two or three launching trips each night This mini nuisance bombing campaign continued until the Night Fighter Mosquito's found them out.. An errant air launched V1 landed not far from where I live . These air launched missiles had a long range when they were alr launched some were aimed at Sheffield aiming for the huge Steelworks and other's at Manchester at the massive Avro Works at Trafford Park plus the other Tank and Munitions Manufacturing Cities.... I don't know if these doodle bug missiles could reach as far as Liverpool but Lancashire was definitely part of their itinerary.....
@@englishpassport6590 An ex work colleague grew up in Manchester during the war and related a tale of a V1 landing nearby.
With no reason to disbelieve him but confused because the launching sites were too far away I did a tiny bit of minor research.
I was fascinated to learn that as you say, they were air launched from the East and were more than able to reach Manchester.
Proof?
@@adenmitchell7633 Un....proof!
The modern MOAB which is the current most powerful non nuclear weapon is actually slightly lighter than the Grand Slam but modern explosives make it more powerful. Crazy to think after all this time it's still one of the heaviest bombs ever dropped despite how much more weight modern planes can carry, a B52 could carry 3 Grand Slams which would be terrifying
" is actually slightly lighter than the Grand Slam but modern explosives make it more powerful. " Heh, as was expected(as it is typical for internet comment) your your comparison is 100% wrong...
Grand Slam was much lighter and its explosives were much stronger.
Grand Slam torpex have 150% of TNT strenght and Composition H6 in MOAB is only 135% of TNT strenght...
@@Bialy_1 There's always one
@@Bialy_1 regardless of whether your statement is factually correct or not, typing “heh” automatically makes you sound like a keyboard warrior and people won’t take anything you say seriously (I’m not trying to offend you, just letting you know).
@@Bialy_1 If you mean the Grand Slam's explosives were much lighter, you're correct. 9500 lbs vs 18600 lbs. If you mean the Grand Slam bomb was lighter, then no. It was 22000 lbs. The MOAB is 21600.
You're right about H6 being less powerful than Torpex. If anyone is wondering why they would choose to use a less powerful explosive, it's because H6 is more stable.
Indeed
Imagine a b52 tunneling a bunker
I first read about this raid in Closterman's book "The Big Show" and this version is so well done, I have watched it several times. Thanks for a great description.
Thank you very much
I've been to Ashley Walk in the New Forest. The crater from that bomb is still there. Now a pond at which New Forest ponies and cows drink. The whole area is littered with bomb craters of various sizes and other relics of its time as a bombing range, including a viewing bunker and an enormous concrete arrow which pilots used as a guide in practice attacks.
Destroyed by Tallboys and Grand Slams: the V2 launching sites, their underground storage sites, a major liquid oxygen manufacturing bunker, several enormous U-Boat pens in France, the bunker for the V3 rocket guns, the Tirpitz, the German large cruiser anchored at Gdynia in Poland, ... the list goes on.
In Korea, US versions of these bombs, the AZON and TARZON bombs, were used against high-value targets as well.
@Bobb Grimley Or you realise that it missed completely, only for the entire bunker to slide on its foundations into a newly created hole.
It did not destroy the U-boat pens in France, they're still there, you can go there and see them or simply watch the movies Das Boot and Raiders of the Lost Ark to see them, it couldn't crack the 20' thick steel reinforced roofs open, even after the war the French government determined that removing the pens would be too much work so they just left them.
Also the V2 launching site that had the 20' thick domed roof that was opened to launch V2's from the underground assembly facility is also still there and intact and can be seen on many documentaries about the facility, like the sub pens in France the bombs couldn't crack it open.
I'm probably 12 inches
When I started work as a tech apprentice at Liverpool airport, our instructor told us the first Lanc to carry a Tallboy could not get airborne and was running out of runway. The pilot raised the landing gear to reduce drag in a desperate attempt to get off the ground. It worked , but when he landed , the chains holding the bomb had worn halfway through where they had rubbed along the runway! Subsequent take offs used JATO bottles to provide extra thrust.
If it struggled with the 12,000lb Talbot, how did it take off with the 22,000lb Grand Slam?
Also JATO was Jet Assisted Take Off, I doubt if it existed in WW2
I think your instructor was embellishing a story
@@Hattonbank .....or he meant rocket-assisted.
@@Hattonbank ...THE LANCASTERS FOR CARRYING THE GRAND SLAM BOMBS, HAD MORE POWERFUL ENGINES, REINFORCED AIRFRAMES, AND EVEN MORE UNNECESSARY WEIGHT REMOVED.
THAT WAS THE ONLY WAY.
@@daleburrell6273CAN YOU SPEAK UP PLEASE I CAN'T HEAR YOU
Very good video sir! There was footage of the Lancaster's carrying the Tallboy's or Grand Slam's I have never seen before, even though I knew the story of the Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs and the attacks that 617 squadron made with them both. Thank you so much for posting
There is also footage online of the attack that sank the Tirpitz. This is a sample - with annoying overlays...
ruclips.net/video/feDAf0lrpeA/видео.html
Glad you enjoyed it.
Tallboy was made of the best steel but as the war went on, new and far better steel lightened artillery and allowed for the Grand Slam, a true ground penitrater. The new tougher, steel made the difference. I believe Midvale Steel works, of Bethlehem Steel produced the development. Bigger guns and more penitrative armour piercing shell came available. One of the secrets held so long few realise it's importance.
This is a really awesome example of thinking "outside the box" with stupendous results. Also great use of the high speed mosquito to highlight the target for the Lancasters.
The British were very good at that sort of thing. Their willingness to at least listen to an idea, no matter how wild it might seem (to a point), produced some highly innovative results.
I remember reading about the grand slam bomb several decades ago in a military history book. The book claimed that they dropped a single Grand Slam with the intention of destroying the submarine pens I've forgotten where. They actually missed the pens and dropped the bomb into the middle of the harbor and the concussion and water wave actually picked up a complete submarine and set it up on the docks, which didn't do the sub or the docks any good at all.
the germans had doubled the 16 feet of ferro concrete over the pens but one grand slam had penetrated though and blew a huge hole in the roof
Boulogne docks which were wrecked that way and the E boats washed up onto the quayside, the favourite tactic was tallboys through the roof which worked until the Germans started making the roof's up to 30 feet thick in places and a couple of bombs did split but most either punched a hole in the roof or the near misses pulverised the foundations making ithem unstable with the extra weight .
It did leave the French with a problem
what do you do about a building that is a massive concrete barn with holes in it?
Excellent video packed with detail. The only area not really addressed was the close association with the 617 'Dambuster' squadron who were known as the best of the best. the accuracy they brought to the table allowed confident use of these expensive resources. The book 'the Dambusters' is a must-read if this interested you. As an aside, many years later, as a school boy, I helped paint Barnes Wallis' house!
True, but the video is about the Tallboy and Grand Slam.
@@tenkloosterherman The book The Dambusters tracks the entire wartime career of 617 Squadron, including the Tallboy and Grand Slam raids.
I wonder how much he had studied the soil liquefaction effect of natural earthquakes ?
@@tenkloosterherman 617, The Dambusters squadron were generally the first with these special bombs,, and generally the only Lancs to be able to carry them.The Lancaster was built with a nominal 2 ton payload and ended up carrying 10 ton. It is amazing that they managed to build Lancs with all those mods. Ridding of a lot of the guns helped,, but that was at max a ton.
@@ldnwholesale8552 Wallis held a 'Dutch Auction,' with Roy Chadwick at Avro's. It went along the lines of 'If you increased the strength of the undercarriage, could it do 'this?' 'Yes,' 'If you put more powerful engines on would the airframe be able to deal with it?' 'Yes,' 'Would the aeroplane be able to carry x pounds and fly at an altitude of xx feet?' 'Yes!' The full details are in Paul Brickhill's book 'The Dam Busters,'
1:46 this bomber just can't believe it. Completely astounded.
As well as "The Dambusters" by Paul Brickhill, both "The Men who Breached The Dams" and "Beyond The Dams to the Tirpitz by Alan W. Cooper are excellent books about 617 Squadron.
My favourite history teacher at school had a very similar accent to you. It by default makes your content that much more engaging. Keep up the good work.
As kid in the 60's my uncle gave us this perspex dome with oval cut out. Never knew what it was. Later my father dumped it in canal. Now i know it was a Mossie perspex nose cone. Stuff like this must still have been around in scrap yards back then. There used to be a bomb in the town centre behind a wall.
The reason these bombs were never wasted wasn’t simply the expense…it was because the Torpex filling took 6 months to cool sufficiently to be stable for use.
Bombing accuracy was woeful on the early stages of the war. 5 miles away from the target was not unusual & considered "a reasonable result".
The Pathfinder force of Mosquito target markers, along with the SABS (Stabilised Automatic Bomb Sight) brought a massive improvement later on & allowed the precision bombing of high-value targets. A mechanical "computerised" bomb sight with a gyroscope & the ability to keep the aircraft flying straight & level whilst correcting for wind speed & direction, it enabled 617 & later 9 sqdn to achieve astonishing accuracy. The American Airforce similarly had developed the Norden bomb sight with similar results. Laser-guided bombing came much later.
We pay tribute to the young men who sacrificed their futures for our freedoms which we take so completely for granted. We owe them so much, a debt we can never fully repay.
The PFF were not just Mosquitos. Most often the Mossies were single aircraft who acted as Master Bomber directing others. The PFF was mainly Lancastters.
Whilst completely agreeing with you about the tribute we should pay to the brave people who, through their sacrifice and bravery, kept the lights on for our civilisation, and with all due respect, I'm not sure the Norden bomb site was any damn good.
There's an excellent YT show called Veritasium. Go check out the episode on analogue computers. It's endlessly fascinating and takes in the brilliant devices that were built to calculate tides, amongst other things. The Norden bomb site doesn't get a favourable review! But it's a fabulous short documentary.
Yes and that's why Air Chief Marshall Harris said let's wipe out entire areas to get one 'say an aircraft factory?' That means annilating innocent civilians aswell, but are these civilians really innocent? They'll also work at the aircraft factory and shout seig heil when Hitlers on the wireless! Lol
@@mrb7094 I'll look up your suggestion of "Veritasium". Thank you.
The PFF led by Don Bennett was not well liked by 5 Group under Ralph Cochrane and by the early stages of 1944 617 Squadron did it's own marking and along with 9 Squadron would also mark for 5 Group, the issue was over accuracy as Cheshire did not like the idea of flying to defended targets and laying bombs using SABS when the marking was out of position.
That led to the infamous low level marking trials over France in a Lancaster and later Munich in a Mosquito where the conceopt was proven that if you were daring enough you could lay the T.I's accurately where they needed to be, then the results even for force crews would be to add weight to the attack.
That does not take away from the professionalism of the PFF but the problem as that the PFF crews were treated about average being seen as the cream of the Bomber Command crop when they were above average but still not able to be truly accurate and some of that was due to doctrine and equipement.
Yiou could not train everyone to use SABS, it was complex and also required a lot of time at Wainfleet to get the bomb aimer to understand his role in relation to the bombsight.
I bet there wasn't many "unused" Tallboys brought back to the UK lol.
100ft accuracy, from 12,000ft! astonishing with the tech they had.
Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and grand slams
The earthquake bomb was designed to miss
@@gowdsake7103...A NEAR MISS WAS VERY OFTEN MORE EFFECTIVE THAN A DIRECT HIT!!!
@@juststeve5542 ...AND ATOMIC BOMBS-(?)
Excellent. Perhaps not a war winner, but 617Sq (+ Barnes Wallis) and the sorties they carried out deserve to go down in history.
Wow. Now that’s what I call, a world-beating (pre-nuclear era) KABOOM. Britain at its finest once again,🇬🇧.
We're walking the Ashley Range tomorrow, if anyone is interested there is an observation shelter on the site with info on the Grand Slam and some illumination markers, plus depending which way you walk two rather nice pubs for a rest half way round or when you finish
Can't beat a nice pub when out exploring!
I lived very close to the Viadukt in Schildesche from 1972 to 1977. I have been told stories about the bombardment and successive repairs with the metal construction.
I used to take the train from Bielefeld to Hannover very often, so I know the track very well.
I never ever imagined, at the age of 51, I could see the actual bomb do its job!
Thank you for the footage of this piece of history!
Wow. A video that isn't simply a re-hash of already well-known info but full of hitherto unknown, interesting detail. Excellent!
America has the Mother Of All Bombs (M.O.A.B), a fairly recent acquisition, but the RAF had the Mother & Father Of All Bombs, the MF of all bombs. Barnes Wallis might have been treated like a mad scientist by the Whitehall Trolls but he was a pure genius, the Wellington bomber,bouncing bomb, Tall Boy and Grand Slam bombs being his most noteworthy designs.
Another excellent, interesting and informative presentation, Thank You very much. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴🇺🇦
P.S Did you know that if the USAAF had not got the B-29 Superfortress in time it was planned, and I believe a USAAF crew trained, to use a Lancaster to drop the Atomic Bombs, and I have heard that the bomb release mechanism used in those two raids were from the Lancaster.
Thank you
Not true, it's a total myth that there was Lancaster crews training in the event that the B29 wouldn't be ready or able to drop the bomb.
First off and most importantly the Lancaster was incapable of dropping the Atomic Bomb, it couldn't fly high enough or fast enough with that much weight to escape the blast, it's crew would have been killed.
And the timeline doesn't fit, the first flight of the B29 was in September of 1942 and they starting delivery to their first intended operational areas in Burma in April of 1944 with the first combat mission flown in June of 44, that's well over a year before the Hiroshima and Nagasaki missions, so the narrative of "in case the B29 wasn't ready yet" is complete and total nonsense.
Also no one in the RAF would have known about the development of the bomb for security reasons, so the narrative that the RAF would have been preparing any plane for that mission is also total nonsense.
Then there's the technical reasons why the Lancaster couldn't deliver the bomb, aside from it being incapable of flying high enough and fast enough to escape the bombs blast the bombs were armed in flight on the way to their targets for safety reasons, the bomb bay of the Lancaster wasn't accessible in flight, it could only be accessed on the ground from underneath making it impossible to arm the bomb in flight and no one would have been stupid enough to even suggest using a bomber that required the bombs to be armed on take off, it took hours to arm the bombs so the specially modified "Silverplate" B29's had the bomb bays heated and pressurized so the arming technician could arm it at the altitude the mission was flown at, something else that made it impossible for the Lancaster to be used since the B29 was the only bomber in WW2 that was pressurized and the thought of someone shivering in that kind of cold trying to arm an Atomic bomb is just silly.
The list of reasons making it impossible for the Lancaster to be used goes on and on and is addressed in a video by Greg's Airplane's and Automobiles that was made to dispell Mark Felton's nonsense claims about Lancaster crews training in secret as back up's to drop the bombs, the fact is the B29 was the only bomber in the world for a myriad of reasons that was capable of delivering the Atomic Bomb's in 1945.
Mark Felton made his claims about that in his video without any proof, no documentation or records of any kind, just a video claiming so that's apparently for the sake of getting people to click on it because that's the business he's in and the more clicks the more money he makes, he doesn't present one scrap of proof or any kind of evidence concerning his claims. Also his claims about the Lancaster unit, the "Black Tigers", being formed to train for the mission are not only dispelled by the official records of what they were actually formed for but also by people in the comments section of Greg's video who know about them and what they were really training for, and it had nothing to do with dropping Atomic Bomb's.
@@dukecraig2402 ...DID THE LANCASTERS EVEN HAVE THE RANGE TO FLY FROM THE B-29 BASES IN THE MARIANAS TO JAPAN-(?)
@@dukecraig2402 The only Tigers in training was Tiger Force the RAF support mission to the USAAF attacks on Japan, but as and where they would have flown from was never established at the bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki made them irrelevant.
The aspect of range would have suggested mainland China but with the issue of the poor performance of the .303 calibre machine guns for aerial defence over Germany not having been resolved by 1945 crews would have thought facing the Zero and the later Japanese fighters suicidal.
The Lancaster only carried 6 machine guns for defence at best the front gun turret was sometimes removed to give the bomb aimer better access to the bomb sight anf the upper mid turret was removed for speed enhancement, the rear power turret that was under development in 1943 never made it into prduction in a viable quantity to be fitted for wartime service and to Harris's regret that issue of under arming the crews never got resolved
I remember reading about the Tirpitz. Two tallboys slammed through the deck plates and exploded lifting the forecastle eight feet! It's own armaments caught fire and promptly exploded in a huge cloud of smoke, then it keeled over at 60 degrees. It took some ten years to scrap the ship which gives an idea as to how big it was.
...AND THE FACT THAT THE TIRPITZ WAS IN A REMOTE LOCATION, CERTAINLY HINDERED SALVAGE OPERATIONS!!!
Great to have another good historian at work and a fresh look at our Barnes Wallis's work, a true hero
Glad you enjoyed it
Half way into the war, a new alloy was available in the USA. It halved the weight of tank guns. This was used in Grand Slam cases. That had them able of destroying the super heavy, submarine pens at Hamburg. The following day the pilot, a senior officers, went to observe the effectiveness. Not being fully appraised, he was driven into the port and stoped by soldiers looking for an officer to surrender to. The senior officer congratulated him on the stupendous success.
Excellent video with footage I've never seen before, and with good narration and presentation. Well done, bonny lad!
It wasn't just 617 that carried Tallboys. 9sqdn carried them all the way to Norway to deal with KMS Tirpitz.
According to the Paul Brickhill book it was 617 that got Tirpitz.
And that book has been accepted as very accurate.
@@ldnwholesale8552 9 Sqn were heavily involved in the bombing of the Tirpitz and the argument of who actually hit the ship has never been resolved. Brickhill is an advocate of the theory that 617 did everything and no one else did anything.
@@geoffclarke8887 Three 617 Sqn Tallboys directly hit the Tirpitz, 9 Sqn followed up behind 617
The smallest nuclear bomb had an explosive effect of 10-20 tons? This was 12 tons and carried the equivalent of 6.6 tons of TNT?!
You're forgetting the mass of the casing...remember the explosive ratio of 50%.
@@samsignorelli Just comparing explosive power to explosive power?
If anyone is interested, the book "The Dam Busters" By Paul Brickhill, first published in 1951, is the story of 617 Squadron, I highly recommend it. I bought a copy in 1970 and couldn't put it down.
I remember that book being in our house in the 60's and it was old then so probably from 1951.
My dad flew on 2 ops with his own 61 Squadron alongside 9 & 617 Squadrons and never mentioned it.
His mate in the mid upper turret told me they saw a Lancaster release its ten ton tessie.
Les (MU) said just for a second the ten ton bomb and the Lanc hung there till gravity took over and the Lanc flew upwards rapidly and the bomb arrowed downwards just as quickly.
They were attacked by ME262's on the 2nd OP just to liven things up but a Polish Squadron of Mustangs got the better of them, although 2 Lancasters were still shot down.
One small correction, bombs were never jettisoned at sea. Missions were given multiple alternate targets in case of bad weather or heavy resistance.
The tallboy and grand slam were the only exceptions, if the target was not visible, they were always returned.
Even the atomic bombs had alternate targets.
Yep, Nagasaki wasn't the primary target. Kokura was the primary target however the previous days bombing of Yahata and the nearby steelworks burning coal tar gave Kokura a protective smoke screen
I had no idea how many of these bombs were successfully utilised and was heartened to hear that all bombers on the 2 missions you mentioned, returned safely. A massive contrast to so many other high attrition raids.
If more of these bombs were used maybe losses could have been reduced in line with fewer required return bombing missions of high value targets. Barnes Wallace really was innovative.
Thank you for such a well researced video. 👍
The German air defences at this point as regards fighters was almost non existent, while their AAA radars were mostly jammed by a host of ECM. The main problem with the use of Tallboy and Grand Slam was to use them was expense, both for the price of the bombs themselves, plus shortage of the Stabilised Automatic Bomb Sight used to aim them (only used operationally by 617 Squadron). These bombs were massive overkill for most of the targets the bombers were going after.
Barnes Wallis is an interesting character to say the least
I'm in EOD Divers group From poland responsible for neutralization of Tallboy on Autumn over 1,5 year ago near Świnoujście city ;)
Just happened on this video. A perfect example of how such a presentation should be done. Thank you.
When calculating munitions loads for transport aircraft we measured the gross weight for payload and balance, but Net Explosive Quantity (NEQ) for separation of airframes to prevent chain reaction.
Very often the NEQ was low for modern weaponry but high for iron bombs, and yes, the good old 1000 lb bomb was still very much in use at the time of the Gulf War in 1991, albeit with laser guidance!
Want to know something ridiculous? The US designed the B-29 to be able to carry 2 of these, one under each wing. Because why not.
I remember reading somewhere that when these bombs were developed they tested them by exploding them on the ground ( not dropping them from aircraft ). A special camera was developed that took thousands of frames a second to film the explosion from a distance. This was to ensure that the specially machined bomb casing contained the blast initially for greater effect. Does anyone know anything about this ? or indeed the possible whereabouts of said camera.
Northern Historian - excellent example of how to make a documentary ! Ive just subscribed. Keep up the good work
There was one test explosion and I have read about the results of the high-speed films, but I did not see it. Would love to see it too.
I think this was described in 'The Dambusters' by Paul Brickhill. He described a static test at the bombing range, with a high-speed camera filming the explosion. The film showed that the casing expanded to twice its size before bursting.
@@saveyourbacon6164 That's incredible!
I saw the footage in a school video presentation in the 60's. It was incredible! As the bomb exploded the case expanded like a balloon. Astonishing to see steel expanding like that, before it exploded. The bomb was standing on its nose. I have looked for the footage several times over the years, but have never found it.
This camera must have been similar to the one my Dad used when he worked at AWRE at Foulness. They were filming the explosive triggers to the atomic bombs. The lighting was the biggest issue, VERY bright. Also told a story about the destructive power of depleted uranium, went through a "window" designed to protect the camera from the "bang" , through said camera and on out the thick concrete walls.
I appreciate these history lesson videos. I learn more about the war my father fought than I did in school.
As Mark Felton pointed out on his video about the atomic bombing of Japan, the Lancasters with modified bomb-bays were slated to drop the atom bombs on Japan if the American planes weren't ready on time.
I read that they were to do a third bombing if the Japanese declined to surrender after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That's not back-up.
@@deltavee2 They were intended to drop the bomb on Hiroshima, but it was pressure from within the US military that stopped it.
@@Volcano-Man Pressure? They were working *with* the US with a third bomb in reserve *if it was required.* Then the Russians turned their little bear brains towards disputed islands and Japan threw in the towel at which point a third nuclear attack on a country that had already surrendered became unnecessary.
You make it sound like the R.A.F. was just slavering to drop a nuke on Japan.
They were *not* pressured by the mighty US military, Gerard. They were working with the US and were quite happy to not have to bother.
"Pressure" had nothing to do with it.
The actual story is that the first atomic bomb design "Thin Man" was 27 feet long and wouldn't fit in the standard B29 bomb bay. Norman Ramsay, a physicist working on the Manhattan project suggested the Lancaster as an alternative in the event of the B29 modifications having problems. When the suggestion and that's all it was - reached the ears of Hap Arnold it was quickly quashed as he knew the Lancaster had nowhere near the range, speed or ceiling to do the job plus the fact that the weapon would have to be armed in flight for safety reasons which was not possible in the Lancaster. Finally it transpired that the Thin Man bomb was unsafe due to the probability of premature detonation which led to the Thin Man bomb being cancelled. As the other two bomb designs were much shorter the modifications to the B29 were less complicated and therefore it was no longer an issue.
This bomb made all battleships obsolete overnight. You didn't need to hit it, just get close to it.
10-51: Roy Chadwick - genius!
Im going to see one of the only two flying Lancasters tomorrow
A very well researched and produced video of a significant weapon. Delighted to have the channel recommended to me and you have a new sub!
I love this guy's accent, really adds to the immersion!
Fantastic stuff -best historical vid I have seen in ages. Well done.
Many thanks!
The 'last' tallboy recently exploded in what is now Poland while they were trying to make it safe - a substantial bang ! It can be seen on the BBC archive as well as other places. They were using robots to dismantle it so no one was injured in the explosion. There are examples of the Tallboy & Grand Slam in the museum at Brooklands if you want to see them. The casings for the grand slam were cast in America and shipped to the UK to be filled. The crater in the Ashley Range was filled in and is now identifiable by the circle of trees in the otherwise fairly barren heath land. The Grand Slam is still the largest bomb dropped on the UK if you don't count the test nuclear weapons that were inert.
We have an inert tallboy I believe in Lincolnshire
@@gowdsake7103 The tallboy is smaller and a lot more common than the bigger Grand Slam bomb.
I visited Normandy in 1998 and i talked to a german ww2 veteran whose bunker was hit spot on with a Tallboy with him in it!
Steiner was a the commander of an army coastal defence battery and when the bomb went of the whole bunker lifted up in the air and fell down with a bang. Hptm Steiner survived to tell the story. He was bleeding from all openings and the eardrums popped.
This is a s the proof that the British dropped the Tallboy already the 6th of June 1944.
To those who served in bomber command I salute and say thank you
I thought I knew the story of the Grand Slam but this presentation was brilliant and really gave me a better understanding of the bomb, cheers
Well done. Good presentation. Take care and stay safe and healthy.
love your channel.
Thank you!
I think the average nuclear warhead deployed these days is 300KT. Roughly fifty thousand times more powerful than Grand Slam, but there were also megaton yield weapons far more powerful than 300KT. Flippin heck. That would mess up your day for sure.
I was a Cold War kid. We never fully expected to make the year 2000. Was always that threat of being nuked hanging over us. It's still there, but not as intense (weapons are still targeted ready to go, even though the Cold War is over). I get the impression some are keen for another Cold War. No thanks. Lucky to survive the first one.
A 5 megaton hydrogen bomb would destroy an area the size of greater London. Clever species, are we not?
i remember when the cold war ended and i asked my parents when the wall was coming down on tv does that mean no big bombs? lol it was a relief we came SO FN close multiple times and were finding out now there was instances the permission was actually given..now fast foward here we are again.
A great, simple and straight forward delivery of part of the Epic story of 617 Squadron and Mr Wallis.
A history thay I have enjoyed for a great number of years by both Paul Brickhills' and Guy Gibsons' books, amoung others.
Thank you.
Bomber Command also had the "cookie cutter" bombs, which could range up to 12,000 lb and had 80% explosive. Even the smallest, the 2,000 lb HC bomb, could have a 70% charge to weight ratio.
Yes it was called a ""cookie"" bomb the RAF bomber crews hated carrying them when interviewed years later they said in some instances they had a habit of exploding prematurely they said when they could they would jettison the bomb since they were conducting night missions over Germany nobody would know
One of these was found in Cologne only a few years back.
There was a branch of mathematics used called ‘linear programming’ to optimise the best mix of GP/MC bombs, incendiaries and HC bombs. MC and HC bombs would damage roofs to let in the incendiaries and break windows to allow the air in to feed the flames.
Barnes Wallis an understated Genius
I wonder how many of you know that the brilliant Lancaster Bomber was the original then back up aircraft for the atomic bomb drops on Japan with crews trained to do so, but as we all know, the B-29 superfortress Enola Gay was just ready by then.
Also do you know without the British, the US would've never has an atomic weapons by 1945, it was only the fact that the British had already researched and experimented with the idea, all we didn't have was the money, materials and a safe place to build and test suck a weapon, so we went to the Americans, a decision that lead to the formation of the Manhattan project, which included British, American and Canadian scientists.
We know, but also radar and jet engines,but I think we repaid the debt.
78 years later ,we still work well together.
@@paulbedichek2679 Maybe, ask Joe. maybe not.
Joe is OK, it’s that charlatan Boris who is screwing things up
And I think the French were involve as well. And to add to that, America later restricted all outside scientist and chased them away and not sharing the end product. Two key American researcher were very reluctant to let anyone else in on the research, but thanks to Roosevelt, the British were let in on the research. So all the research done by the British at the Manhattan project was left behind so they had to re do all the research from memory.
What a machine the Lanc was. Went beyond it's original design spec and the crews that strapped them selves into it, night after night heroes all! Lest we forget!. Nuff said.
Nuff said.Spot on!.The thing that perhaps gets me more than anything is the absolute humility of these men.They really don't class themselves as heroes,as crazy as that sounds to you and me.
Those lads were made of something special,the likes of which we may never see again.
I thought a Grand Slam was a breakfast meal at Denny’s.
Amazing, never heard of these bombs before, only ever heard of the bouncing bomb. What a genius Barnes Wallace was.
He also designed the R100 airship and Wellington bomber, both using geodesic frame design , was instrumental in pioneering the design of the swing wing, which was used in the Tornado and F111, and worked on a concept of hypersonic airliners travelling London to Sydney in 4 hours, amongst many other ideas
Trully a remarkable man
@@sinistregoth Cheers mate, have to have a look at these
Trigger- Been living is a cave mate?
@@jeffpollard7304 just probably not as old as you mate
I'm a reenactor who goes to woodhall spa every year...that's incredible
I like your presentation style. Subbed.
Thanks and welcome
Great job with the narration.
Thank you kindly!
Barnes Wallis is a local hero.
Oooh, that sounds like a fun job..
_I melt torpex and pour it into bombs, then I ice the doom cake with a layer of chocolate TNT fondant_
Very nice. You earned another sub.
Awesome, thank you!
I believe that after World War II, the RAF did not completely phase out the use of the Tallboy and Grand Slam. I believe that the V-bombers were designed so they could carry these bombs on an as-needed basis. Today, a direct descendant of the Grand Slam concept, the GBU-57A/B _Massive Ordanace Penetrator_ , is operational with the USAF, capable of being carried by the B-52H and B-2A bombers.
Indeed
The mop can do the work of a Grand slam for a lighter and smaller bomb
The viaduct was rebuilt with steel and forty years later had to be rebuilt again. The area around the viaduct is now a man made boating lake. Other bombers of the era had the lifting capacity but all the others had divided bombays and could not have carried any of the three weapons without extensive redesign for which their was no time. I remember reading somewhere that the only time one was tested in UK it went straight through the camera set facing upwards to record the drop. It was not expected to be so accurate. The SAumur tunnel was still undergoing repair at the end of the war.
Are you sure you don't moonlight in your spare time with a guy called Ant on BGT? If I had a golden buzzer, I'd press it for that vid.
Busted!!
This was excellent!
A great "no frills" documentary.