The BIGGEST Non-Nuclear bomb in World War 2
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 พ.ค. 2021
- 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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#grandslam
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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.
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’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.
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.
Let's not forget that after Guy Gibson's death the command of 617 Squadron was given to Group Captain Leonard Cheshire (2 VCs, a genuine hero). He was the one who organised the meticulous bomb aiming system which enabled them to be so effective with the Grand Slam and Tallboy bombs. Let us also respect him for his postwar work - he left the Air Force in 1946 and set up a system of homes for those whose bodies and minds had been shattered by war. Unlike most military men he felt the need to make up for what he had done by helping human beings in need.
My dad was a 617 pilot.. our hero
Salut!
Wonderful man
Only 3 have 2 VCs.
Surgeon Captain Arthur Martin-Leake
Captain Noel Chavasse
Captain Charles Upham ( The only double VC from WW2)
He was a genuine war hero nonetheless, though I don't think he liked that term, as many genuine hero's don't.
I believe that Micky Martin was still in command when they were organizing and perfecting the bomb aiming system. Martin had taken temporary command on September 16,1943 after the disastrous attempted attack on the Dortmund-Ems Canal, where Gibson's immediate successor, S/L George Holden, was lost. Martin was in command until mid-November (when Cheshire arrived). His main job was rebuilding the squadron. He brought in new crews to replace the ones lost or transferred out, and it was under him that they began training for the super-accurate high altitude role they became known for. Cheshire (who finished the war with -one- VC, three DSO's and a DFC) no doubt, led them to some of their greatest achievements. However, Martin was the one who started them on the training path to that while rebuilding the squadron from almost the ground up.
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.
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 late father was an engineering officer with the RAF and flew to Russia to service the aircraft on one of the Tirpitz raids. He never talked much about his times in the RAF but had the greatest respect for Leonard Cheshire.
David, my father in law led all three bomber command raids on Tirpitz and Cheshire was my wife's Godfather. Do you know how many ground crew flew out to Yagodnik and what planes they used?
@@mikeprzyrembel no I don't know how many went out but just checked his logbook they flew out in Liberators on an 8 hour flight.
@@davidscarrett3804 Thanks, I didn't know that.
I remember reading about these big bombs in my teens (born 1949) and I remember the impact, no pun intended, of the Tallboy on the Tirpitz. Wallis was a master inventor
He was one of the greatest military minds earth has to offer. That’s the kind of ingenuity and adaptability that has won wars for millions of years.
@@brendan5260 Ihave never sen any comments about Wallis concept of the swinging arm wings for aircraft which was adopted by many countries post 1950s
Anyone wanna explain what the f “no pun” means..
@@brendan5260 "...won wars for millions of years.".
Ummmm, no.
@@kennichristensen4693 A pun is a joke based upon a word with more than one meaning. The OP said he refers to the impact the bomb had. Geddit? 😁
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..
There is music mate......
Mind you, I was more distracted thinking it was "Ant & dec" doing the voice over
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
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.
13:15 I'd call that a complete success too! Our lads created a nice lake as well!
We Will Remember Them.
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!!!
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?
"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!!!!
My grandfather was on these missions as a rear gunner in 617 squadron.
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.
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.
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 🫡
Just found your channel in my recommended list. Very informative and kept me hooked all the way through, which made me hit the sub button. I remember reading about these bombs and of course the legendary upkeep. I got chance to visit 617 sqn back in 2010 when I was still in the RAF. They had all three of Barnes Wallace’s bombs on display. I couldn’t believe the size of grandslam, I knew it was big, but to see it in the metal was something else.
I saw it at DEODS when I was training to become a Navy Clearence Diver in 1970 - It was inconcivable to me that a plane could take off with that stuck on it !!
I am Irish by birth, and am therefore no "Little Englander" But I since my teens been an admirer of the RAF in general, and also its association with Barnes Wallis. I realise that all aircrew, of all nations ,were mostly scared young men whose boots I personally could never fill.
They were kids, mostly.
Yes, I too stand in awe of these young men, almost all of them were in their late teens or early twenties. While I feel I could never fill their boots, the situation was so extreme that it demanded extreme courage. For the UK, especially in the early war, stopping Hitler was a matter of national survival. The Nazi's plans for invasion and occupation of England were harsher and crueller than those for any other country they had so far occupied.
Before she died my grandmother talked a lot about her experience of 1940-1941, all the men of the family were in the forces, leaving her with her mum and sisters. She and the family (who were Jewish) were genuinely terrified every waking moment, they fully expected Nazi soldiers to be marching down the street and murdering them any day. She was 20 at the time, never touched alcohol before, but drank alcohol every night to escape. Once the invasion threat was over she stopped and never drank again. It traumatised her for life.
The overall casualty rate for Bomber Command throughout the war was 51%, with a 45% overall death rate and only 6% wounded or captured! The bravery and sacrifice of these young men was truly incredible - a level that I feel I could never match. Yet, faced with the alternative, I think most of us would have stepped up to the plate, just as people did back then. I hope I would have at least, but who knows?
Barnes Wallis was a genius Boffin.
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.
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
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!
“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
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.
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.
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
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...
th-cam.com/video/feDAf0lrpeA/w-d-xo.html
Glad you enjoyed it.
Barnes Wallace a true hero.
Can you not at least do him the courtesy of spelling his name correctly?
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,'
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
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.
I wasn't planning to watch it all through but I was absolutely transfixed! Another excellent piece of work from you.
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 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
Wow. A video that isn't simply a re-hash of already well-known info but full of hitherto unknown, interesting detail. Excellent!
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!
Thanks for this vid. It was truly a time of giants, men and weapons.
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.
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
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 ??
@@larryjenkinson4789 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.
@@larryjenkinson4789 - Actually, vegetarianism was by no means uncommon during the Second World War. It was veganism that was much rarer back then.
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.
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.
A very informative and interesting video that doesn't just cover the same old ground. I was gobsmacked to see the Grand Slam explosion at Bielefeld and then realised that the other nearby explosions were 'only' Tallboys. Per ardua ad astra indeed, and woe betide you if you happen to be anything to do with the 'ardua'!
Mate, thank you. Very interesting and very easy to follow👍 these videos are amongst the best Ive watched on TH-cam. Please keep em coming😀🙏
Glad you like them!
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.
Excellent channel. There is some very good coverage of WW2 on TH-cam and this channel is one of them. Thank you.
Thank you so much
These bombs were made at the Vickers River Don works in Sheffield. There is one (minus the tail) on display at the Kelham Island Museum. I have a pic of my son standing next to it. What an awesome thing it is.
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?
Commander: "Private?"
Co-pilot: "Yes sir?"
Commander: "See that tectonic plate over there?"
Co-pliot: "yea-"
Commander: "I don't want to"
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
Excellent Documentary on these monster bombs. Post war there were two projects that I know of to further test penetrator bombs. one in 1946 who's name escapes me and another in 1947 called Project Harken which involved British and American bombers. My father participated in Harken dropping the American version of the Grand Slam from a modified B-29. I have pictures his aircraft and the bombs. Part two of the project report is out on the web.
The US version was called the M110 or T14 and there's information on Wikipedia about it. The B29 could carry TWO externally, one under each wing. Then there was the US T12 for the B36 Peacemaker which weighed 43600 lbs, which was half the B36's maximum payload. Simply lncredible!
All the best
Excellent video with footage I've never seen before, and with good narration and presentation. Well done, bonny lad!
Fantastic stuff -best historical vid I have seen in ages. Well done.
Many thanks!
Without passing judgement on the morality of area bombing, I think it has to be stated that civilian deaths were not collateral damage, but one of the results planned to be achieved by area bombing. To lower morale and resistance to the war among the enemy population as well as causing the deaths of factory workers were the aims. While during the war there may have been attempts to pass it off as collateral, but it has been conclusively proven that it was a deliberate policy at the time and we should be willing at least to admit the truth now.
Total war
AND WHAT DID THE GERMANS DO TO LONDON, NOTTINGHAM, COVENTRY, AND SO FORTH ?
WHO BOMBED CITIES FIRST ?
SAVE YOUR SYMPATHY FOR THOSE WHO DESERVE IT.
@@hieronyous Telling the truth does not equal sympathy.
My now deceased brother-in-law who was on the German side in World War II talked about Total War and how they would bomb up to a certain Street in Germany, come back the next day and continue from where they left off.
Bombers were certainly not that accurate in those days.
Wow. Now that’s what I call, a world-beating (pre-nuclear era) KABOOM. Britain at its finest once again,🇬🇧.
Well presented and produced. Thank you!
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?
What an excellent mini documentary my 4 favourite bombers of ww2 Avro Lancaster, de Havilland mosquito, B24 Liberator and of course the B17 Flying Fortress.... The Lancaster what a beautiful aircraft, I don't think the B24 ever gets the recognition it deserves. Thank you excellent video 👍
Wallis: How big do you want it?
Harris: yes.
617 Squadron also called in one day at Hitler's Berghof mountain retreat and left their calling card.......
Great video but the thing that grabbed my attention was the mention of RAF Carnaby.
Dad got his first car during the Suez Crisis in 1956, my uncle had a caravan in a park south of Bridlington and we used to use if often.
Before motorways we went from Milnsbridge via Wakefield, Selby and Driffield taking a short cut through Carnaby so we didn’t have to go up to Bridlington.
The runway was still there but coned off along the road you can see to the far right of the photo you used.
The cones were easily driven through and a couple of times dad drove to the end of the runway and back to see how fast the 1949 Ford Prefect would go, not very fast as it happens.
I’ve looked on Google Maps and there is a suspiciously long thin industrial estate which could be where the runway was.
Mike
Some 35 years ago, I found a piece of a bomber.
That piece, was a BIG part of me, taking intrest in history.
@MichaelKingsfordGray no, looks like the name's Martijn.
Great video, always a moment when wait to hear you say if the crews got back safely. Seem to remember a tall boy and grand slam bombs at Brooklands museum, definitely remember the aerial photo of the destroyed railway with the previous craters around it, obliterated.
I visited Brooklands a couple of years ago, fantastic museum.
Throughly enjoyed this, thank you
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.
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.
Fabulous video. Most of the footage I have never seen before.
I also live in Hampshire and was in the New Forest only 3 days ago about 6 miles away from the Ashley Walk Bombing Range which I had never heard of before or knew exist. ! I will be going to have a visit very soon. Thanks for the video. :))
And, of course, I have subbed.
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.
What a brilliant channel. Thanks pal.
This was excellent!
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-(?)
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
I appreciate these history lesson videos. I learn more about the war my father fought than I did in school.
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
Excellent video, it isn’t often I watch long videos to the end! I noticed there were some Short Stirlings in there as well as Lancasters. I’ve still got an RAF aircraft recognition manual from 1944 that my old man gave me, so it isn’t hard to pick them out! He was a teenager during the war living in Yorkshire near a bomber base.
On one hand, it must have been a terrible period to live through, especially as a teenager, but can you imagine what it must have been like to live close to RAF stations and see all those wonderful aircraft types on a daily basis. I lived on RAF stations during my service in the 1990s and that was lively and can only imagine what it must have been like in the 1940s. Thanks for the comment.
@@TheNorthernHistorian Dad was in the Air Training Corps at school and when he was 15 got to fly in a Lancaster with some other cadets when they were doing a test flight after maintenance. He sat in the tail gunner’s seat and he said he remembers the machine guns floating around! This would have been 1942 when the war was far from over. He said if German bombers came over after midnight, they wouldn’t have to go to school next day! We lived in Cornwall near RAF St Mawgan in the 1960s and I remember the Shackletons flying around at low level, of course these were derivatives of the Lancaster. Happy days listing to those roaring V12s.
Just happened on this video. A perfect example of how such a presentation should be done. Thank you.
First time i've seen the footage of the Grand Slam exploding at Bielefeld. Excellent and very explanatory video.Thanks.
Well done. Good presentation. Take care and stay safe and healthy.
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!
Excellent. Perhaps not a war winner, but 617Sq (+ Barnes Wallis) and the sorties they carried out deserve to go down in history.
Thanks for the commentary Dec..really interesting 👍🏻
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!!!
My father was a bomb aimer on the sister squadron No 9. Reading his official war record I see he also dropped TallBoys and Grand Slams. Strangely 9Squadron are rarely mentioned.
they were expert with the Mk XIV sight, devised by Blackett and Braddick
not if you read the literature.9 squadron are famous,even if they often flew together with 617
not really true.if you read the literature you'll see that 9 squadron get a fair amount of oraise although they are inevitably and somewhat unjustly rather overshadowed by the fame of 617
The squadron took part in the sinking of the Tirpitz
Snap, at least partially. My father was a pilot of Lancasters. He told me about dropping 'tall boys' but to me a tall by was just a piece of furniture or a big bloke. He also mentioned 'cookie' bombs (500 kg?) and I think the family has a photo of him and his crew sitting on top of one.
Brave men. Dad used to tell me that aircrew were fed fresh eggs when they returned from a bombing raid (fresh eggs were extremely rationed, remember) and that when a Lancaster was hit by enemy fire the cry would go up "I'll have his egg!"
He also told me that the aircrew were given 'wakey-wakey' pills - some sort of amphetamine - to help them stay awake for their twelve to sixteen hour flights.
Excellent video, thorough research and clear narration - thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
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!
10-51: Roy Chadwick - genius!
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.
First of your videos I've watched. Very good. I'll watch more. Thanks.
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.
RAF Scampton accidentally put a live grand slam bomb on display for 15 years as a gate guard. The people charged with moving it for a road widening project had a bit of a surprise when they looked inside.
No, sorry, that’s an urban myth.
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
Excellent narration of a very interesting development. Thank you. Subscribed.
Thanks and welcome
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.
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.
Fascinating and very well researched cheers 🇬🇧
Thanks , very interesting and informative .
My great uncle served with 617 after the Dambuster missions. He was an engineer.