Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!ssc-vax!shuksan!major@beaver.cs.washington.edu
From: ssc-vax!shuksan!major@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Mike Schmitt)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Largest Bomb dropped
Message-ID: <5144@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 27 Mar 89 02:18:41 GMT
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From: ssc-vax!shuksan!major@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Mike Schmitt)


> > I've read stories about a ten ton (??) bomb being used in Vietnam.  
> > Supposedly it was pancake shaped and had to be drop out (using rollers
> > and a drogue 'chute) of the back of a C-130 Hercules.  They were used
> > to make instant Landing Zones for helos.  Plus I think that one was used
> > to destroy a bridge.  Does anybody have anything more substantial on this?
> > Also, were these "pancake bombs" the largest (in terms of weight)
> > conventional bombs ever dropped in wartime?

    Are these the 'daisy cutters' that made the LZs?  They weren't THAT
    good.  It left 3-4 foot high tree stumps all over the LZ - which meant
    the assault helos had to hover over them while the troops exited.  
    Carrying a 50lb rucksack - that hurts! 

 
> The C-130 bomb weighed 15,000 lbs. It was a gas bomb ie it allowed propane,


     I 'heard' (ie totally unsubstantiated) that this 'propane' bomb created
     a very distinct 'mushroom shape' cloud - and that the Air Force was
     told not to use it anymore in Vietnam - for obvious reasons.
     (can anyone clarify this?)

 
     major