Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military From: adrian%cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK (Adrian Hurt) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Big conventional bombs Message-ID: <7026@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 1 Jun 89 03:09:15 GMT References: <6962@cbnews.ATT.COM> Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Organization: Computer Science, Heriot-Watt U., Scotland Lines: 26 Approved: military@att.att.com From: Adrian Hurt In article <6962@cbnews.ATT.COM> military@cbnews.ATT.COM (William B. Thacker) writes: > > >From: sun!portal!cup.portal.com!mmm >> I was under the impression that the 22000lb >> `Grand Slam', designed by Barnes-Wallis and used by the RAF against the >> Bielefelt viaduct and the Brest submarine pens, was the largest conventional >> air-dropped bomb ever used... > >Also used to sink the Tirpitz. I thought the similar but smaller "Tallboy" was used on the Tirpitz. Apart from being big, these bombs were very accurate. According to Paul Brickhill's book "The Dambusters", to test it the RAF wanted to film it on the way down. Where was the best place to put the camera? Right in the middle of the target marker, they thought. No bomb ever hits there, and the test device wouldn't have an explosive load. A little while later, they had a smashed camera. "Keyboard? How quaint!" - M. Scott Adrian Hurt | JANET: adrian@uk.ac.hw.cs UUCP: ..!ukc!cs.hw.ac.uk!adrian | ARPA: adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk