Tallboy Bomb

[wardenc]

Tallboy & grandslam craters

I live a short distance from where they tested these bombs at Ashley ranges in the New Forest. The craters now have single tress in their centres and can be seen on Google Earth. Also, there is a full size submarine pen alongside which has been hidden by earth - but is now starting to appear again. It was so large and tough the Army were unable to demolish it after WW2 - so it was buried. I herad that it cost 250 thousand UK pounds to build at the time. A huge sum. interestingly, you could now stand alongside it and not know it was there apart from small patches of erosion that are staring to show the hardened concrete. Funnly enough these huge bombs clearly missed there targets & i was told that the sub-pen bombing was suspended in order to drop the supply of bombs they had at the time on a large viaduct/bridge.

 

[GI Zhou]

The bombs were better if they missed the target as they set up an 'earthquake effect' literally shaking the target to pieces, destroying the foundations by disrupting the material the target was built on.

 

[Antoon]

The T-12 a.k.a. Cloudmaker demolition bomb was produced by the United States designed to create an earthquake bomb effect. It achieved this by having an extremely thick nose section, which was designed to penetrate deeply into the earth. It was designed to attack targets invulnerable to conventional "soft" bombs, such as bunkers and viaducts.
The T-12 was a further development of the concept initiated with the United Kingdom's Tallboy and Grand Slam weapons: a hardened, highly aerodynamic bomb of the greatest possible weight designed to be dropped from the highest possible altitude in order to destroy hardened targets. The T-12 weighed 43,600 lb (nearly 20 metric tons), which was twice the size of the United States' previous largest bomb, the American-built version of the British Grand Slam, the Bomb, GP, 22,000-lb, M110 (T-14). Only one plane, the Convair B-36 Peacemaker, was capable of carrying the T12, although a B-29 Superfortress was converted for testing. The T-12 was not a simple scale up of the M110, but incorporated modifications based on testing and calculations.
It is also important to clarify a further nickname imparted to this weapon, the Grand Slam bomb, which more correctly refers to the T-12's 22,000 lb (10,000 kg) predecessor. "Grand Slam" was also the name of a project to modify B-36 bombers to carry nuclear bombs, creating further confusion.
Weapons of comparable size to the T-12, such as the BLU-82 and GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bombs, remain in the U.S. inventory of superbombs, but their utility is limited outside the realm of psychological weapons and demolition. They are not hardened and so lack the hard target destruction capability of the T-12 and its cousins. Precision-guided munitions (or "smart bombs") have mostly removed the need for gigantic charges in air-dropped bombs.

 

[Depotman]

Grand Slam at entrance to DEODS Chattenden

It still does! There's a 12,000lb Tallboy inside also! Trevor

 

[HAZORD]

Great photos Trevor! Thanks for posting.

 

[HAZORD]

Here is some great video on the Grand Slam, showing loading on the plane and a crater.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Mm-zFW_nA&NR=1"]YouTube- Grand Slam bomb[/ame]

 

[SG500]

Excellent stuff!!
When I was on utube this one popped up, a hell of a banger.
Dave.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxD44HO8dNQ&NR=1"]YouTube- Tsar Bomba - King of the Bombs - 57,000,000 Tonnes of TNT[/ame]

 

[hassiman]

Live Grand Slam on static Display for 50+ years

A few years ago I read about an interesting incident at one of the RAF bases. They like others had some static displays out front, some of which were the historic Barns Wallace TallBoy and Grand Slam bombs on static display. I guess the bombs were looking a bit shopworn and were being spruced up when an old vet that used to work with these bombs pointed out that one of the Grand Slam bombs was not inert at all... but fuzed, loaded and ready to roll....
Had been for almost 60 + years..
On display...
In front of an RAF base...
Hilarity ensued

 

[V40]

SG500,

you should get the DVD entitled "The Atomic Bomb Movie" with William Shaftner as the narrator. It shows that 57 Megaton weapon being shot. It also shows the Chinese test of their Nuclear bomb. It also talks about one of America's worst in a spy whose name was Claus Fuchs who somewhat helped with the the first bomb "little Boy".

I am currently reading the book, "Atomic Bomb" By Richard Rhodes. I'll have to search back to what I have already read, on how many actual bombs the USA had left after dropping the two on Japan.

 

[V40]

Also, I actually got a self guided tour of the inside of a B-36. I don't think I broke the law by getting in it?:tinysmile_eyebrow_t If I did the Statute of Limitations would be long gone by now. It was just that the hollowman tunnel hatch in the bomb bay was open so it is not my fault, period, get it guys.

All I can say is the tunnel is long. The cockpit is very large and so is the tail section. Instuments everywhere. I even took some pictures inside the B-36.:tinysmile_shutup_t:

Those who really want to see what the B-36 looks like inside, I would refer you to the movie "Strategic Air Command" with Jimmie Stewart in it as the lead star.

 

[shelllikehell]

for those in the old continent...there is an interesting place to visit: the ww2 V2 factory close to Calais, it is called the blockhaus d'eperlecques. The building is massive and partially destroyed (not the main building) by bombing. There are a few tallboy holes in there (according to the signs/explanations in place) and one tallboy hanging from the ceiling
amazing place...well...for people like us :0)

http://www.leblockhaus.com/intro.htm

 

[Jagd301]

Interesting Incident!

A few years ago I read about an interesting incident at one of the RAF bases. They like others had some static displays out front, some of which were the historic Barns Wallace TallBoy and Grand Slam bombs on static display. I guess the bombs were looking a bit shopworn and were being spruced up when an old vet that used to work with these bombs pointed out that one of the Grand Slam bombs was not inert at all... but fuzed, loaded and ready to roll....
Had been for almost 60 + years..
On display...
In front of an RAF base...
Hilarity ensued

Bet there were a few messy underpants at that news lol! And can you imagine the evacuation area!!!!