Tallboy Bomb

[US-Subs]

I love the historic ordnance shots, especially when its something unusual. Here are a couple slightly different photos.

This is a (formerly) classified US test of the Tallboy Bomb. I'm not sure where the coastline is, could be US or UK. This testing may have led to the later US work on the US T12.

 

[glevum]

The bomb being dropped looks like a Grand Slam, rather than a Tallboy.

The B-29 was modified to carry a single Grand Slam on the centerline, or a pair of Tallboys.

The Bomb weights were:

Tallboy 12,000lb

Grand Slam 22,000lb

T-12 43,000lb

 

[US-Subs]

OK, I can live with that. I was going on notes scribbled on the back of the photos - I have very little (nothing technical) on the series, but looking at the photos in the back of "A Hell of a Bomb" by Stephen Flower I can see the size difference. Point taken!

 

[Snufkin]

Grandslam and Tallboy

The bomb being dropped looks like a Grand Slam, rather than a Tallboy.

The B-29 was modified to carry a single Grand Slam on the centerline, or a pair of Tallboys.

The Bomb weights were:

Tallboy 12,000lb

Grand Slam 22,000lb

T-12 43,000lb

A Grandslam and a Tallboy (with 500lb in between) at the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, RAF Coningsby.



Tom

 

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Grand Slam;

Didn't Barnes Wallace invent the "Grand Slam" that could only be dropped by the Lancaster?
One stood at the entrance to DEODS at Lodge Hill.
John

 

[waffenamt]

Didn't Barnes Wallace invent the "Grand Slam" that could only be dropped by the Lancaster?
One stood at the entrance to DEODS at Lodge Hill.
John

I thought the same but i assume it was also fitted to the US aircraft too?


cheers

waff

 

[HAZORD]

Jeff,

There is some info on the U.S. bombs in OP1664 vol 2.

 

[US-Subs]

Not all things are what they seem....

 

[HAZORD]

Damn!

Thanks for posting that Jeff!

 

[blackwatch]

A little piece of shrapnell of a talboy,found on a crashsite of a ,
Lancaster bomber.

 

[SG500]

Some great pictures there, thanks for posting them everyone.
Anyone any idea how big the hole would be when one of the 22000 lb bombs was dropped from ? miles up?
Anyone got any pictures of the damage caused?
Must have been awesome.
You just can't imagine the poor person who had to dig a really big hold to get to an unexploded one and disarm it!!
Dave.

 

[tigbrand]

Tallboy

Dave,only one Tallboy was dropped in tests in the UK. Crater was 130 feet wide by 30 feet deep!

 

[panther1]

Now, now boys, you should watch your movies more often. In the last, (and best) Rambo movie, he ran into a Tallboy bomb dud in the jungles of Burma.
Fiction yes, but fun all the same, especially the blast wave when he set it off, computer graphics are great these days. Sorry I highjacked the thread a little there.

Iain:tinysmile_shy_t:

Dave,only one Tallboy was dropped in tests in the UK. Crater was 130 feet wide by 30 feet deep!

 

[US-Subs]

I must have missed that one. Was it the best because it was the last?

 

[Fuzeman]

John its still standing at DEODS it wouldnt fit in my ford Fiesta

 

[Millsman]

Not all things are what they seem....

I think the wording of the document is misleading. Perhaps the US wanted to see how they could develop the Grand Slam further but they had no hand at all in the development before it was used operationally by the RAF. The B-29 was probably a better aircraft to carry the Grand Slam than the Lancaster and it put the Lanc's wings under a lot of stress. However the development of the atomic bomb took over USAF's interest at the end of WW2.

John

 

[US-Subs]

Amazon was the bomb's designation under the Harkin Project and Project Ruby. It fell under special test # MX-760 and MX-915.

 

[Millsman]

Yes, but that was 1947. Slightly after the RAF had used the Grand Slam operationally in WW2.

John

 

[GI Zhou]

I wonder how much of the data was used for the new USAF penetrators? You could fit quite a considerable yield nuclear device inside a Grand Slam. Didn't the B-36 carry them on trials as well?

 

[US-Subs]

There is no doubt in where and when the Grand Slam originated. Without technical specifications it is impossible to say if the Amazon was a direct copy or if it was improved upon in some ways, but the point is, if you want to chase the info down, you cannot look only under Grand Slam, the Amazon was a new, separate identity, with a US manufacturer to boot.

No idea about the B36, specific research would have to be done on the Amazon. Amazon-Slam?