The " Mother of all bombs"

[bebo67]

Taking a break from medical related activities Most of my writing is politically inspired, I am curious to thoughts?

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[dunover]

Taking a break from medical related activities Most of my writing is politically inspired, I am curious to thoughts?

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Not quite true - the RAF had the 'Grand Slam' back in WWII a 22000lb bastard used to try and smash through the 10m thick reinforced concrete of the German U-Boat pens in Kiel and other ports. Obviously not guided like this one, but apparently it made a huge bang and pilots said when it dropped the plane would suddenly rise then drop hundreds of feet making them temporarily weightless.

But nevertheless any bomb dropped on islamist extremists and terrorists is a good bomb.

 

[bebo67]

Not quite true - the RAF had the 'Grand Slam' back in WWII a 22000lb bastard used to try and smash through the 10m thick reinforced concrete of the German U-Boat pens in Kiel and other ports. Obviously not guided like this one, but apparently it made a huge bang and pilots said when it dropped the plane would suddenly rise then drop hundreds of feet making them temporarily weightless.

But nevertheless any bomb dropped on islamist extremists and terrorists is a good bomb.

22000lb! What type of aircraft would be able to handle that weight? Im curious in how much terrain was actually covered by this bomb in Afghanistan.

 

[lockinlove]

Isis deserves a bigger bomb than that to be dropped on them. At least twice that.

I hope it landed right in the laps of some of those pesky terrorists.

 

[greylady]

I am ex forces and I remember the air bast bomb, sure it causes the most damage on impact so therefore has to be targeted but and if I remember correctly the blast site is about a mile wide - don't quote me on this though as I have been a civvy a while now

 

[dunover]

22000lb! What type of aircraft would be able to handle that weight? Im curious in how much terrain was actually covered by this bomb in Afghanistan.

There was a higher-powered Lancaster adapted for it. It's where a UK schoolboy expression for a fat woman 'Ten Ton Tess' came from.

The Grand Slam was a 22,000 lb (10,000 kg) earthquake bomb used by RAF Bomber Command against strategic targets during the Second World War. It was the most powerful non-atomic bomb used in the war.

Known officially as the Bomb, Medium Capacity, 22,000 lb, it was a scaled-up version of the Tallboy bomb and closer to the original size that the bombs' inventor, Barnes Wallis, had envisaged when he first developed his earthquake bomb idea. It was also nicknamed "Ten ton Tess".


"After the hot molten Torpex was poured into the casing, the explosive took a month to cool and set. Like the Tallboy, because of the low rate of production and consequent high value of each bomb, aircrews were told to land with their unused bombs on board rather than jettison them into the sea if a sortie was aborted.

After release from the Avro Lancaster B.Mk 1 (Special) bomber, the Grand Slam would reach near-supersonic speed, approaching 1,049 ft/s (320 m/s), 715 mph (1150 km/h). When it hit, it would penetrate deep underground before detonating. The resulting explosion could cause the formation of a camouflet (cavern) and shift the ground to undermine a target's foundation."

After WWII the Americans were impressed with the colossal damage of these penetrative bombs so like many defence projects, still continuing to this day with the Lockheed/BAe F35 due to go into service with the USAF and RAF now, the UK and US started a programme to develop these. Now you see the latest manifestation.

"Beginning in March 1946, Project Ruby was a joint Anglo–American project to investigate the use of penetration bombs against heavily protected, concrete targets. The target selected was the Valentin submarine pens, that had been rendered unusable and abandoned since the RAF's 617 Squadron's attack on 27 March 1945. Grand Slams were carried by Lancasters from No. 15 Squadron RAF and US Boeing B-29 Superfortress. Around 140 sorties were flown, testing a range of different bombs."