henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) (09/13/90)
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) >From: cognos!geovision!pt@dciem (Paul Tomblin) >I read BOTH versions of the book "The Dam Busters", the history of the >617 squadron that did this raid. The 1950s version of the book implied >that the bombs were spherical, but the 1970s version, which "contains >material not previously cleared for publication", shows that they were >actually barrel shaped. Anybody know why the British, would want to keep >that a secret for so long? ... I suspect it was just reflex secretiveness; the British are bad about that. As I recall from a biography of Barnes Wallis, there is no great mystery about the change: the bombs were originally intended to be spherical, but it turned out to be difficult to make a spherical casing that large using existing facilities, and taking it in a bit at the waist :-) made production much easier. -- TCP/IP: handling tomorrow's loads today| Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology OSI: handling yesterday's loads someday| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
simons@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU (Joshua Simons) (10/04/90)
From: think!simons@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU (Joshua Simons) Could someone please send me a complete reference for the book about the Dam Busters? It sounds like a good idea for a Christmas present. Thanks very much. -josh simons -- simons@think.com thinking machines corporation 245 first street tel: 617.876.1111 cambridge, ma 02142-12114 fax: 617.876.1823