(D Murphy) (05/27/89)
From: D Murphy <>
In some discussion - I think in a local group in the UK - refernce was made
to the USAF dropping a large conventional bomb on the North Koreans during
the Korean War as a `hint' to the Chinese - even though a presidential
decision had been made not to use nuclear weapons in the war.
This got me thinking about large conventional bombs - I remember seeing some
Vietnam footage of a really huge device being dropped from a C-130 (it was
attatched to parachutes and was wheeled out of the rear loading doors on a
trolley). How big was this ? 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 (this thing was *huge* and it was a real tribute
to the design of the Avro Lancaster that it could carry it).
Murff....
JANET: djm@uk.ac.ed.etive Internet: djm%ed.etive@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk
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D.J. Murphy *Artificial* intelligence ? Evidently.....military@cbnews.ATT.COM (William B. Thacker) (05/30/89)
From: sun!portal!cup.portal.com!mmm > trolley). How big was this ? 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 (this thing was *huge* and it was a real tribute > to the design of the Avro Lancaster that it could carry it). Also used to sink the Tirpitz. A photo of it was published in AIR POWER: KEY TO SURVIVAL by Maj. Alexander de Seversky (Simon & Schuster, 1950).
bsmart@uunet.UU.NET (Bob Smart) (06/01/89)
From: vrdxhq!vrdxhq.verdix.com!bsmart@uunet.UU.NET (Bob Smart) In article <6962@cbnews.ATT.COM>, military@cbnews.ATT.COM (William B. Thacker) writes: > > > From: sun!portal!cup.portal.com!mmm > > trolley). How big was this ? 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 (this thing was *huge* and it was a real tribute > > to the design of the Avro Lancaster that it could carry it). > > Also used to sink the Tirpitz. A photo of it was published in > AIR POWER: KEY TO SURVIVAL by Maj. Alexander de Seversky (Simon & > Schuster, 1950). I thought we just discussed this a ccouple months ago and I got proven wrong :-) I think it wass pretty well decided that grand slam was not used on Tirpitz. I believe that tallboy the 12000 lb derivitive of grand slam was used against Tirpitz (also against the sub pens) I saw the disccovery channel show on the lancaster the other night. they had footage of a grand slam and a dam buster being dropped. Pretty good show. Grand Slam was the largest cconventional bomb used. the vietnam era big bomb was usedto clear landing zones and I believe was a fuel/air bomb it weighed about 15000 lb Bob Smart ( bsmart@verdix.com)
adrian%cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK (Adrian Hurt) (06/01/89)
From: Adrian Hurt <adrian%cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk@NSFnet-Relay.AC.UK> 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
hwt@watmath.waterloo.edu (Henry Troup) (06/02/89)
From: bnr-fos!bnr-public!hwt@watmath.waterloo.edu (Henry Troup) I've felt for a long time that the 22000lb bomb load of the British Vulcan bomber was no coincidence. utgpu!bnr-vpa!bnr-fos!hwt%bnr-public | BNR is not | All that evil requires hwt@bnr (BITNET/NETNORTH) | responsible for | is that good men do (613) 765-2337 (Voice) | my opinions | nothing.
dcn@ihlpm.ATT.COM (Dave Newkirk) (06/02/89)
From: dcn@ihlpm.ATT.COM (Dave Newkirk) Does anyone know the explosive rating of these large bombs? If the Grand Slam weighed 11 tons, is it's TNT-equivalent somewhere in that range? What about the fuel/air (propane?) bombs used in Vietnam? I am wondering if large conventional bombs are close to small nuclear weapons in explosive force. -- Dave Newkirk, att!ihlpm!dcn