VERY HEAVY Conventional Aerial Bombs

I posted this on the most recenty MOAB thread, but after further consideration it probably deserves a thread on it's own.

Most of the information comes home.aol.com... , the most comprehensive site on the subject. Anyway I won't rip off too much of his site, I'll just post a few pictures and you can go there if you want to read about the various designs.

The British designed 22,000lb grandslam being loaded

Modified B-29 carrying a Grandslam

B-29 carrying 2 Grandslams

The 12,000lb Tarzon guided bomb next to a Little Boy mockup

This is a montage photograph showing what appears to be a Grand Slam (L) and a much smaller diameter bomb (R) that likely is the 25,000 lb SAP Samson.

Modeled somewhat on the Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs, design work began in 1942 on what would become the enormous T-12 general purpose bomb. Though designed to weigh approximately 42,000 lb, the practicalities of manufacturing drove the weight to 43,600 lb, 41% (17,600 lb) of which was high explosives. The resulting bomb was nearly twice the size and weight of the Grand Slam.

A B-36 bomber could actually carry 2 of these massive weapons

The Earthquake Bomb family: (from L to R) 12,000 lb Tallboy, 22,000 lb Grand Slam, 42,000 lb T-12, and the 25,000 lb SAP Samson

home.aol.com...



[edit on 16-11-2005 by rogue1]

www.raf.mod.uk...


An RAF lancaster bomber dropping a grandslam bomb




The grandslam was developed by the RAF

I would not have liked to have been on the end of one Grandslam,never mind the squadron size attacks mentioned on the RAF website.IIRC the weapons broke the sound barrier on the way down to their targets.
My god the T-12 looks enormous and more like something the Soviets would have built with their fascination with size a la Tsar Bomba.

• Grand Slam
  
  
  
  
• Grand Slam next to a 12,000 lb Tall Boy
  
  
  
  
• The same again with the adition of the famous bouncing bomb on the left with the people leaning on it.
  
  
  
  
• The Bouncing Bomb
  
  
  
  
• 12,000 lb Tall Boy bomb
  
  
  
  
• The Sorpe Dam TallBoy
  The largest bomb ever tackled by the RAF and probably the largest ever rendered safe by any BD Unit was one of their own. This 12000 pounder known as Tallboy was found in the silt and mud at the base of the Sorpe Dam in 1958 after the dam was partially drained.
  The bomb was fitted with three No 47 Half-hour delay fuzes which work by an ampoule of acetone dissolving a celluloid disc retaining a striker. The thickness of the disc determines the delay time and the delay can be set for 72 hours in some cases. The operatives who rendered this bomb safe included a West German. The crew was Flt Lt JM Waters, Herr Walter Mitzk, Corporal Technician F Smith and Corporal Mowett.
  
  www.btinternet.com...
  
  
  
  
• 12,000 lb Tarzon bombs ready for use in Korea
  
  

Geez... Even bigger than the "Little Boy" But they are hardly so effective as modern bombs... It's like comparing dynamite with C4...

I don't think conventional explosives back then were as powerful as they are now. So 22,000 lb in WWII might be 5,000 lb now...

And MOAB sprays it's explosive fuel over the target area then ignites it. Thats why it has a blast radius of 1 mile.

they used `slurry` explosives in them - which ARE as effective as `modern` bombs

Originally posted by NWguy83
I don't think conventional explosives back then were as powerful as they are now. So 22,000 lb in WWII might be 5,000 lb now...

Not true, WWII explosives have almost the same power as modern explosives give or take 5-10%. The main difference now is that explosives are more insensitive to shock and pre detonation.
There are very few explosives more powerful than TNT and those that are, aren't that much more powerful.

Originally posted by NWguy83
And MOAB sprays it's explosive fuel over the target area then ignites it. Thats why it has a blast radius of 1 mile.

No , the MOAB isn`t a fuel-air bomb , its just a very large conventional bomb (hitting the ground or a pressure sensor detonates it slightly above the ground)


[edit on 17-11-2005 by Harlequin]