Join for free
Page 1 of 2 1 2 >
Omah's Avatar
Omah
Chatterbox
Omah is offline
Ludlow
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 10,147
Omah is male  Omah has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
12-10-2020, 06:24 PM
1

Polish divers tackle massive British WW2 bomb in Baltic

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-54514118



The Tallboy, or "earthquake" bomb, is 6m (19ft) long and weighs 5.4 tonnes, nearly half of which is explosives. It is a seismic, deep-penetration bomb, developed by the legendary British aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis and designed to fall near a target and destroy it by exploding with a massive shockwave. The Royal Air Force dropped such bombs in 1944-45, using Lancaster bombers, and the Nazi V-rocket launch sites were among the targets.*

The RAF dropped it in a raid in 1945 which sank the German cruiser Lützow. The bomb is now at the bottom of a Baltic Sea shipping canal, embedded at a depth of 12m with only its nose is sticking out.
*
Accomplishments of the Tallboy included the 24 June 1944 Operation Crossbow attack on La Coupole—along with Grand Slams—which undermined the foundations of the V-2 assembly bunker and a Tallboy attack on the Saumur tunnel on 8–9 June 1944, when bombs passed straight through the hill and exploded inside the tunnel 60 ft (18 m) below the surface.

The last of the Kriegsmarine's Bismarck-class battleships, the Tirpitz, was sunk by an air attack using Tallboys in Operation Catechism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallboy_(bomb)

Probably of interest to WWII historians or film buffs .....

JBR's Avatar
JBR
Chatterbox
JBR is offline
Cheshire, UK
Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 32,785
JBR is male  JBR has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
12-10-2020, 09:17 PM
2

Re: Polish divers tackle massive British WW2 bomb in Baltic

Originally Posted by Omah ->
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-54514118



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallboy_(bomb)

Probably of interest to WWII historians or film buffs .....

Those were the days!
Morticia's Avatar
Morticia
Chatterbox
Morticia is offline
England
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 13,924
Morticia is female  Morticia has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
12-10-2020, 09:31 PM
3

Re: Polish divers tackle massive British WW2 bomb in Baltic

That's actually quite interesting and a nice change from Brexit or Covid news stories ....
It's amazing that they're still finding these old bombs .
JBR's Avatar
JBR
Chatterbox
JBR is offline
Cheshire, UK
Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 32,785
JBR is male  JBR has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
12-10-2020, 09:38 PM
4

Re: Polish divers tackle massive British WW2 bomb in Baltic

Originally Posted by Morticia ->
That's actually quite interesting and a nice change from Brexit or Covid news stories ....
It's amazing that they're still finding these old bombs .
Not too surprising, though. After all, there were many thousands dropped by both sides (not the Tallboy, of course) that there must still be quite a few lying about unexploded and not even known about...

until...!
Morticia's Avatar
Morticia
Chatterbox
Morticia is offline
England
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 13,924
Morticia is female  Morticia has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
12-10-2020, 09:46 PM
5

Re: Polish divers tackle massive British WW2 bomb in Baltic

You're right ... I just googled it and had loads of hits referring to the discovery of and safe detonation of tons of unexploded bombs found on construction sites in London.

It's not something I'd thought about much but it's pretty scary when you do.
Bruce's Avatar
Bruce
Chatterbox
Bruce is offline
Wollongong, Australia
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 15,218
Bruce is male  Bruce has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
12-10-2020, 11:05 PM
6

Re: Polish divers tackle massive British WW2 bomb in Baltic

My childhood in the early 50s was punctuated by the unearthing of unexploded ordinance during bomb site clearance and redevelopment, it was a fairly common occurrence especially living on the Kent coast.

Mines washing up on the beach followed by the sound of the bell of the local police car as they came to clear the area was also a regular activity for many years - naturally we kids always gathered as close as possible to the mine to watch it rolling about on its spikes in the waves(!) The cables on the mines rusted through and tides and currents did the rest. The bomb disposal squad would tow it a little way offshore and explode it by shooting at it. It was all very exciting.
Omah's Avatar
Omah
Chatterbox
Omah is offline
Ludlow
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 10,147
Omah is male  Omah has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
13-10-2020, 08:54 PM
7

Re: Polish divers tackle massive British WW2 bomb in Baltic

WW2 'earthquake' bomb explodes in Poland during attempt to defuse it

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-54522203

All the divers were unharmed but the shock of the detonation was felt in parts of the city.
Omah's Avatar
Omah
Chatterbox
Omah is offline
Ludlow
Joined: Feb 2014
Posts: 10,147
Omah is male  Omah has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
14-10-2020, 02:58 AM
8

Re: Polish divers tackle massive British WW2 bomb in Baltic

Video clip now available:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-54533860
Longdogs's Avatar
Longdogs
Chatterbox
Longdogs is offline
SW England
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 43,957
Longdogs is male  Longdogs has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
15-10-2020, 04:30 PM
9

Re: Polish divers tackle massive British WW2 bomb in Baltic

Amazing that it can still explode after all these years. That was when we made things to last.
JBR's Avatar
JBR
Chatterbox
JBR is offline
Cheshire, UK
Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 32,785
JBR is male  JBR has posted at least 25 times and has been a member for 3 months or more 
 
15-10-2020, 07:26 PM
10

Re: Polish divers tackle massive British WW2 bomb in Baltic

Originally Posted by Longdogs ->
Amazing that it can still explode after all these years. That was when we made things to last.
And it was bigger than anything anyone else had, even the Yanks! (Except for nuclear bombs of course!)
 
Page 1 of 2 1 2 >

Thread Tools


© Copyright 2009, Over50sForum   Contact Us | Over 50s Forum! | Archive | Privacy Statement | Terms of Use | Top

Powered by vBulletin Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.