Bombissimo

40


March 14, 1945 the British for the first time dropped on Germany a ten-ton bomb "Grand Slam" - the heaviest aviation ammunition ever used in hostilities.

The Grand Slam had a thick-walled steel combat unit in the nose, capable of breaking more than 40 meters of soil or up to seven meters of reinforced concrete when falling from a height of several kilometers. Such penetrating ability allowed to open even the most powerful and well-protected underground bunkers. On the very first flight with the Grand Slam, the crew of the English Lancaster bomber from the 617 aircraft fleet achieved great success, destroying the strategically important railway viaduct in Bielefeld, which the British had previously repeatedly bombed with unsuccessful conventional bombs.

In total, 99 ten-tones were released, of which they managed to lose 42 before the end of the war. The objects of the bombing were bridges, viaducts and reinforced concrete shelters for submarines. In the post-war period, bombs of similar caliber were used by Soviet aircraft in Afghanistan (nine-ton FAB-9000 M-54), showing high effectiveness against cave shelters. For three months 1988, Tu-16 bombers dropped 289 such bombs “behind the river”.

After the war, the Americans produced the Grand Slames for a time under a license under the designation М110, and in 1948 they developed an even heavier X-NUMX-tonne bunker bomb T-20, the Cloudmaker, which was a much larger English prototype. However, it was never used in practice, and in the 12 year it was removed from service because it was losing effectiveness in nuclear weapons. The splash screen is the Grand Slam at the British Aviation Museum.



The construction of the "Grand Slam". The bomb was equipped with three inertial fuses, screwed into the bottom of the combat unit.



Delivery of the "Grand Slama" to the goal was carried out by four-engined Avro "Lancaster" bomber, which for this was subjected to a serious alteration (a modification of the "Lancaster Special"). They removed all protective armaments, except for the tail turret, and, since the ammunition did not fit into the standard bomb bay, it was hung openly, removing the doors of the bomb hood and removing part of the skin at the bottom of the fuselage.
The figure shows an aircraft with onboard codes of the 617 Division of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command, the only aircraft unit to which such vehicles entered.



Unloading of ten-ton bombs arriving from the plant at the English air base in spring 1945.

Bombissimo


Penetrating warheads.



The Grand Slam under the fuselage of the Lancaster.



The moment of reset.



The result of hitting the Grand Slam in the Bielefeld Viaduct.



The result of the 27 March 1945 raid is a hole made by the Grand Slam in a reinforced concrete floor of a “pencil box” for submarines.
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  1. +5
    19 March 2016 05: 54
    In the case of the barbaric murder of their neighbors, the Anglo-Saxons are unparalleled. On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
    1. +1
      19 March 2016 06: 41
      Now, if I’m not mistaken, the British threw such a bomb into the lagoon where Tirpitz was standing, maybe I’m mistaken, and 5 ton was dropped.
      1. +12
        19 March 2016 07: 21
        Quote: mirag2
        I am mistaken, and 5 ton was dumped.

        5 ton Tallboy and not one
      2. +10
        19 March 2016 07: 29
        Quote: mirag2
        Now, if I’m not mistaken, the British threw such a bomb into the lagoon where Tirpitz was standing, maybe I’m mistaken, and 5 ton was dropped.

        Tirpitz was bombed with Tallboy bombs (5443kg). Operation Catechism. The Grand Slam bomb is an enlarged copy.
        1. 0
          19 March 2016 09: 37
          And the tolboy seems to be an enlarged copy of a large-caliber projectile with a stabilizer bolted
      3. The comment was deleted.
    2. +6
      19 March 2016 06: 42
      In the case of the barbaric murder of their neighbors, the Anglo-Saxons are unparalleled.
      That's right. Especially in relation to the population of the colonies. There was pure genocide there.
      1. +9
        19 March 2016 08: 20
        In the case of the barbaric murder of their neighbors, the Anglo-Saxons are unparalleled.
        That's right. Especially in relation to the population of the colonies. There was pure genocide there.
        And the Spanish conquistadors did not cut out the population of Cuba or Mexico, and the Turks were better
        1. +1
          29 March 2016 16: 16
          And those Japs are generally not human.
      2. +8
        19 March 2016 10: 04
        Quote: mirag2
        Especially in relation to the population of the colonies. Here there was pure genocide.

        A purely English invention - the devilish wind. Civilized is ...
        1. +5
          19 March 2016 16: 51
          Quote: Zoldat_A
          Quote: mirag2
          Especially in relation to the population of the colonies. Here there was pure genocide.

          A purely English invention - the devilish wind. Civilized is ...

          I look, judging by the minuses of those who disagree, someone decided that I invented the Devil's Wind, and the artist Vereshchagin, without knowing that, painted in advance? And in the red caftans - archers? And in white clothes - vacationers from the local, conveniently located near the guns?

          Well, well ... Let the defenders of the "humane" British cooperate with the Poles and with the Kiev horses. Those big masters invent the "truth" ...
    3. +1
      19 March 2016 08: 10
      In the case of the barbaric murder of their neighbors, the Anglo-Saxons are unparalleled. On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
      Oh yes you forget there was a war the Germans also weren’t big humanists fired at London Faum-1-2 the British answered as they could and even after the veins of the Germans this war began
      1. +20
        19 March 2016 08: 53
        Lex. And the war then began through the fault of the arrogant Saxons.
        1. +8
          19 March 2016 10: 23
          Quote: St. Propulsion
          Lex. And the war then began through the fault of the arrogant Saxons.

          good

          You comrade Senior Warrant Officer, only on the ram .. os .. the doctor will now run into star-striped - and that’s it. Look at the flag ...

          In Europe and the rest of the "democratic" world, it is somehow embarrassing to recall the Munich Agreement. And it looks completely unethical to list the sponsors of the NSDAP who gave money to Hitler before July 1944 ... So many interesting surnames !!! And among them are a bunch of those that are now in the news the next day ...

          N. ChamberlainFor example, I could tell a lot about that ...
          The 60th Prime Minister of Great Britain 1937-1940. Supporter of a policy of appeasement of the aggressor. In 1938 he signed the Munich Agreement with Hitler, Mussolini and Daladier. Returning to London, Chamberlain presented to the public at the airport an signed agreement with the words: "I brought you peace." The very next year, it became clear that the policy of appeasement did not bring Europe peace: the Second World War began.


          И E. Deladier also knew a lot about who allowed Hitler to piracy in Europe
          In 1938 he participated in the conclusion of the Munich Agreement, renouncing allied obligations towards Czechoslovakia.


          America, unfortunately for her, then no one really asked ... Although American money - from Ford to the Rockefellers, Hitler was very useful.
      2. +4
        19 March 2016 10: 22
        "faum" from the second half of 1944 was answered by the Germans, "dear" ... the British bombed civilians much earlier from 1942-43
        1. 0
          19 March 2016 15: 02
          Quote: Generalissimo
          much earlier from 1942-43

          Just half a bucket of oil per capita from your words! It turns out that the USSR was the first to bomb Berlin. But the subjects of Her greatness from 1940 to 1942 could not pick a chopik out of her nose?
          1. +2
            19 March 2016 20: 36
            It turns out that the Soviet Union at the same time purposefully bombed the station and the government quarter in Berlin, and the British then also purposefully demolished residential quarters, killing exclusively civilians, because of which Berliners had to hide in special high-security bomb shelters of the ground type
            https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Зенитные_башни_люфтваффе
          2. 0
            21 March 2016 06: 25
            Quote: 97110
            But the subjects of Her greatness from 1940 to 1942 could not pick a chopik out of her nose?
            Formally, the beginning of the bombing of the British Royal Air Force was a response to the Luftwaffe raids on London and other English cities in the fall of 1940. And although they have been held since the end of 1940, the “era of strategic bombing” began on February 14, 1942, when the corresponding General Directive No. 5 was approved,
        2. +1
          19 March 2016 20: 32
          Quote: Generalissimo
          "faum" from the second half of 1944 was answered by the Germans, "dear" ... the British bombed civilians much earlier from 1942-43

          But the effect of the bombing in the 42nd was small.
          There were no pilots, no planes. They collected a grouping of cars in 200, received from the Germans on the nose and fell silent for a couple of months.
          Only from the end of the 43rd was it possible to build up significant forces. Then already in the sky over Germany at the same time up to 1000 bombers, but this is already together with the Americans.
          1. +1
            19 March 2016 21: 18
            The British bombed at night, the Americans in the afternoon. And then the raid on Schweinfurt and Regensburg for the latter ended in disaster even after the Luftwaffe was defeated by the Soviet Air Force in the Battle of Kuban
            Therefore, they managed to build up these considerable forces :-)
    4. The comment was deleted.
    5. +1
      20 March 2016 19: 38
      Quote: Sentence
      In the case of the barbaric murder of their neighbors, the Anglo-Saxons are unparalleled. On both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.




      He often asked elderly Germans: "For whom Alliierte was bombed more - military or civilian targets?"

      They answer that in civilian terms.

      By the end of the war, they (Alliierten) generally had ... for the civilian population, the main thing is that they take the territory faster than the Russians.
    6. +1
      21 March 2016 06: 16
      Quote: Sentence
      In the case of the barbaric murder of their neighbors, the Anglo-Saxons are unparalleled.

      Yes, you throw your propaganda, talking about the bomb, not politics!
    7. +1
      24 March 2016 12: 06
      We are alone white and fluffy ...
  2. +3
    19 March 2016 07: 42
    "Tallboy" and then "Grand Slam" -seismic bombs, that is, when they explode, they cause the effect of an earthquake. This is achieved due to the high penetrating ability. Developed by the English engineer Barnes Wallace, the idea was proposed back in 1941. The essence of the idea is due to a certain elongated the shape and mass of a bomb dropped from its intended height when it meets the surface has a speed greater than the speed of sound. The bomb stabilizers, rotated about the axis of the bomb, give it rotation, increasing accuracy and penetration.
    1. +1
      19 March 2016 08: 55
      Well, they were silent quietly until it touched them
      1. +4
        19 March 2016 09: 31
        Read the story. And do not look like dok.film about the Second World War from the BBC.
        1. +1
          19 March 2016 09: 37
          BBC. - I never listen to the BBC
        2. +1
          19 March 2016 09: 37
          BBC. - I never listen to the BBC
  3. +8
    19 March 2016 07: 46
    A group portrait of the 617th Squadron of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) at the Avro Lancaster bomber. The 617th Squadron ("Dambusters") was created to conduct attacks on dams located in the Ruhr region of Germany (Operation "Chastise").
    1. +9
      19 March 2016 11: 50
      bionik. To hit the dams, the British used another special product - "jumping bomb". It looks like a barrel, spins up in flight. At a certain speed of the carrier and the height of the drop, it is able to "jump" (ricochet) over the water surface, "jumping" over obstacles (anti-torpedo nets, metal barriers, etc.). Something like topmast bombing in the aviation of the Navy. The flip side of this "innovation" was extremely high requirements for the accuracy of the release.
      1. +2
        19 March 2016 11: 52
        "Jumping Bomb".
  4. +3
    19 March 2016 09: 35
    The mighty bomb. But they didn’t even try to make it manageable. And the Germans are already in the 43rd. were.
    1. +1
      19 March 2016 12: 57
      The Americans appeared a bit later
      http://airwar.ru/weapon/ab/asm2.html
    2. +1
      19 March 2016 13: 12
      M-d-ah! Well, the "Fritzes" had controlled ones .... but by the number of explosives, were they "comparable"? And in order to "bang" the big-u-u-u-u-uh dam "dynamite" to the fig!
  5. -1
    19 March 2016 12: 08
    Kind of weird. To defeat a modest-looking viaduct, such a powerful bomb was needed. Maybe they didn’t know how to aim or were they afraid of air defense?
    1. 0
      19 March 2016 16: 18
      Duc dive something was not!
  6. 0
    19 March 2016 12: 53
    As for the "heaviest" - it is wrong, because MOAB and MOP are modern - heavier (10,5 and 14,5 tons, respectively)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBU-43/B_Massive_Ordnance_Air_Blast
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_Ordnance_Penetrator
    1. +1
      19 March 2016 18: 07
      Bersalier, in fact, the author immediately made a slip in the very first lines — the hardest of those that was used in hostilities! Did you use them? what
  7. +6
    19 March 2016 12: 55
    Without the characteristics of weapons, the article is somehow incomplete.
    Features
    Weight, kg: 9,98 tons
    Length, mm: 7,70 m
    Diameter, mm: 1,17 m
    Explosive: Torpeks (Torpeks (eng. Torpex) - high explosive, 50% more powerful than TNT, consisting of 42% trinitrotoluene, 40% RDX and 18% aluminum powder. Torpeks was used in World War II, starting in 1942 d. Torpex got its name from the English abbreviation "torpedo explosive" - ​​"torpedo explosive" - ​​since it was originally used in torpedoes.)
    Mass of explosive, kg: 4 144 kg
    Explosion power: 6,5 tons of TNT

    Work on a more powerful modification of the Tallboy bomb began on July 18, 1943. The result was a 10-ton Grand Slam bomb. Like the Tallboy, the tail unit of the Grand Slam created a stabilizing torque, since the bomb had to enter the ground strictly vertically. More durable than a conventional bomb, the hull allowed the bomb to penetrate deeper into the ground. Due to the robust case, the explosive charge was reduced, which required the use of the most effective British explosive of the time - torpex. After the hot torpex was poured inside the bomb, it took about a month for it to harden.
    Due to the high cost and complexity of producing Grand Slam bombs, bomber crews were instructed that if the bomb was not dropped on the target, return with it to the base instead of dropping it into the sea (as is the case with conventional bombs).
    To carry the bombs, a specially modified Avro Lancaster bomber was used. After dropping from a height of about 8 km, the bomb reached supersonic speed and penetrated into the ground to a depth of 40 m. As a result of an underground explosion, a seismic wave occurred, causing damage to structures on the surface of the earth.
    Field tests of the new bomb were carried out at a secret V-1944 rocket production plant captured in October 2 in northern France. In the period from November 10 to 20, 1944, several Grand Slam bombs were dropped on the reinforced concrete dome that protected the plant.
  8. +6
    19 March 2016 13: 36
    Some incomprehensible fuss is erupting on the forum, and not for the first time, and not only in this topic.

    What does the "Anglo-Saxons" and their "weapons" have to do with it? The war is going on, not for life, but for death. The Germans are building shelters in Cherbourg, which are not taken by conventional AB, bunkers, factories in the rocks, Tirpitz is the same. How to take them, naked well ..? How many aircraft were killed in the raids on the submarine base in Cherbourg?
    Instead of a normal discussion of the bomb, its qualities, the results of its use, CPRCH emerges about the Anglo-Saxons.
    1. +3
      19 March 2016 14: 23
      Tradition however :)
    2. -2
      19 March 2016 15: 03
      Not from scratch .. Dresden and Hamburg .. Fiery storm .. Do not la-la, especially from 404.
      1. +5
        19 March 2016 16: 05
        Dresden and Hamburg - this is the bombing of the enemy territory. Now about la-la ... and about 404. Clever Churkestan or what? I am a citizen of Russia and live in the south of Ukraine with my Ukrainian wife. Mother Ukrainian, father Volga Tatar. Moved from Sakhalin. More skullcap questions?
        1. -5
          19 March 2016 17: 13
          Before being rude .. dude from 404 ..) Read the story and do not breed demagoguery. And questions .. Questions will be asked by the competent authorities. Filter the bazaar.
        2. +1
          19 March 2016 21: 15
          RESIDENTIAL QUARTERS purposefully, together with civilians ... IGNORING PROMZONES and transport infrastructure.
  9. +6
    19 March 2016 15: 32
    War is always blood, death, trouble, grief! But after separate statements of the Anglo-Saxons you start
    to think about bombs and how to use them and most importantly by whom!

    “It is economically feasible, according to the international community, to leave 15 million people living in Russia.” - Margaret Thatcher

    “A good Indian is a dead Indian!” - General Sheridan

    "Our soldiers see Japanese as non-humans, and look at them as something completely disgusting, like cockroaches or mice." -Ernie Pyle American military correspondent

    "We must be cruel towards the Germans, I mean the Germans as a nation, and not just the Nazis. Either we must castrate the German people, or treat them in such a way that they do not give birth to offspring that can continue to behave like this, like in the past. "- Roosevelt

    "We bombed cities with civilians in order to demoralize people and they stopped going to work at military factories!" - Discovery channel

    “If we see that Germany is winning the war, we should help Russia, if Russia is winning, we should help Germany, and let them kill each other as much as possible.” - Gary Truman
    1. -1
      19 March 2016 18: 16
      Quote: qwert111
      “It is economically feasible, according to the international community, to leave 15 million people living in Russia.” - Margaret Thatcher

      belay Not for the night, be the mentioned Hitler, after all, he was generally "good-natured" in comparison with the "iron witch" Thatcher belay According to the Barbarossa plan, after the Wehrmacht entered the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line, it was planned to leave about 30 million people (out of about 80) on this territory "for the needs of the superior race."
    2. -2
      19 March 2016 20: 37
      You forgot to insert into this list "Kill the German". For the sake of completeness.
      Breathtaking text.
      1. +1
        19 March 2016 21: 18
        Quote: Cap.Morgan
        You forgot to insert into this list "Kill the German". For the sake of completeness.
        Breathtaking text.

        So it seems that the conversation went over for the Anglo-Saxons belay Or are you so sorry for the Germans? belay Then, for the sake of completeness, we can recall (and insert): Directive No. 21-Plan "Barbarossa"; "General plan Ost"; "Order for firmness" of Field Marshal von Reichenau ... Enough? Also in its own way "very informative reading". Especially for liberoids groaning over Bavarian beer and Mercedes-why didn't de Hitler capture us! request You are not the case? negative
      2. 0
        19 March 2016 21: 21
        only it was for soldiers at the front ...
      3. 0
        28 March 2016 14: 18
        Great text, by the way.
  10. +1
    19 March 2016 18: 37
    Razvedka_Boem UZ Today, 17:13 ↑

    Before being rude .. dude from 404 ..) Read the story and do not breed demagoguery. And questions .. Questions will be asked by the competent authorities. Filter the bazaar.


    Rjunimagu! They blacklisted me. They were embarrassed, apparently.
    Well, and by the road ... Tell me, citizen Razvedka_Boem, do you already use paper, or is it still a rope, in the old fashioned way?
  11. +9
    19 March 2016 18: 44
    Guys, stop breeding the left bazaar here ... not at the bazaar ... otherwise it started govnometenie to each other
    1. 0
      19 March 2016 19: 29
      Andrew!
      So here, after all, as in a kindergarten. And who first started with insults?
  12. +4
    19 March 2016 21: 28
    This article only briefly talks about the use of large-caliber anti-aircraft batteries of the USSR Air Force in Afghanistan. In my opinion, it is necessary to add about these events.
    Initially, they were going to form a DA task force using the most modern technology - Tu-22M3 bombers from the Poltava 185th Guards. Tbap, however, after the very first sorties, it was found that the efficiency of bombing from supersonic aircraft is lower than from less high-speed Tu-16s. The group was supplemented by a Tu-16 squadron with crews having combat experience of the 251st Guards. tbap. The role played by the fact that by this time the Tu-16s were the only bombers capable of using the heaviest bombs (the new technology had a maximum caliber of ammunition limited to “three-ton”). True, the “carcasses” by 1988 had a considerable age - some of them were already older than their pilots, but the DA veteran was quite capable of fulfilling the tasks set. The accuracy of the bombing, especially large-caliber ammunition, Tu-16 confidently surpassed more modern technology.
    In total, six DA regiments took part in the combat work as part of the DA operational group for three months (in addition to the heavy bombardment regiments, reconnaissance and interference detectors supporting them were also involved). Poltava 185th Guards Tbap replaced the 402nd Guards. Tbap from Orsha, then the 840th Tbap from Soltsy, who completed the campaign, began fighting. The objectives were both areas along the withdrawal routes, and bases and enemy concentration centers in the depths of Afghanistan near Kandahar and Jalalabad, as well as along the Soviet-Afghan border, where the goal was to prevent attacks on Soviet territory.
    1. +1
      19 March 2016 21: 32
      During the combat operation of Tu-22M3 aircraft from the 326th military unit (402nd and 840th Tbap), 3684 tons of bombs were dropped, mainly of 3000 kg caliber. 600 sorties were carried out with them at a cost of 1200 FAB-3000, another seven sorties took place with the FAB-1500, having consumed 56 such bombs. The crews of the 402nd regiment that completed the campaign worked exclusively with the FAB-3000, performing 1989 sorties and dropping 71 three-tonnes in the two weeks of February 142. Tu-16 aircraft consumed 289 high explosive bombs of the FAB-9000M54 type. Echoing strikes on the Afghan mountains completed the "biography" of nine-tonnes __ the largest bombs that were in service with Soviet aircraft. Soon after the end of the Afghan campaign, the Tu-16 was discontinued, and the FAB-9000 was removed from service with them.
      In the pictures:
      Fab 9000 in flight
      A group of participants in those events of 251 guards. TBAP.
  13. 0
    19 March 2016 23: 50
    The photo shows an interesting bomb holder. Just caught in a chain.)
    There was a bomber radar on Lancaster, and the accuracy of such a carcass was quite acceptable.
  14. SNV
    +1
    20 March 2016 13: 17
    Quote: Denimax
    The photo shows an interesting bomb holder. Just caught in a chain.)


    The FAB-5000s used by our aircraft were also suspended under the Pe-8s on their belts and did not fit into the bomb bay.
    1. 0
      20 March 2016 19: 33
      The sought-after "five-ton" were original in that their body was made of reinforced concrete: http://airwar.ru/weapon/ab/fab5000.html

      "... At that time, the Air Force command was looking for ways to replace the steel shells of the bombs with others, made of less scarce material. The young design bureau chose reinforced concrete for this purpose. This decision was radical. Before that it was believed that without a shell with high strength there would be no The shells were made solid forged with thick walls.The explosive weight was only about a third of the total weight of the bomb - the rest was metal.

      After calculations and experiments at the test site, it turned out; the main purpose of the body of a high-explosive bomb is to prevent deformation of the charge before the fuse is triggered. A sharp decrease in the strength of the outer shell has almost no effect on the force of the explosion .... "

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