Originally Posted by
Pontius Navigator
b1Lanc, I think you are right about the declassified material that was omitted from the original film. I think there were two aspects. One was the spin rotation and the other concerned the potential for High Ball to be used against ships.
In a more recent documentary they dealt a problem with the explosive filling. It had to be evenly distributed one the cylinder, ie balanced. I think that was something omitted from the reason for early failures.
It was interesting to see the mine shown in the movie vice what it really looked like - a cylinder for Upkeep. I first saw the real one on a model in a hobby shop in the 70's after Upkeep was declassified and thought boy did they get that wrong. If I recall the smaller Highball dropped initially from the Wimpy and Mossies were just about what the movie portrayed as the original Upkeep. I forget who, but one of the surviving crewmembers recalled in a video that the plane shook like mad once the rotation began.
Interesting 2017 story in the Sun, with some pictures, of attempts to raise a couple of Highballs this last year. Don't know if they ever did.
https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/new...ary-next-year/