Tallboy explodes in Poland
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: River Thames & Surrey
Age: 72
Posts: 8,850
Would you have heard it though? It was supposed to detonate underground; sure there would have been a helluva shock wave but would you have actually heard much?
We felt the shock wave from the explosion at the Hemel Hempstead oil terminal years ago (whole house shook) and we're 30 odd miles from there in Surrey.
We felt the shock wave from the explosion at the Hemel Hempstead oil terminal years ago (whole house shook) and we're 30 odd miles from there in Surrey.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Outer ring of HEL
Posts: 98
Regarding the Tallboy description, is as follows per "British Explosive Ordnance NAVORD 1665 10th June 1946", page 49
Detonators—Sensitive type, delays up to 60 min. as required operationally.
Exploders
- Primary: 2 ring and 2 solid C.E. pellets; 4 solid RDX/Beeswax pellets
- Secondary: 2 ring and 2 solid large RDX/ Beeswax pellets (placed in a special exploder tube into which the standard exploder container fits).
https://bulletpicker.com/bomb_-12000...-1-tallbo.html

Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Outer ring of HEL
Posts: 98
Seems like the tail section and detonators are already removed. I wouldn't want to do that for a living.

Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Outer ring of HEL
Posts: 98
Interestingly, apparently in total three Tallboys were found unexploded at Sorpe dam in ´58/´59. The first one found in 1958 was defused 6th of Jan 1959, and this is mentioned in many sources throughout the internet.
BUT: the Reuters news video linked above has the headline "More Tallboys Discovered In Germany" with comment "Two more RAF 5 1/2-ton 'tallboy' bombs were found, Jan 19, in the drained Sorpe dam reservoir, North Rhine-Westphalia."
So its four tallboys with the polish one counted for, I reckon there must have been more. Or be more yet to be found.
BUT: the Reuters news video linked above has the headline "More Tallboys Discovered In Germany" with comment "Two more RAF 5 1/2-ton 'tallboy' bombs were found, Jan 19, in the drained Sorpe dam reservoir, North Rhine-Westphalia."
So its four tallboys with the polish one counted for, I reckon there must have been more. Or be more yet to be found.
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: UK
Posts: 402
Interestingly, apparently in total three Tallboys were found unexploded at Sorpe dam in ´58/´59. The first one found in 1958 was defused 6th of Jan 1959, and this is mentioned in many sources throughout the internet.
BUT: the Reuters news video linked above has the headline "More Tallboys Discovered In Germany" with comment "Two more RAF 5 1/2-ton 'tallboy' bombs were found, Jan 19, in the drained Sorpe dam reservoir, North Rhine-Westphalia."
So its four tallboys with the polish one counted for, I reckon there must have been more. Or be more yet to be found.
BUT: the Reuters news video linked above has the headline "More Tallboys Discovered In Germany" with comment "Two more RAF 5 1/2-ton 'tallboy' bombs were found, Jan 19, in the drained Sorpe dam reservoir, North Rhine-Westphalia."
So its four tallboys with the polish one counted for, I reckon there must have been more. Or be more yet to be found.
All of the bombs were supposed to be fitted with delay fuses - twelve with a 11 second delay and the other six on a 30 minute one. However it later emerged that at least two bombs were fitted with direct impact pistols. Again there was a mosquito camera aircraft present filming the attack.
Join Date: Sep 2019
Location: Outer ring of HEL
Posts: 98
Makes me wonder, since three of those were later found unharmed in the reservoir and one in a riverbed, if the design of the bomb (tailfuse for use against hardened structures) caused it to fail when hitting water with sufficient depth.
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: UK (and now rarely behind enemy lines but still enjoying foreign climes.)
Posts: 1,351
https://goo.gl/maps/Af61GwnvF58ByLU8A
And here is a post-bombing recce photo, taken 25 April 1945 (attack occurred 16 April) showing the damage to the canal vicinity, and the Lützow settled in the shallow water. The visible craters all match up nicely with the strikes seen in the video linked earlier in this thread. It is clear from this photo just how devastating that bomb between the dock edge and the battleship hull must have been!
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/F...April_1945.jpg


Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Beyond the Blue Horizon
Age: 60
Posts: 836
Take a look at this, apparently they succeeded: https://www.britishpathe.com/video/V.../query/GERMANY
Seems like the tail section and detonators are already removed. I wouldn't want to do that for a living.

Seems like the tail section and detonators are already removed. I wouldn't want to do that for a living.

Cheers
Mr Mac
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Ferrara
Posts: 2,325
"TNT and RDX are very stable explosives."
A wise man who wishes to live long will treat that as a relative statement
it's best to treat all explosives as if they are loaded guns - they're really designed to go off
A wise man who wishes to live long will treat that as a relative statement
it's best to treat all explosives as if they are loaded guns - they're really designed to go off
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: England
Posts: 91
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: The No Transgression Zone
Posts: 2,363
Cool mechanism as a timing device, the lolipop
Sorry for pedantry
Last edited by Pugilistic Animus; 18th Oct 2020 at 15:48.
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: CYWH (Victoria)
Posts: 5,515
I recently drove to the Bomber Command Museum in Nanton, south of Calgary, to see the reproduction Grand Slam and Tallboy that the museum had recently acquired. Very impressive to see in "in the flesh".


On the starboard side of the Lancaster is an Upkeep mine. I didn't take a picture of it, because I thought I had one!
https://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca
PS Pugilistic Animus, do pedants have short fuses?


On the starboard side of the Lancaster is an Upkeep mine. I didn't take a picture of it, because I thought I had one!
https://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca
PS Pugilistic Animus, do pedants have short fuses?

Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: N/A
Posts: 3,644
The reason they said was that allied bombs when being developed were typically dropped onto harder ground than that which covers most of Germany, and many bombs just literally sank into the loam.
