LOUD . . . . !!!

Switching Pedant mode on, Tallboy was designed by Barnes Wallis, not some random Scotsman.....

Well done GeeRam. What a wonderful find great research . This is why I love pprune.
Its a miracle that during all the reworking of the waterway post war, this UXB wasnt disturbed earlier.
That would have taken the edge off someone's day.

I suspect that was why the bomb was found nose up, I reckon there's a very lucky dredger crew around there . . .

They found as a result of dredging operations

https://www.sciencealert.com/five-to...ing-defusal-op

Amazing film footage from the raid

Totally agree, even the missus found it interesting! Best of Pprune award certainly.

Assuming the part about it being nose-up isn't a reporting error - that's very curious. Although dredging may have disturbed it, it would be unlikely to rotate it 180 degrees while leaving the bomb almost entirely covered.
I wonder if the tail fins detached/failed, and the bomb tumbled instead of heading in nose-first. That could also explain why it didn't detonate - landing tail first.

Yep, that's my view as well. Wallis designed the Tallboy fins to spin the bomb on decent, so it would go down vertically, for the penetrative earthquake effect, so a problem with the fins and landing tail fist would indeed account for this.

The saw tooth dock structure appears to have been created by subsequent bombs hitting the dock a few seconds later.

Agree this really is a great find.

I met Barnes-Wallis when I were a young-un many moons ago at Vickers in Weybridge, he seemed a very calm, well-mannered gentleman, maybe a little eccentric, but even then his fame for his achievements was enough to shut up the brash youngster I was then. There used to be a Tallboy and Grand Slam parked against the Brooklands circuit clubhouse, probably still there and if so I'd recommend anyone who has the chance to go and look at them, impressive does not do them justice and it brings home the enormity of what they, BW and the RAF achieved.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....8cb8327346.jpg
Lost something? Scrap yard near Tetney, Lincolnshire

It’s along the lines of “Alle strzelilo“ :-)

A Tallboy in a scrapyard!! Well, after the war I guess there was not much need for them for a while, but it does seem an unfitting place for such a thing! Though perhaps better than in a 617 squadron bomb bay!

How were these things detonated? Presumably you didn't want them going off on impact but wait until they buried themselves a bit.

They moved them inside in the 90s, Brooklands Museum has an example of all the bombs Wallis designed.

There was a story about a Grand Slam or Tallboy on display somewhere that, after years on display, was found to be still filled with explosive. Does anyone remember where?

RAF Scampton IIRC.

I took this photo at RAF Lossiemouth in 2009 - Tallboy, Upkeep and Grand Slam....I met Barnes Wallis in 1963 when I attended a lecture he gave. Fascinating guy, quite unassuming.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....30c143a403.jpg

Hush Hush
 

When I went on ATC camp to RAF Catterick several decades ago there was a very large bomb behind a curtain in one of the hangars.
Upon asking to see it I was informed it was secret and then we were escorted out.
In the evening going to 'dinner' I noticed the side door to this hangar slightly ajar, and popped in to have a peek. It looked remarkably like a tall boy, but of course had no name on it.
RAF Catterick at the time was an RAF Regiment station which makes sense. In fact it was a great camp (with very good food) and a fire/rescue dump that would make you weep today, with 'Many' complete airframes of seemingly new (old) machines which included wonderful Piston Provosts and several early Hunters.

TNT and RDX are very stable explosives.

Didn't meet Wallis but in about 1965, we did a school visit to Brooklands and were ushered into the great man's office in the old race control tower where we were told he still came in to work a few days per week; his Swallow VG models (used in the early experiments at Predannack(?) were there.
Years later in 1973 when I was training at Northern Radar, RAF Lindholme, the RAF bombing school had a Tallboy outside along with a Blue Steel.
More years later at Farnborough, I had the privilege of 'controlling' the Vulcan which did a flypast salute at his home in Surrey after he died.