They would free-fall for around 30 seconds until, at 5,000 feet (1,500 m), the rockets were ignited, causing the tail section to be expelled. Actual explosive content was about 500 lb (230 kg).įor accuracy, the bombs had to be dropped precisely from a pre-determined height (usually 20,000 feet (6,100 m)). Devised by Captain Edward Terrell RNVR of the Admiralty's Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development it had a streamlined hardened case and weighed some 4,500 kilograms (9,900 lb) including the rocket assembly. The British Disney Rocket-Assisted Bomb was another WW2 device to be used against U-boat pens and other super-hardened targets. In an attack on the Valentin U-Boat pens at Farge two Grand Slams went through the 15 ft (4.5 m) reinforced concrete hardening - equalling or exceeding the best current penetration specifications. The bombs had strong casings because they needed to travel through rock rather than reinforced concrete, though they could perform equally well against hardened surfaces. The target then collapses into the hole, no matter how hardened it may be. The Earthquake bombs were designed not to strike a target directly, but to impact beside it, penetrate under it, and create a ' camouflet' or large buried cavern at the same time as delivering a shock wave through the target's foundations. Though these bombs might be thought of as 'bunker busters' today, in fact the original 'earthquake' theory was more complex and subtle than simply penetrating a hardened surface. They had casings of high grade steel, much stronger than the typical WWII bomb so that they would survive hitting a hardened surface, or penetrate deep into the ground. This allowed them to exceed the speed of sound as they fell from 22,000 ft (6,700 m). The designs were very aerodynamic with a tail which caused them to spin. In World War II the British designer Barnes Wallis, already famous for inventing the bouncing-bomb, designed two bombs that would become the conceptual predecessors of modern bunker busters: the five tonne Tallboy and the ten tonne Grand Slam "Earthquake" bombs. They were tested in 19 against the Belgian Fort d'Aubin-Neufchâteau Aircraft delivered bombs World War II United Kingdom Ī U-Boat pen after being hit by a Grand Slam - there is a figure standing on the pile of rubble. Röchling shells were bunker-busting artillery shells, developed by German engineer August Cönders, based on the theory of increasing sectional density to improve penetration.
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