quote:

Originally posted by stathem:
The Lancaster - I've had that pic on my hard drive a long time, or at least teh same still from the original film.

Fairly sure that is from the test release of a Grand Slam, so 22,000lb. That bomb was designed first but used later - the Tallboy was a derivate of the Grand Slam, but easier to carry.

Oh..and, it wasn't a 'blockbuster' (although I suspect you used tha as a throwaway line.) A 'Blockbuster' (and it is the original derivation of the term in use today) was a thin walled high blast bomb with a large explosive-to-weight ratio designed to literally blast city blocks down)

The Tallboy and Grand slam had relatively low explosive-to-weight ratios, but very high aerodynamic performance, designed to penetrate earth and concrete (i.e. a bunker buster) by achieveing very high terminal velocities in excess of the speed of sound if dropped from high enough. The explosion was supposed to take place underground to achieve cavitation and shake the target down - an earthquake bomb, which was their other name.