101-466: A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets , and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be predetermined, in a similar fashion to a regular naval depth charge . The inventor of the first such bomb was the British engineer Barnes Wallis , whose "Upkeep" bouncing bomb
202-521: A Gooseberry breakwater for the invasion of Normandy , so the old battleship HMS Malaya , then in reserve, was used instead (also moored in Loch Striven). With crew on board Malaya , bombers dropped inert Highball prototypes fitted with hydrostatic pistols, aiming at the ship. They struck the ship, and at least two punched a hole in the ship's side. On 17 May, for the first time, Highball prototypes were released in pairs, only one second apart. By
303-640: A Jurchen Jin army against a Chinese Song city. The term for this explosive bomb seems to have been coined the " thunder crash bomb " during a Jin dynasty (1115–1234) naval battle in 1231 against the Mongols . The History of Jin (金史) (compiled by 1345) states that in 1232, as the Mongol general Subutai (1176–1248) descended on the Jin stronghold of Kaifeng , the defenders had a " thunder crash bomb " which "consisted of gunpowder put into an iron container ... then when
404-404: A blasting cap containing a more sensitive primary explosive . A thermobaric bomb is a type of explosive that utilizes oxygen from the surrounding air to generate an intense, high-temperature explosion, and in practice the blast wave typically produced by such a weapon is of a significantly longer duration than that produced by a conventional condensed explosive. The fuel-air bomb is one of
505-474: A " fleet in being ". Consequently, Wallis's proposed weapon attracted attention and underwent active testing and development. On 24 July 1942, a "spectacularly successful" demonstration of such a weapon's potential occurred when a redundant dam at Nant-y-Gro , near Rhayader , in Wales, was destroyed by a mine containing 279 lb (127 kg) of explosive: this was detonated against the dam's side, underwater, in
606-495: A A-26C Invader. Twenty-five inert Highballs, renamed "Speedee" bombs, were also sent for use in the USAAF trials. Drop tests were carried out over Choctawhatchee Bay near Eglin Field , Florida, but the programme was abandoned after the bomb bounced back in a drop on Water Range 60, causing loss of the rear fuselage and a fatal crash on 28 April 1945 . As well as the two types listed above,
707-593: A bomb exploding in a transport network often damages, and is sometimes mainly intended to damage, the network itself. This applies to railways , bridges , runways , and ports , and, to a lesser extent (depending on circumstances), to roads. In the case of suicide bombing , the bomb is often carried by the attacker on their body, or in a vehicle driven to the target. The Blue Peacock nuclear mines, which were also termed "bombs", were planned to be positioned during wartime and be constructed such that, if disturbed, they would explode within ten seconds. The explosion of
808-477: A bomb may be triggered by a detonator or a fuse . Detonators are triggered by clocks , remote controls like cell phones or some kind of sensor, such as pressure (altitude), radar , vibration or contact. Detonators vary in ways they work, they can be electrical, fire fuze or blast initiated detonators and others, In forensic science , the point of detonation of a bomb is referred to as its blast seat, seat of explosion, blast hole or epicenter . Depending on
909-493: A combination of negative shock wave effects and extreme temperature to incinerate objects within the blast radius. Fragmentation is produced by the acceleration of shattered pieces of bomb casing and adjacent physical objects. The use of fragmentation in bombs dates to the 14th century, and appears in the Ming Dynasty text Huolongjing . The fragmentation bombs were filled with iron pellets and pieces of broken porcelain. Once
1010-407: A comparatively low explosive yield to scatter harmful material over a wide area. Most commonly associated with radiological or chemical materials, dirty bombs seek to kill or injure and then to deny access to a contaminated area until a thorough clean-up can be accomplished. In the case of urban settings, this clean-up may take extensive time, rendering the contaminated zone virtually uninhabitable in
1111-515: A cylindrical bomb within a spherical casing. Development, testing and use of Upkeep and Highball were to be undertaken simultaneously, since it was important to retain the element of surprise: if one were to be used against a target independently, it was feared that German defences for similar targets would be strengthened, rendering the other useless. However, Upkeep was developed against a deadline, since its maximum effectiveness depended on target dams being as full as possible from seasonal rainfall, and
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#17328383040711212-716: A depth of 27 feet (8 m), and its weight was 1,280 pounds (581 kg), of which 600 pounds (272 kg) was Torpex. Highball was never used operationally: on 12 November 1944, in Operation Catechism , Lancasters with Tallboy bombs sank its primary target, Tirpitz . Other potential targets had been considered during Highball's development and later. These included the ships of the Italian navy , canals, dry docks, submarine pens , and railway tunnels (for which testing took place in 1943). But Italy surrendered in September 1943, and
1313-412: A high burst pressure to be useful as a bomb. A high explosive bomb is one that employs a process called " detonation " to rapidly go from an initially high energy molecule to a very low energy molecule. Detonation is distinct from deflagration in that the chemical reaction propagates faster than the speed of sound (often many times faster) in an intense shock wave. Therefore, the pressure wave produced by
1414-444: A high explosive is not significantly increased by confinement as detonation occurs so quickly that the resulting plasma does not expand much before all the explosive material has reacted. This has led to the development of plastic explosive . A casing is still employed in some high explosive bombs, but with the purpose of fragmentation . Most high explosive bombs consist of an insensitive secondary explosive that must be detonated with
1515-524: A larger version of Wallis's weapon for use against dams, and a smaller one for use against ships: these were code-named "Upkeep" and "Highball" respectively. A third version, code-named "Baseball", was also planned for use by MTBs or MGBs of the Royal Navy Coastal Forces , but "never saw the light of day" Though each version derived from what was originally envisaged as a spherical bomb, early prototypes for both Upkeep and Highball consisted of
1616-413: A longer explosive pulse for greater effect against underwater targets; the principal means of detonation was by three hydrostatic pistols, as used in depth charges , set to fire at a depth of 30 feet (9 m); and its overall weight was 9,250 lb (4,200 kg), of which 6,600 lb (3,000 kg) was Torpex. Provision was also made for "self-destruct" detonation by a fuze , armed automatically as
1717-574: A major military feature, and a number of novel delivery methods were introduced. These included Barnes Wallis 's bouncing bomb , designed to bounce across water, avoiding torpedo nets and other underwater defenses, until it reached a dam , ship , or other destination, where it would sink and explode. By the end of the war, planes such as the allied forces' Avro Lancaster were delivering with 50 yd (46 m) accuracy from 20,000 ft (6,100 m), ten ton earthquake bombs (also invented by Barnes Wallis) named " Grand Slam ", which, unusually for
1818-535: A manufacturer of large aircraft at its main factory at Brooklands in Surrey. In the interwar period , the company produced the Wellesley , designed by Rex Pierson using the geodetic airframe principle of structural engineer Barnes Wallis . This would later evolve into the famous Wellington bomber , a mainstay of RAF Bomber Command and RAF Coastal Command during World War II . The Cold War -era Valiant V bomber
1919-401: A mixture of an oxidizing salt, such as potassium nitrate (saltpeter), with solid fuel, such as charcoal or aluminium powder. These compositions deflagrate upon ignition, producing hot gas. Under normal circumstances, this deflagration occurs too slowly to produce a significant pressure wave; low explosives, therefore, must generally be used in large quantities or confined in a container with
2020-525: A number of other examples, are displayed at various sites: In 2010, a diving project in Loch Striven successfully located several Highball prototypes, under around 114 feet (35 m) of water. In July 2017, two Highballs were successfully recovered from Loch Striven in a joint operation by teams from East Cheshire Sub-Aqua Club and the Royal Navy. One is now displayed at the de Havilland Aircraft Museum and
2121-452: A paper entitled "A Note on a Method of Attacking the Axis Powers ". Referring to the enemy's power supplies, he wrote (as Axiom 3): "If their destruction or paralysis can be accomplished they offer a means of rendering the enemy utterly incapable of continuing to prosecute the war" Barnes Wallis's April 1942 paper "Spherical Bomb – Surface Torpedo" described a method of attack in which
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#17328383040712222-619: A practical means of destroying them had yet to be devised. In 1942, the British were seeking a means of destroying the German battleship Tirpitz , which posed a threat to Allied shipping in the North Atlantic and had already survived a number of British attempts to destroy it. During this time, the Tirpitz was being kept safe from attack by being moored in Norwegian fjords, where it had the effect of
2323-407: A significant explosion can occur. Under the right circumstances, rapid consolidation can provoke a chain reaction that can proliferate and intensify by many orders of magnitude within microseconds. The energy released by a nuclear fission bomb may be tens of thousands of times greater than a chemical bomb of the same mass. A thermonuclear weapon is a type of nuclear bomb that releases energy through
2424-619: A single pylon. Some bombs are equipped with a parachute , such as the World War II "parafrag" (an 11 kg (24 lb) fragmentation bomb), the Vietnam War -era daisy cutters , and the bomblets of some modern cluster bombs . Parachutes slow the bomb's descent, giving the dropping aircraft time to get to a safe distance from the explosion. This is especially important with air-burst nuclear weapons (especially those dropped from slower aircraft or with very high yields), and in situations where
2525-526: A smaller weapon, for use by motor torpedo boats , was proposed by the Admiralty in December 1942. Known as "Baseball", it was going to be a tube-launched weapon weighing 300 pounds (140 kg), of which half would be explosive, with an anticipated range of 1,000 to 1,200 yards (910 to 1,100 m). Inert prototypes of both Upkeep and Highball that were dropped at Reculver have been recovered and these, along with
2626-562: A standard design out of standard components and intended to be deployed in a standard explosive device. IEDs are divided into three basic categories by basic size and delivery. Type 76, IEDs are hand-carried parcel or suitcase bombs, type 80, are "suicide vests" worn by a bomber, and type 3 devices are vehicles laden with explosives to act as large-scale stationary or self-propelled bombs, also known as VBIED (vehicle-borne IEDs). Improvised explosive materials are typically unstable and subject to spontaneous, unintentional detonation triggered by
2727-537: A test undertaken by A.R. Collins, a scientific officer from the Road Research Laboratory , which was then based at Harmondsworth , Middlesex. A.R. Collins was among a large number of other people besides Barnes Wallis who made wide-ranging contributions to the development of a bouncing bomb and its method of delivery to a target, to the extent that, in a paper published in 1982, Collins himself made it evident that Wallis "did not play an all-important role in
2828-543: A weapon would be bounced across water until it struck its target, then sink to explode under water, much like a depth charge . Bouncing it across the surface would allow it to be aimed directly at its target, while avoiding underwater defences, as well as some above the surface, and such a weapon would take advantage of the "bubble pulse" effect typical of underwater explosions , greatly increasing its effectiveness: Wallis's paper identified suitable targets as hydro-electric dams "and floating vessels moored in calm waters such as
2929-615: A whole suite of military products. Armstrong Whitworth were notable for their artillery manufacture at Elswick and shipbuilding at a yard at High Walker on the River Tyne . 1929 saw the merger of the acquired railway business with those of Cammell Laird to form Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon (MCCW) ; Metro Cammell. In 1935, before rearmament began, Vickers-Armstrongs was the third-largest manufacturing employer in Britain, behind Unilever and ICI . In 1956 Dorothy Hatfield became
3030-469: A wide range of environmental effects, ranging from impact and friction to electrostatic shock. Even subtle motion , change in temperature , or the nearby use of cellphones or radios can trigger an unstable or remote-controlled device. Any interaction with explosive materials or devices by unqualified personnel should be considered a grave and immediate risk of death or dire injury. The safest response to finding an object believed to be an explosive device
3131-454: Is a hypothetical nuclear weapon that does not require a primary fission stage to start a fusion reaction. Antimatter bombs can theoretically be constructed, but antimatter is very costly to produce and hard to store safely. The first air-dropped bombs were used by the Austrians in the 1849 siege of Venice . Two hundred unmanned balloons carried small bombs, although few bombs actually hit
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3232-437: Is created by the sudden release of heat caused by an explosion. Military bomb tests have documented temperatures of up to 2,480 °C (4,500 °F). While capable of inflicting severe to catastrophic burns and causing secondary fires, thermal wave effects are considered very limited in range compared to shock and fragmentation. This rule has been challenged, however, by military development of thermobaric weapons , which employ
3333-415: Is to get as far away from it as possible. Atomic bombs are based on the theory of nuclear fission , that when a large atom splits, it releases a massive amount of energy. Thermonuclear weapons , (colloquially known as "hydrogen bombs") use the energy from an initial fission explosion to create an even more powerful fusion explosion. The term " dirty bomb " refers to a specialized device that relies on
3434-570: The Avro Lancaster "B III (Special)" . In testing, it was found that Upkeep's spherical casing would shatter on impact with water, but that the inner cylinder containing the bomb would continue across the surface of the water much as intended. As a result, Upkeep's spherical casing was eliminated from the design. Development and testing concluded on 13 May 1943 with the dropping of a live, cylindrical Upkeep bomb 5 miles (8 km) out to sea from Broadstairs , Kent, by which time Wallis had specified that
3535-620: The Latin bombus , which in turn comes from the Greek βόμβος romanized bombos , an onomatopoetic term meaning 'booming', 'buzzing'. Gunpowder bombs had been mentioned since the 11th century. In 1000 AD, a soldier by the name of Tang Fu (唐福) demonstrated a design of gunpowder pots (a proto-bomb which spews fire) and gunpowder caltrops, for which he was richly rewarded. In the same year, Xu Dong wrote that trebuchets used bombs that were like "flying fire", suggesting that they were incendiaries. In
3636-463: The Minister of Aircraft Production , and distance from the target by a simple, hand-held, triangular device: with one corner held up to the eye, projections on the other two corners would line up with pre-determined points on the target when it was at the correct distance for bomb release. In practice, this could prove awkward to handle, and some aircrews replaced it with their own arrangements, fixed within
3737-531: The United States Air Force 's MOAB (officially Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or more commonly known as the "Mother of All Bombs"). Below is a list of five different types of bombs based on the fundamental explosive mechanism they employ. Relatively small explosions can be produced by pressurizing a container until catastrophic failure such as with a dry ice bomb . Technically, devices that create explosions of this type can not be classified as "bombs" by
3838-695: The VC10 jet airliner, which was used in RAF service as an aerial refuelling tanker until 2013. Vickers-Armstrongs was one of the few British manufacturers of marine diesel engines , notably for Royal Navy S , T-class and Estonian Kalev -class submarines during World War II. After the Great War Vickers needed to diversify when the military contracts ended. Between WWI and the Second World War they introduced ranges of target and sporting rifles and shotguns,
3939-615: The Vickers machine gun of 1912 used in World War I from Vickers Limited. There were other Vickers machine guns aside from the regular water-cooled model (known universally as the "Vickers"): the Vickers-Berthier (VB) machine gun used by the Indian Army , the Vickers "K" .303 aircraft machine gun developed from it, and the Vickers "S" 40 mm aircraft gun. An unusual machine gun also made
4040-569: The "thunder-crash bombs" has been discovered in an underwater shipwreck off the shore of Japan by the Kyushu Okinawa Society for Underwater Archaeology. X-rays by Japanese scientists of the excavated shells confirmed that they contained gunpowder. Explosive shock waves can cause situations such as body displacement (i.e., people being thrown through the air), dismemberment , internal bleeding and ruptured eardrums . Shock waves produced by explosive events have two distinct components,
4141-827: The 1980s. Vickers-Armstrong also built the VA-3 hovercraft . The company was also known for its tank designs, starting with the widely used Vickers 6-Ton . It also produced the influential, if never actually produced, Independent A1E1 tank. One of the company's most important designs was the Valentine Infantry Tank, produced in the thousands in World War II. The military vehicle manufacturing interests were divested into Vickers plc , and would later pass to Alvis Vickers , now part of BAE Systems Land and Armaments . Notable Vickers-Armstrongs military vehicles include; Vickers formed its Aviation Department in 1911. The aircraft interests of Armstrong Whitworth were not acquired in
Bouncing bomb - Misplaced Pages Continue
4242-437: The Norwegian fjords ". Both types of target were already of great interest to the British military when Wallis wrote his paper (which itself was not his first on the subject); German hydro-electric dams had been identified as important bombing targets before the outbreak of World War II , but existing bombs and bombing methods had little effect on them, as torpedo nets protected them from attack by conventional torpedoes and
4343-400: The [caliper] arms". Because of these errors, the prototypes hit the target too fast and too hard. Two aircraft failed to release their prototypes, one of which then fell off while the aircraft was turning for a second attempt. It was under such circumstances that Upkeep came to be deployed independently of Highball. In addition to continuing problems in testing Highball, it had been observed at
4444-532: The aircraft itself, and involving chinagraph and string. On the night of 16/17 May 1943, Operation Chastise attacked dams in Germany's Ruhr Valley , using Upkeep. Two dams were breached, causing widespread flooding, damage, and loss of life. The significance of this attack upon the progress of the war is debated. British losses during the operation were heavy; eight of the 19 attacking aircraft failed to return, along with 53 of 113 RAF aircrew. The breach resulted in
4545-491: The aircraft releases a bomb at low altitude. A number of modern bombs are also precision-guided munitions , and may be guided after they leave an aircraft by remote control, or by autonomous guidance. Aircraft may also deliver bombs in the form of warheads on guided missiles , such as long-range cruise missiles , which can also be launched from warships . A hand grenade is delivered by being thrown. Grenades can also be projected by other means, such as being launched from
4646-492: The aircraft, because the bomb matched the speed at which it was dropped. Attempts to rectify that with booster rockets failed and the project was cancelled in 1944. In 2011, a project led by Dr Hugh Hunt of the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, re-created the bouncing bomb and tested it in a Dambusters-like raid. Buffalo Airways was selected as the company to fly the mission with their Douglas DC-4 . The project
4747-401: The best-known types of thermobaric weapons. Nuclear fission type atomic bombs utilize the energy present in very heavy atomic nuclei, such as U-235 or Pu-239. In order to release this energy rapidly, a certain amount of the fissile material must be very rapidly consolidated while being exposed to a neutron source. If consolidation occurs slowly, repulsive forces drive the material apart before
4848-515: The bomb explodes, the resulting fragments are capable of piercing the skin and blinding enemy soldiers. While conventionally viewed as small metal shards moving at super- supersonic and hypersonic speeds, fragmentation can occur in epic proportions and travel for extensive distances. When the SS Grandcamp exploded in the Texas City Disaster on April 16, 1947, one fragment of that blast
4949-538: The bomb had landed. The filming of the documentary was itself documented as part of the Ice Pilots NWT reality television series that follows Buffalo Airways in season 3 episode 2 "Dambusters". Bomb A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy . Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanical stress ,
5050-408: The bomb must be dropped at "precisely" 60 ft (18 m) above the water and 232 mph (373 km/h) ground speed , with back-spin at 500 rpm : the bomb "bounced seven times over some 800 yards, sank and detonated". In the operational version of Upkeep, known by its manufacturer as "Vickers Type 464", the explosive charge was Torpex , originally designed for use as in torpedoes, to provide
5151-428: The bomb was dropped from the aircraft, and timed to fire after 90 seconds. The bomb was held in place in the aircraft by a large pair of calipers, or triangulated carrying arms, which swung away from either end of the bomb to release it. Back-spin was to begin 10 minutes before arriving at a target and was imparted via a belt driven by a Vickers Jassey hydraulic motor mounted forward of the bomb's starboard side. This motor
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#17328383040715252-846: The city. The first bombing from a fixed-wing aircraft took place in 1911 when the Italians dropped bombs by hand on the Turkish lines in what is now Libya , during the Italo-Turkish War . The first large scale dropping of bombs took place during World War I starting in 1915 with the German Zeppelin airship raids on London , England, and the same war saw the invention of the first heavy bombers . One Zeppelin raid on 8 September 1915 dropped 4,000 lb (1,800 kg) of high explosives and incendiary bombs, including one bomb that weighed 600 lb (270 kg). During World War II bombing became
5353-608: The combination of fission and fusion of the light atomic nuclei of deuterium and tritium. With this type of bomb, a thermonuclear detonation is triggered by the detonation of a fission type nuclear bomb contained within a material containing high concentrations of deuterium and tritium. Weapon yield is typically increased with a tamper that increases the duration and intensity of the reaction through inertial confinement and neutron reflection. Nuclear fusion bombs can have arbitrarily high yields making them hundreds or thousands of times more powerful than nuclear fission. A pure fusion weapon
5454-618: The company possessed a major yard on each coast of Britain; the Naval Construction Yard of Vickers at Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria and the Naval Yard of Armstrong Whitworth at High Walker on the River Tyne . Vickers-Armstrongs was one of the most important warship manufacturers in the world. These interests were renamed as Vickers-Armstrongs Shipbuilders in 1955, changing again to Vickers Limited Shipbuilding Group in 1968. The Barrow yard
5555-496: The company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, with the remainder being divested as Vickers plc in 1977. It featured among Britain's most prominent armaments firms. Vickers merged with the Tyneside -based engineering company Armstrong Whitworth , founded by William Armstrong , to become Vickers-Armstrongs. Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers had developed along similar lines, expanding into various military sectors and produced
5656-533: The deaths of roughly 1600 civilians, including around 1000 prisoners and slave laborers. Upkeep was not used again operationally. By the time the war ended, the remaining operational Upkeep bombs had started to deteriorate and were dumped into the North Sea without their detonation devices. In April 1942, Wallis himself had described his proposed bomb as "essentially a weapon for the Fleet Air Arm ". This naval aspect
5757-433: The definition presented at the top of this article. However, the explosions created by these devices can cause property damage, injury, or death. Flammable liquids, gasses and gas mixtures dispersed in these explosions may also ignite if exposed to a spark or flame. The simplest and oldest bombs store energy in the form of a low explosive . Black powder is an example of a low explosive. Low explosives typically consist of
5858-520: The detonation devices had been set off. Subsequently, a 385-kilogram (849 lb) version of Upkeep, code-named "Kurt" or "Emil", was built at the Luftwaffe 's Erprobungsstelle , or "test site", on Germany's Baltic coast at Travemünde , one in a network of four such establishments in Nazi Germany. The importance of back-spin was not understood and trials by a Focke-Wulf Fw 190 proved to be dangerous to
5959-513: The development of this project and in particular, that very significant contributions were made by, for example, Sir William Glanville , Dr. G. Charlesworth, Dr. A.R. Collins and others of the Road Research Laboratory". However, the modification of a Vickers Wellington bomber, the design of which Wallis himself had contributed to, for work in early testing of his proposed weapon, has been cited as an example of how Wallis "would have been
6060-550: The dropping of prototypes at both Chesil Beach and Reculver. While early prototypes dropped at Chesil Beach in December 1942 were forerunners for both versions of the bomb, those dropped at Chesil Beach in January and February 1943 and at Reculver in April 1943 included Highball prototypes. They were dropped by the modified Wellington bomber and at Reculver by a modified de Havilland Mosquito B Mk IV , one of two assigned to Vickers Armstrong for
6161-487: The end of March 1943 that "At best [aircrews] would need two months' special training". With this in mind, 618 Squadron had been formed on 1 April 1943 at RAF Skitten , near Wick , in northeastern Scotland, to undertake "Operation Servant", in which Tirpitz would be attacked with Highball bouncing bombs. On 18 April it was recommended that Operation Servant should be undertaken before the end of June, since 618 Squadron could not be held back for this purpose indefinitely. It
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#17328383040716262-486: The end of May 1944, problems with releasing Highball had been resolved as had problems with aiming. Aiming Highball required a different method from Upkeep; the problem was solved by Wallis's design of a ring aperture sight fixed to a flying helmet. Highball was now a sphere with flattened poles , and the explosive charge was Torpex, enclosed in a cylinder, as in Upkeep; detonation was by a single hydrostatic pistol, set to fire at
6363-448: The explosive fireball as well as incendiary agents projected onto the body. Personal protective equipment, such as a bomb suit or demining ensemble, as well as helmets, visors and foot protection, can dramatically reduce the four effects, depending upon the charge, proximity and other variables. Experts commonly distinguish between civilian and military bombs. The latter are almost always mass-produced weapons, developed and constructed to
6464-575: The first female engineering apprentice at Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), Brooklands , followed in 1958 by Janet Gulland who was the first female graduate apprentice at the company. In 1960 the aircraft interests were merged with those of Bristol , English Electric and Hunting Aircraft to form the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). This was owned by Vickers, English Electric and Bristol (holding 40%, 40% and 20% respectively). BAC in turn owned 70% of Hunting. The Supermarine operation
6565-570: The first to acknowledge" the contributions of others. Also, in the words of Eric Allwright, who worked in the Drawing Office for Vickers-Armstrongs at the time, "Wallis was trying to do his ordinary job [for Vickers-Armstrongs] as well as all this – he was out at the Ministry and down to Fort Halstead and everywhere"; Wallis's pressing of his papers, ideas and ongoing developments on relevant authorities helped ensure that development continued; Wallis
6666-463: The fuse was lit (and the projectile shot off) there was a great explosion the noise whereof was like thunder, audible for more than thirty miles, and the vegetation was scorched and blasted by the heat over an area of more than half a mou . When hit, even iron armour was quite pierced through." The Song Dynasty (960–1279) official Li Zengbo wrote in 1257 that arsenals should have several hundred thousand iron bomb shells available and that when he
6767-460: The impact and penetration of pressure-driven projectiles, pressure damage, and explosion-generated effects. Bombs have been utilized since the 11th century starting in East Asia . The term bomb is not usually applied to explosive devices used for civilian purposes such as construction or mining , although the people using the devices may sometimes refer to them as a "bomb". The military use of
6868-559: The interim. The power of large bombs is typically measured in kilotons (kt) or megatons of TNT (Mt) . The most powerful bombs ever used in combat were the two atomic bombs dropped by the United States to attack Hiroshima and Nagasaki , and the most powerful ever tested was the Tsar Bomba . The most powerful non-nuclear bomb is Russian " Father of All Bombs " (officially Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power (ATBIP)) followed by
6969-427: The internal organs. When the overpressure wave impacts the body it can induce violent levels of blast-induced acceleration. Resulting injuries may range from minor to unsurvivable. Immediately following this initial acceleration, deceleration injuries can occur when a person impacts directly against a rigid surface or obstacle after being set in motion by the force of the blast. Finally, injury and fatality can result from
7070-469: The latest date for this was set at 26 May 1943. In the event, as this date approached, Highball remained in development, whereas development of Upkeep had completed, and the decision was taken to deploy Upkeep independently. In January 1974, under Britain's " thirty year rule ", secret government files for both Upkeep and Highball were released, although technical details of the weapons had been released in 1963. Testing of Upkeep prototypes with inert filling
7171-651: The merger and later passed to the Hawker Aircraft group. In 1928 the Aviation Department became Vickers (Aviation) Ltd and soon after acquired Supermarine Aviation Works , which became the Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd and was responsible for producing the revolutionary Spitfire fighter. In 1938, both companies were re-organised as Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd , and a new 'art deco' headquarters designed by architect C. Howard Crane
7272-471: The military text Wujing Zongyao of 1044, bombs such as the "ten-thousand fire flying sand magic bomb", "burning heaven fierce fire unstoppable bomb", and "thunderclap bomb" ( pilipao ) were mentioned. However these were soft-shell bombs and did not use metal casings. Bombs made of cast iron shells packed with explosive gunpowder date to 13th century China. Explosive bombs were used in East Asia in 1221, by
7373-458: The muzzle of a rifle (as in the rifle grenade ), using a grenade launcher (such as the M203 ), or by attaching a rocket to the explosive grenade (as in a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG)). A bomb may also be positioned in advance and concealed. A bomb destroying a rail track just before a train arrives will usually cause the train to derail . In addition to the damage to vehicles and people,
7474-674: The new company. Westland bought out Vickers interest along with other partners in 1970. Vickers formed a subsidiary, the Airship Guarantee Company, under the direction of Cdr Dennis Burney solely for the purpose of producing the R100 airship for the government. Between 1911 and 1970, just over 16,000 aircraft were built under the Vickers name; together the 11,462 Wellington and 846 Warwick aircraft (which were structurally similar) make up over 75% of this total. Vickers became renowned as
7575-522: The other arrived at Brooklands Museum in late 2019 after undergoing conservation at the Mary Rose Trust . After Operation Chastise, German forces discovered an Upkeep bomb intact in the wreckage of the Lancaster commanded by Flt Lt Barlow, which had struck high tension cables at Haldern, near Rees, Germany , and crashed. The bomb had not been released and the aircraft had crashed on land, so none of
7676-512: The other target ideas were dismissed as impracticable. In January 1945, at the Vickers experimental facility at Foxwarren , near Cobham, Surrey , a Douglas A-26 Invader medium bomber of the USAAF was adapted to carry two Highballs almost completely enclosed in the bomb bay, using parts from a Mosquito conversion. After brief flight testing in the UK, the kit was sent to Wright Field , Ohio, and installed in
7777-477: The positive and negative wave. The positive wave shoves outward from the point of detonation, followed by the trailing vacuum space "sucking back" towards the point of origin as the shock bubble collapses. The greatest defense against shock injuries is distance from the source of shock. As a point of reference, the overpressure at the Oklahoma City bombing was estimated in the range of 28 MPa . A thermal wave
7878-499: The purpose in Loch Striven . This series of tests, on 9 and 10 May, was hampered by a number of errors: buoys intended to mark a point 1,200 yards (1,097 m) from Courbet , where the prototypes were to be dropped, were found to be too close to the ship by 400 yards (366 m), and, according to Wallis, other errors were due to "Variations in dimensions of [prototypes] after filling and [dimensionally incorrect] jigs for setting up
7979-534: The purpose. By early February 1943, Wallis envisaged Highball as "comprising a 500 lb (230 kg) charge in a cylinder contained in a 35 in (89 cm) sphere with (an overall weight) of 950 lb (430 kg)"; a modified Mosquito could carry two such weapons. In tests at Reculver in the middle of April 1943, it was found that Highball's spherical casing suffered similar damage to that of Upkeep. A prototype with an altered design of casing strengthened by steel plate, but empty of inert filling or explosive,
8080-420: The sudden and drastic rise in ambient pressure that can damage the internal organs, possibly leading to permanent damage or death. Fragmentation can also include sand, debris and vegetation from the area surrounding the blast source. This is very common in anti-personnel mine blasts. The projection of materials poses a potentially lethal threat caused by cuts in soft tissues, as well as infections, and injuries to
8181-585: The term "bomb", or more specifically aerial bomb action, typically refers to airdropped, unpowered explosive weapons most commonly used by air forces and naval aviation . Other military explosive weapons not classified as "bombs" include shells , depth charges (used in water), or land mines . In unconventional warfare , other names can refer to a range of offensive weaponry. For instance, in recent asymmetric conflicts, homemade bombs called " improvised explosive devices " (IEDs) have been employed by irregular forces to great effectiveness. The word comes from
8282-515: The time, were delivered from high altitude in order to gain high speed, and would, upon impact, penetrate and explode deep underground (" camouflet "), causing massive caverns or craters, and affecting targets too large or difficult to be affected by other types of bomb. Modern military bomber aircraft are designed around a large-capacity internal bomb bay , while fighter-bombers usually carry bombs externally on pylons or bomb racks or on multiple ejection racks, which enable mounting several bombs on
8383-490: The type, quantity and placement of explosives, the blast seat may be either spread out or concentrated (i.e., an explosion crater ). Other types of explosions , such as dust or vapor explosions, do not cause craters or even have definitive blast seats. Vickers-Armstrongs Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of
8484-485: The weapon to remain in contact with, or at least close proximity to, its target on arrival. Back-spin is a normal feature in the flight of golf balls , owing to the manner in which they are struck by the club, and it is perhaps for this reason that all forms of the weapon which were developed were known generically as "Golf mines", and some of the spherical prototypes featured dimples. It was decided in November 1942 to devise
8585-402: Was nationalised and became part of British Shipbuilders in 1977, was privatised as VSEL in 1986 and remains in operation to this day as BAE Systems Submarines . Meanwhile, the Naval Yard at High Walker on the River Tyne passed to Swan Hunter in 1968, was nationalised and became part of British Shipbuilders in 1977, was privatised still as Swan Hunter in 1986 but closed down during
8686-494: Was a two-ton anchor which was hurled nearly two miles inland to embed itself in the parking lot of the Pan American refinery. To people who are close to a blast incident, such as bomb disposal technicians, soldiers wearing body armor, deminers, or individuals wearing little to no protection, there are four types of blast effects on the human body: overpressure (shock), fragmentation , impact , and heat . Overpressure refers to
8787-449: Was another Vickers product. Military aircraft with the Vickers brand: Vickers also competed for contracts with designs such as: Vickers was a pioneer in producing airliners , early examples being converted from Vimy bombers. Post-WWII, Vickers went on to manufacture the piston-engined Vickers VC.1 Viking airliner, the Viscount and Vanguard turboprop airliners and (as part of BAC)
8888-626: Was bought by the then field engineers, and continues today as UK Calibrations Limited based in Kidderminster . The Vickers Stitcher was still being manufactured in India as recently as 2005. The steelmaking division became part of British Steel Corporation and the remaining interests were divested as the public company Vickers plc , whose various components were later split. The Vickers name ceased to exist in 2003 when Rolls-Royce renamed its acquisition Vinters Engineering . Vickers-Armstrongs inherited
8989-597: Was built at its Brooklands factory in Surrey although the former Supermarine and Vickers works continued to brand their products under their former names. In 1960 the aircraft interests were one of the founding companies merged to form BAC. The hovercraft activities of Vickers-Armstrongs were merged with those of the Westland Aircraft company (including those of Saunders-Roe ) to form the British Hovercraft Corporation in 1966 with Vickers holding 25% of
9090-470: Was carried out at Chesil Beach , Dorset, flying from RAF Warmwell in December 1942, and at Reculver , Kent, flying from RAF Manston in April and May 1943, at first using a Vickers Wellington bomber. However, the dimensions and weight of the full-size Upkeep were such that it could only be carried by the largest British bomber available at the time, the Avro Lancaster , and even that had to undergo considerable modification in order to carry it resulting in
9191-451: Was closed in 1963 and the Vickers brand name for aircraft was dropped by BAC in 1965. Under the terms of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act 1977 BAC was nationalised to become part of British Aerospace (later BAE Systems ). The Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act also led to the nationalisation of Vickers' shipbuilding division as part of British Shipbuilders . This division
9292-599: Was documented in the documentary television show Dambusters Fly Again in Canada and Australia, Dambusters: Building the Bouncing Bomb in the UK, and the Nova episode Bombing Hitler's Dams in the US. It involved dropping a replica dummy bomb, which performed as intended, striking a replica dam which had been specially constructed; this was subsequently destroyed by a charge placed where
9393-457: Was dropped on 30 April and emerged "quite undamaged". In further testing on 2 May, two examples of this prototype with inert filling, bounced across the surface of the water as intended, though both were found to be dented. Further testing was carried out by three modified Mosquitoes flying from RAF Turnberry , north of Girvan , on the west coast of Scotland, against a target ship, the former French battleship Courbet , which had been moored for
9494-614: Was in Jingzhou , about one to two thousand were produced each month for dispatch of ten to twenty thousand at a time to Xiangyang and Yingzhou. The Ming Dynasty text Huolongjing describes the use of poisonous gunpowder bombs, including the "wind-and-dust" bomb. During the Mongol invasions of Japan , the Mongols used the explosive "thunder-crash bombs" against the Japanese. Archaeological evidence of
9595-643: Was later to be pressed by a minute issued by British prime minister Winston Churchill , in February 1943, asking "Have you given up all plans for doing anything to Tirpitz while she is in Trondheim ? ... It is a terrible thing that this prize should be waiting and no one be able to think of a way of winning it." However, Highball was ultimately developed as an RAF weapon for use against various targets, including Tirpitz . From November 1942, development and testing for Highball continued alongside that of Upkeep, including
9696-456: Was not until early September 1943 that, in view of continuing problems with both Highball and its release mechanism, most of 618 Squadron was "released for other duties". This in practice meant the abandonment of Operation Servant. Core personnel of 618 Squadron were retained and these continued work on the development of Highball. Testing between 15 and 17 May 1944 showed progress with Highball. By this time Courbet had been designated for use as
9797-474: Was powered by the hydraulic system normally used by the upper gun turret , which had been removed. Close contact with the dam was necessary to obtain the maximum effectiveness from the explosive. Height was checked by a pair of intersecting spotlight beams, which, when converging on the surface of the water, indicated the correct height for the aircraft – a method devised for the raid by Benjamin Lockspeiser of
9898-457: Was principal designer of the models, prototypes and "live" versions of the weapon; and, perhaps most significantly, it was Wallis who explained the weapon in the final briefing for RAF crews before they set off on Operation Chastise , to use one of his designs in action. A distinctive feature of the weapon, added in the course of development, was back-spin, which improved the height and stability of its flight and its ability to bounce, and helped
9999-554: Was privatised as Vickers Shipbuilding & Engineering in 1986, later passing to GEC as part of Marconi Marine and survives to this day as part of BAE Systems Submarines . Vickers Container and Packaging Machinery Division, including the Vickers Stitcher and Vickers Hardness Machine business, was bought by Fords Industrial Products, part of Barry Wehmiller in 1986. In 1991 the Vickers Hardness Machinery business
10100-634: Was the Vickers Higson . Vickers produced larger weapons such as the Ordnance QF 2-pounder gun used on tanks. In 1948 Vickers bought the Australian business of Charles Ruwolt Ltd for £750,000 following Ruwolt's death in 1946. During World War II Ruwolt's firm produced armaments for the Australian Government, including field artillery such as mortars and howitzer cannon. After the 1927 merger,
10201-406: Was used in the RAF 's Operation Chastise of May 1943 to bounce into German dams and explode underwater, with an effect similar to the underground detonation of the later Grand Slam and Tallboy earthquake bombs , both of which he also invented. After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Wallis saw strategic bombing as the means to destroy the enemy's ability to wage war and he wrote
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