Today in Technology History
(To receive "Today in Technology History"
by e-mail, click here. To read past issues click here.)March 14
You have probably heard about the powerful bombs being used in Afghanistan, such as the 5,000-pound "bunker buster" and the 15,000-pound "daisy cutter." The latter is the heaviest bomb that exists today -- but it's not the heaviest bomb in history.
During World War II, Britain's heaviest bombs were designed by Sir Barnes Wallis (1887-1979), an engineer who had also designed aircraft. In 1943, Dr. Wallis designed an 8,600-pound bomb for use against German dams. He then outdid himself by building the "Tall Boy" bomb, which weighed 12,000 pounds. This heavy bomb was used against targets on both land and sea.
Finally, Wallis enlarged Tall Boy to make the 22,000-pound Grand Slam bomb. The Grand Slam was so big that it could only be carried one at a time by strong four-engine bomber planes -- which had to be specially refitted for the purpose.
On March 14, 1945, the 617 Squadron of Britain's Royal Air Force (nicknamed the "Dambusters") attacked the Bielefeld railway viaduct in Germany. One plane, flown by RAF pilot C.C. Calder, carried the first Grand Slam -- a bomb which had never been tested. The tremendous force of that Grand Slam (and the Tall Boys carried by the rest of the squadron) successfully destroyed the viaduct and caused a mini-earthquake.
Grand Slam bombs were used 40 more times during the war.
Although atomic bombs are much more powerful than these conventional bombs, they actually weigh less. (The bomb used on Hiroshima, for example, weighed only 9000 pounds but "had more than 2,000 times the blast power of the British 'Grand Slam,'" according to President Truman.) Fifty-seven years after its first use, the Grand Slam remains history's heaviest bomb.
Related links:
Click here for pictures and technical descriptions of Tall Boy and Grand Slam.
Click here to read about Wallis's dambuster bombs.
Click here to read about all the conventional bombs currently in the U.S. arsenal.
| Biotechnology | Convergence | Creativity | Culture | E-conomics | Education |
| Equity | Gov't & Politics | Innovation | National Security | Personal Security |
For errors, broken links, questions or comments,
contact webmaster@tecsoc.org.
