Barnes and Wallis and the earthquake bombs of World War II

World War II brought about the craziest invention humanity could possibly make, with all sorts of individual planes, tanks, cannons, and bombs. When it comes to creative, bizarre and funny inventions, the British can be considered leaders. Sir Barnes Neville Wallis was a prominent scientist, engineer, and inventor. He is best known for inventing the recoilless bomb called the Upkeep that the Royal Air Force used during Operation Chastise when they destroyed German levees in the Ruhr Valley. Interestingly, he also had another unprecedented invention: the “quake bomb”.

Earth shaking idea

During World War II, most bombs were designed to maximize the amount of explosive inside the shell, usually by making the shell thin so that it could be used effectively against unarmored and unarmored targets such as railyards, homes, and factories. However, when used against hard targets, such as German bunkers with reinforced concrete walls 5 meters thick, the explosion would not cause enough damage. If the explosion was right next to it, the explosion would only bounce off the walls, make a loud noise, and possibly hurt the occupants’ ears. Through 15 feet of concrete, even a 2,000-pound bomb would sound like a thump.

Picture of Barnes Wallis in RNV uniform. (Unknown author, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

An effective way to destroy a fortified structure was to use a shock wave that would instead do most of the heavy lifting rather than relying on heat and shrapnel. The thing with a shock wave is that it travels poorly through the air, and the best way to use it is by touching the ground, you know, like an earthquake that will shatter rocks like glass.

When realization dawned in Wallis in 1941, he immediately proposed the idea in the form of a 10-ton bomb to be dropped right next to the target, hiding deep in the ground, before exploding and causing seismic waves. These waves will target the foundations of targeted infrastructure that will be difficult, if not impossible, to repair. Usually, the target you hit and damaged as a result of the explosion can still be repaired, since only certain parts or areas of it will be damaged. Another possible effect of this is that it can create a cavity like a sinkhole causing the structure to collapse near it.

tall boys

Wallis’ idea wasn’t really considered until 1942, with the advent of the heavy Lancaster bomber that could carry such a bomb. With that, he started with his 6-ton version instead of his original 1941 proposal of 10-ton. Its length was also 6.4 meters, and therefore it was called the Tallboys.

Inside, these plane-sized bombs were filled with a 50% stronger blend of TNT called Torpix. Due to the addition of aluminum powder, it had a longer explosive pulse that would bury the depths of the talboise. Apart from that, the strong, high tensile steel shell also ensures that the explosives will survive their impact on the ground at extremely high speeds. The explosive was dropped from a Lancaster launcher at 18,000 feet to achieve a speed of 750 mph before hitting the ground. Multiple fuses ensure that it will be detonated 30 seconds and 30 minutes after impact. The eruption will create a crater 24 meters deep and 30 meters wide.

Five Talboy bombs at a bomb dump in Bardney, Lincolnshire, before being loaded onto RAF No. 9 Squadron aircraft. (Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

Tallboys required extreme engineering and were expensive, so the sling crew was always directed to take them home if not in use rather than just dropping them along the way. The crew wasn’t too happy about having to land fully loaded with 6 tons of high explosive. Hit it on the runway and the explosion will blow a hole in the airspace and kill anyone within a quarter of a mile from the explosion.

When the Tallboys were shot down near a massive facility in France called Blockhaus d’Éperlecques bunker, the closest landed about 50 meters away. However, it caused massive damage to the facility which was nearing completion which resulted in construction being halted, and the building just abandoned.

Approximately 900 Toll Boys would be dropped during the war on such things as subsidiary pens, bunker complexes, and V-1 and V-2 missile storage sites that were located within the mountains and hills

Ten tons of goats

Following the success of the Tallboys, Wallis set out to create a larger version of them: the 10-ton Grand Slam which he referred to affectionately as “Ten Ton Tess”. This Lancaster version carried the muzzle, which jumped about 200 to 300 feet after dropping the bomb and shed its weight. These bombs were so massive that the Lancaster bombers that carried them had to be extensively modified, including new engines, removal of bomb compartment doors, landing gear and reinforced tires, removal of gun turrets and a radar system. Attempting to mitigate the 32 private bombers for these tasks involved stripping everything they could from the aircraft including things like fire axes and even a crew access ladder.

Swipe the U-Boat Pen Grand. (Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

The Grand Slam’s more robust design was due to its goal of penetrating more concrete than the Tallboy. The shells were made of hardened chrome molybdenum and contained 5 tons of Torpex. Thanks to the strength of Ten Ton Tess, nothing built during World War II could have survived the earthquake. In all, 41 Grand Slam champions were dropped before the war ended. Their first use was against the Bielefeld Viaduct. This railway bridge has been a major aerial target since the beginning of the war and millions of tons of bombs have been dropped on it without success. It was over 1,100 feet long, about 80 feet high, and made of stone. It hit only one Grand Slam within 80 feet of the target, and the hole it left caused much of the center of both periods to collapse. It wouldn’t be fixed until 1965 and 1983 respectively.

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