US drops largest non-nuclear bomb in Afghanistan

Discussion in 'Postwar' started by CL1, Apr 13, 2017.

  1. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer Pearl Harbor Myth Buster

    I read a story written back in the '50s about the (not Soviets, wink-wink) would smuggled fissible material into New York on wrist watches. The "glow in the dark" was via plutonium, and people carefully scraped it off and collected it to make a bomb.
     
  2. Stuart Avery

    Stuart Avery In my wagon & not a muleteer.

    Which Country are we talking about, is it Germany or Norway? Heligoland, or Helgeland. What does 'pfft' mean by the way?
     
  3. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

  4. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

  5. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    There is always someone or something to stop one having fun :rolleyes: - ah well back to Torpex it is then

    TD
     
  6. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    legoland
     
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  7. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    Here's an interesting item on the MOAB....and the cost/individual enemy death.

    MOAB attack on Isis was a baffling choice in cold-blooded terms of cost

    As regards the Royal Air Force,the early Cookies had an improved mixture of RDX/TNT which had already had improved the CWR (charge to weight ratio) on some bomb variants up to 50%.(This was after an inadequate programme of British R&D arising from the 10 Year Rule.) However with thinner casings the Cookie achieved a CWR of 85%.

    Later versions of the Cookie,the 8000 pounder and 12000 pounder were filled with Amatex

    Interesting to note the CWR of the MOAB.....explosive charge 8164 kg....total weight 9800kg which gives a CWR of 83.3% as against the World War 2 RAF Cookie which returned a CWR of 85%...looks like this CWR is the optimum achieved from the envelope design of such bombs.
     
  8. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer Pearl Harbor Myth Buster

    The MOABs have been on the shelf since '03. Probably expedient to use them up.
     
  9. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Google
    pfft
    (p)ft/
    exclamation
    used to represent a brief sound such as that made by the passage of a bullet or that of a small, muffled explosion.
    "Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Bullets ricocheted around the room"
    used to convey the suddenness of a malfunction, disappearance, ending, etc.
    "then pffft, that was the last we heard of them"
    used to express a contemptuous or dismissive attitude.
    "pfft, I don't know what all the fuss is about"

    TD
     
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  10. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Thats new - I didnt know things like this had a 'use by date'

    TD
     
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  11. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    oft with the WTFWT
     
  12. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer Pearl Harbor Myth Buster

    Neither did I, nor did I imply they had one.
     
  13. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Seem to recall an ROC lecture where they told us about the expiry date of nukes, while carefully avoiding the term 'use by'.
    Wonder how it works with these things. A nice stable smaller bomb I could maybe see sitting on the shelf for a while, but dunno about gurt big mounds of explosive like that.

    Makes me wonder what carpet-bombing might look like these days.
    Laser guided precision must be a fine thing in that trade, but still scope for the whirlwind.
     
  14. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Next one been dropped

    [​IMG]
     
  15. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    The adverse performance with obsolescent technology is well known.

    One of the problems that the RAF had was that in the 1930s short of R&D,the government ij 1935 decided to form an Aircraft Bomb Sub Committee which agreed that for vehicle and building targets,the standard bomb would be a 40 pounder and these became available in 1938....the era of the HP Heyford open cockpit front line bomber.They also had on bomb stocks,ex US Air Service "leftover" bombs from the Great War.

    However there was a rethink in early 1938 that there was a need for a 1000 pounder bomb which quickly developed into a 2000 pounder bomb.Changes were made to the 250 and 500 pounder GPs but these bombs had the fillings as the Great War period,being Amatol which was a TNT and Ammonium Nitrate mix.

    Needless to say early war bombing experience revealed that as well as poor delivery accuracy a proportion of the bombs dropped,said to be as high as 50%,failed to explode....duff fuzes were thought to be responsible,being jarred or being damaged on impact....such was the experience of war arising from a late entry into modern warfare.As I see it,it was not until 1941 that things were turned around.

    Probably the 40 pounders were used in other theatres of war and not against Germany...... ....situations such as the Rashid Ali uprising in Iraq when Oxford trainers were quickly converted into bomb carriers.

    I would say that nuclear devices require extensive and frequent serving to assure 100% readiness.This last year I recollect the MOD awarding a lucrative contract to the US for the upkeep of the Polaris missiles...no doubt firing circuits would be proven and components changed or updated.

    Interesting to read of the first atomic bomb being dropped by Paul Tibbets. Parsons USN.the atomic ordnance specialist was in charge of the op and it was his responsibility to arm the bomb in flight in order to avoid any pre drop atomic incident.Apparently during the flight he went into the bomb bay and carried out the meticulous procedure to arm the bomb...a procedure which he himself had generated from his involvement in the Manhattan Project....I will have to ascertain what were his inner thoughts at the time.
     
  16. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Bit like this but more so...



     
  17. Stuart Avery

    Stuart Avery In my wagon & not a muleteer.

    Clive, sorry for not being up to speed with your acronyms. I must be a complete muppet. It would be polite if you or any-body else for that matter, explained the meaning behind them.Must I google them all? If you need to use expletives, then so be it. Can you explain what WTFWT means? I do have an idea. Legoland is smart.. Do you have any pictures?
     
  18. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    I would say WTFWT would translate into

    What The F**k Was That


    By the way guys please tell me why would one waste dropping bombs on carpets !!?? - surely there are better military targets to go after

    TD
     
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  19. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    Badum.
    Tish.
     
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  20. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer Pearl Harbor Myth Buster

    I know of one instance were a flight of BUFFs went fishing. They were clouded out and didn't make their drop. Returning to Guam they were instructed to ditch their bombs in the ocean. They got word to steer close to a particular island and drop off the coast. The locals came out right after and scooped up a poo-poo load of fish.

    And, of course, according to USAF history, THIS NEVER HAPPENED.
     
  21. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    I think I have found a new toy
    Carpet Moth Killer Smoke Bombs 4 x 3.5g
    from Amazon
     
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