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Re: Tallboy bomb explodes in Poland.
A very interesting event. If you search for video of the bombing of the Lutzow, you can see this near miss splash and dud actually fall about 50m from the ship in the canal.
These deep penetration bombs were fused on the rear face of the casing.
The danger from the original fuse is probably not much different to other smaller bombs but, I think that the robust casing and large charge probably represent a particular hazard, even today. The reports state that the method being used was to cut the case and burn the charge (Torpex) without detonation. However, as we see, it detonated. It would be interesting to know what the actual cause was?
I wonder if this will be the last Tallboy detonation? There probably are a few other "duds" still out there. The good thing is that they were used on specific targets so, it would seem that an assessment of where duds are could be made. I think that RAF post attack analysis was quite good and maybe the number of Tallboy/Grand Slam duds is in the archive?
Cheers
SM
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