This YouTube clip (from Bomberguy) shows torpedo and mine laying Wimpys, then in the second half anti-magnetic mine Wimpys. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IAMIsP92EQo&NR=1
Was this a success? I imagine they would have to have flown low and slow to trigger the mine, but the risk must have been very great of being destroyed by the water plume from the mine (like the US test plane brought down after releasing an Upkeep mine too low).
DS
By: Creaking Door - 9th April 2008 at 11:19
…the aircraft could probably fly high enough to be safe…
Wrong! 😮 According to this site…
http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_wellington_dwi.html
…the safe height was 35 feet! 😮
By: Creaking Door - 9th April 2008 at 10:55
Difficult to say if it was a ‘success’ as it was I think quickly superseded by ships being ‘degaussed’ (neutralising their magnet influence by passing current through a cable fixed around the hull of the ship). Degaussing was extremely expensive so if it replaced the anti-magnetic-mine Wellingtons that could show how effective (or not) the sweeping by aircraft was.
I suppose the main problem with sweeping by aircraft is that you have to keep all the sea you want to use swept, all of the time (at least the shallow sea where magnetic-mines are effective). And then you’ve got to keep the enemy out, all of the time; one dark night, one Heinkel, and you’ve got to start all over. Or you could limit the ships to specific swept lanes but this places great restrictions on your operations.
With degaussing you only need to worry about the bit of sea the ship is actually floating in.
The RAF sowed thousands of mines in European waters (far more than the Luftwaffe) and the Luftwaffe had similar minesweeping aircraft (Ju52/3m) but again I don’t think these were used much, or for long.
As for damage to the aircraft, I’m not sure how low and slow they would need to fly. The magnetic-mines would need to be quite sensitive and the aircraft had a third engine in the fuselage to generate electricity for a powerful magnetic field so the aircraft could probably fly high enough to be safe.
The US were using helicopters to tow anti-magnetic-mine (?) water-skiing rafts during the Vietnam War so the idea of sweeping with aircraft did obviously have some merit!
Apparently only fifteen Wellington DWI (Directional Wireless Installation – a cover name) were built…
…so either extremely effective or not considered worth converting more…..take your pick! 😀
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April 9, 2008 at 9:22 am