Hi Ken,

Thanks for the confirmation. I think 4 Tornadoes left Lossiemouth, so maybe they had two airborne researves!

Thanks again,

Iain.

Hi Phil,

This site has been updated since I last saw it – it didn’t have pix before. Seems to be the only SABS pic on the web!

Thanks for the link/photo – much appreciated.

Iain.

Barnes Wallis and the Americans

Hi all,

I’m just back from holiday, and want to catch up on a few items in this thread …

Sorry to hear of the death of Henry Black – his documents are the best source of information I’ve seen on RAF bombsights.

SABS was a derivative of the Mk XIV / T-1 (it’s not the same), but there seem to be no photos or diagrams of the SABS, nor have any examples survived. It was supposed to be more accurate than the Mk XIV, but needed a longer run up to the target; it also dropped the bomb itself. The Mk XIV and T-1 were mechanically identical, T-1 was just the American manufacturing designation for the British Mk XIV design. You can tell the difference between Mk XIV and T-1 systems by sight, but the computer and sighting heads were interchangeable.

As far as I am aware from research in the Wallis archives, the Americans had no feedback into the design of the Upkeep / Highball / Tallboy bombs – though they may have been given copies of reports.

In late 1944, a B-26 Invader flew to Brooklands to be fitted with a Highball carrier. Although known as “Speedee” in the US, the bomb and carrier were identical to Highball (there were other code names for the same bomb in other aircraft too). Around 24 trials were made near Eglin AFB in Florida before the B-26 was destroyed by the bomb hitting the tail, and the Americans had no more interest in the weapon.

Tallboy and Grand Slam casings were manufactured in the USA, for shipping to Britain for filling. The UK casings were turned smooth on the outside, the US casings were left rough, and this caused some problems with fittings; I think some were sent for turning in the UK.

The offset tail fins idea can be traced back to arrows, and the application to bombs is obvious. Despite this, Tallboy was originally designed with straight fins, and after the need to offset them was discovered, Shorts (who made the tails) started sending them with the bolts loose so they could be offset in the field, although they were later asked to offset them at the factory to save time.

I have not seen any evidence that Upkeep was ever examined for production in the US, although it is possible. The original drawings have never been located, and it is the German drawings which are most often seen in print. The Germans got the idea for Kurt from the recovered Upkeep, they did not think up the idea independently.

Highball was not used for its main purpose (attacking the Tirpitz) for three main reasons – the X-craft were deemed as having a better chance of success so got to “go first”, the range to Kaa Fjord was a problem for the Mosquitoes (would have had to go via Russia), and the position of the ship in the fjord meant that a broadside attack would have been difficult.

I hope these comments are useful.

Regards,

Iain.

Locations where you can see Upkeeps, Tallboys etc.

There must be dozens (OK, maybe a dozen or so) somewhere

There is a list of sites with Upkeeps, Highballs, Tallboys, Grand Slams and other items related to Barnes Wallis at:
http://www.computing.dundee.ac.uk/staff/irmurray/wallissites.asp

Any additions or corrections welcome!

Regards, Iain.

Foyle’s War – further comments

Hi all,

Just found this thread … some interesting comments on the show and the “bouncing bomb” material included.

Clearly the programme makers had some conflict between the fact that the fictitious group depicted was doing the work done by Barnes Wallis and his team, but that the fictitious group had to be clearly not 100% identified with Wallis. They thus fudged the edges a bit to kind of make it all fit (e.g. making the team part of the National Physical Laboratory). The only pure errors I spotted were:
– the Navy man’s moustache (as discussed on this forum).
– the mention of adding wood to “the sphere”, which should have been “cylinder” like the one standing beside him at the time (the basic bomb/mine was cylindrical and it was padded to a spherical shape by adding wooden slats; in early drops, the slats broke away but the cylinder ran on, so the slats were done away with and the bomb was dropped as a cylinder).
– security around the real project was VERY tight … I don’t think “no one knows we’re here” really does it!
– the CGI Lancaster made far too tight a turn after the test drop.
– the test drop was made with the tide out; real drops were made with the tide in so that the bombs could be recovered when the tide went out.

Incidentally, the B/W Lancaster footage was IWM footage of a real drop; the man in the group on the beach waving his arms about is Barnes Wallis himself.

The calculations and graphs on the blackboard in the lab were taken from Wallis’ own handwritten notes of the time. If you look closely, you can see the formula for calculating the lift derived from spinning the cylinder. The graph on the right relates to the single live test drop, so it hadn’t actually happened yet! You see this all better in the “making of” documentary included on the DVD of this episode.

Regards,

Iain.

Tallboy it is

Yes, I would agree that it’s a Tallboy too. Not a shell, due to the taper at the rear. The aluminium tail cone is missing, of course. The Grand Slam casing was identical (just bigger), so it could be a Grand Slam.
Many of the Tallboy castings were made in the USA (St. Louis, I think) so this one probably “stayed home” – do you know where this picture was taken?
Tarzon (not Amazon) was a remotely guided Tallboy – it had a fixed annular fin around the casting, and used a different (steerable) tail section. The basic casting was the same, though.

Highball in USAAF

Hi all,

The Americans did indeed use an A-26 Invader for their own Highball tests – the aircraft was modified at Brooklands.

During one of the tests, the bomb hit the tail of the aircraft and it crashed – yet in all the RAF wartime Highball tests, no aircraft was even damaged!! The A-26 was flying VERY low – see images.

Cheers,

Iain.