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I remember watching a documentary about Operation Chastise many years back. Back in WW2, the British needed to destroy the Möhne dam. It was the lynch pin for the whole Ruhr Valley industrial center. Destroying the dam would sap their electric power, render them unable to produce pure quality water for steelmaking, and just in general make it tougher for the Nazis to produce their own war machines. Traditional bombing might have worked, but it would require multiple strikes and unerring precision. Plus, the whole area was highly fortified and defended. Whatever high altitude bombing force send would face massive losses for a slim chance at success. Torpedo attacks were also considered, but all along the river were several torpedo nets that would catch or prematurely detonate the torpedo, keeping the dam safe and sound. The solution:  This. An odd barrel shaped bomb fitted to a modified Lancaster bomber. The idea was that the bomber would fly low over the river leading to the dam, drop the bomb, and bomb would skip along the river right up against the dam before sinking, avoiding all the submerged nets, just in time for the long fuse to finish and detonate the payload right at the base of the dam. The bomb bay even had motors that would set the bomb spinning backward so that it would skip further, and to have it "roll" down the side of the dam like a wheel once it reached its target, helping it reach a further depth below the surface.  The bomber couldn't drop it just anywhere, though. They would have to maintain an exact speed and altitude and drop it at just the right moment to ensure the bomb would reach the dam, sink the exact distance needed, and detonate at just the right time. Also, because of those pesky AA guns they had to do the mission at night, using a pair of spotlights to help gauge the distance from the river and from the dam. It sounds ridiculous and far-fetched, like a few other failed or cancelled projects already posted here, but it worked!  Two and a half times, even: 
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Apr 8, 2015 20:28
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| # ¿ Apr 23, 2024 13:47 |
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