This photo appeared on a local history Facebook group and I have shared it with the ARG Facebook group too . The original photo caption is ; Grand Slam bombs ready for delivery at the Elswick Works, on Scotswood Road, Newcastle on 7th February 1945.
Looking closely at the photo the bomb second from the front , it is marked '6907LBS' which I presume is the empty weight of the shell before the fins are fitted and the explosives added so with this in mind is it a Grand Slam (22,000Lbs) or perhaps a Tallboy (12,000Lbs) ?
Youth is wasted on the young !
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Tallboy case had a maximum diameter of 3 feet - 2 inches.
The filling was 5200 pounds.
The total weight of case with filling was 11,855 pounds making the empty case weight 6,655 pounds.
That's near enough the weight stencilled on the case in the photograph. The length of the casing was 10 feet - 4 inches.
Grand Slam case had a maximum diameter of 3 feet - 10 inches
The filling was 9135 pounds
The total weight of case with filling was 21,500 pounds making the empty case weight 12, 375 pounds
All weights are nominal calculated but varied from bomb to bomb in practice.
Both had 20 x studs/nuts securing the baseplate of the case.
Both had 3 x Exploder Containers in the baseplate for the Pistols.
There was a difference in weight of each casing due to the steel batching and methods of forming the cases. The fifth bomb in the photograph appears to have the weigh 6740 pounds compared to the second bomb 6907 and the first bomb 6991 pounds (?)
British made Tallboy was designated Mark 1. American made bombs (made for the RAF) were designated Mark 2. The differences were negligible apart from weigh variations.
Figures taken from Air Publication 1661 B (Bombs)
The following user(s) said Thank You: David Thompson, netcompsys
There is a Grand Slam and a Tallboy @ Debden, currently home to the Royal Engineer's Bomb Disposal Unit.
Anyone have any (dated) pictures of these ?
Kevin
The original post was a while ago (2013) and no photos were forthcoming
I quick visit via streetmap identifed a display of bombs in front the gate, The centre one of which is very large bomb, but the profile of the tail assembly just looks completely wrong
A further check using Geograph shows a better photo, but it still doesnt look right
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