Giant WWII Bomb Explodes During Defusing

[Robert59]

It was under water, and no injuries were reported near Swinoujscie, Poland

A plan to safely defuse an enormous World War II bomb found in Poland didn't go according to plan on Tuesday. The six-ton British "Tallboy," found under water last year in a canal in the city of Swinoujscie, instead detonated, reports the BBC. Luckily, nobody was hurt, as authorities were well prepared for the possibility. Before the attempt, CNN described the 16-foot-long Tallboy as the biggest unexploded bomb from World War II ever found in Poland.

https://www.newser.com/story/297385/huge-wwii-bomb-explodes-during-defusing.html

 

[Laurie]

I worked on Tallboy when I first joined, and its big sister, the ten Ron Grand Slam!

Both brainchild of Batnes Wallis of bouncing bomb fame. When First designed they found it would topple and turn end over end as it went through the sound barrier and the fins were slightly offset to spin it like a rifle bullet.

It was fitted with a (three actually) 28 second delay detonator to give it time to penetrate.

It was what really did for the Tirpitz, and was used with great success against U boat pens.

When it was filled with explosive, in liquid form, Trorpex 2 I I think; it would take between two and four days to solidify to a stable form. it would certainly make your filling rattle if it went off.

They were so difficult to produce that crews were forbidden from jettisoning them and were under orders to bring them back! Fat chance.

Just a bit of pedantry, the bomb was not being defused but defuzed. The Z form is always used with explosives!