 | Grand Slam bomb| Aviation Discuss Grand Slam bomb in the World War II - Aviation forums; Found this when perusing the web....
Apparently when Lincolnshire County Council were widening the road past RAF Scampton's main ... |
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02-01-2006, 10:59 AM
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#1 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: MK UK
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| Grand Slam bomb
Found this when perusing the web....
Apparently when Lincolnshire County Council were widening the road past RAF Scampton's main gate in about 1958, the 'gate guards' there had to be moved to make way for the new carriageway. Scampton was the WWII home of 617 Sqn, and said "gate guards" were a Lancaster...and a Grand Slam bomb.
When they went to lift the Grand Slam, thought for years to just be an empty casing, with an RAF 8 Ton Coles Crane, it wouldn't budge. "Oh, it must be filled with concrete" they said. Then somebody had a horrible thought .... No!..... Couldn't be? ... Not after all these years out here open to the public to climb over and be photographed sitting astride! .... Could it? .... Then everyone raced off to get the Station ARMO. He carefully scraped off many layers of paint and gingerly unscrewed the base plate..... http://www.gunnies.pac.com.au/gallery/grand_slam.htm
see also and related links: http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery?...&curtab=2222_1 | 
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02-01-2006, 11:06 AM
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#2 | | IP/Mech THE GREAT GAZOO
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Country:  | WOW!!!!!!!
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02-01-2006, 11:22 AM
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#3 | | Your ad here. ;)
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Country: | Holy Crap! It is amazing that no one was ever killed by it.
__________________  http://www.vg-photo.com Wherever their bones may lie, the courage of heroes is consecrated in the hearts and engraved in the history of the free. Lt Col Honner DSO MC, 39th Commander speaking of the dead from the battle of Kokoda. | 
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02-01-2006, 11:30 AM
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#4 | | Senior Member
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| If they discovered this in 2006, the lawyers would have had a field day 
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02-01-2006, 12:26 PM
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#5 | | Senior Member
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Country:  | They would of done! Interesting find Roy!!
__________________  "Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal, it is the Courage to Continue that Counts"
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02-01-2006, 06:09 PM
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#6 | | Senior Member
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Country:  | Whoops! 
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02-02-2006, 12:59 AM
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#7 | | Senior Member
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Country: | That would have killed a lot of people had it gone off ... haha ... typical MoD!
__________________ "When you go home tomorrow, don't expect anyone to know what you have been through. Even if they did know, most people probably wouldn't care anyway. Some of you may get the medals you deserve, many more of you will not. But remember this, all of you are now members of the front-line club, and that is the most exclusive club in the world." - Lt. Col. Matthew Maer CO 1st Battalion, the Princess of Wale's Royal Regiment. Camp Abu Naji, Oct. 2004  To those in that club. | |
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02-02-2006, 02:50 PM
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#8 | | Junior Member
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| Nice one Roy | |
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02-02-2006, 09:59 PM
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#9 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Texas
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Country: | gate guard... imagine if someone had slid off the road and hit it. yikes. crazy brits...
__________________ "I had ten rockets on board, and as I wasn't particularly fond of head-on attacks, I salvoed the whole lot at him. The rockets didn't hit him but but they must have scared the bejesus out of him, for he did a steep turn to starboard... I let him have the full blast, all eight fifty-calibers. I had never seen an aircraft completely disintegrate in the air the way this Me-110 did..."
Bill Dunn, 406th Fighter Group 
Matt | |
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02-03-2006, 11:45 AM
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#10 | | Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: MK UK
Posts: 1,625
| What makes me laugh is what if terrorists had figured it out.... we don't need these baddies, our incompetence is sufficient sometimes. Read a book recently where a load of B57 Canberras were destroyed in Vietnam. Not by VC but by accident (dunno what). At Bien Hoa in 65 10 B57s were wrecked, worse still 28 personnel were killed. This is probably more losses than by enemy action during missions.
Another example was the loss of two B52s in a mid-air collision. Seems the refuelling tracks were all oat the same altitude. An accident waiting to happen.
I have been reading Robert F Dorr's amazing book 'Air War Hanoi'. Got it from a charity shop for a quid!
It goes on about how the F100 wasn't up to much. So they replaced it with the F4. Seems they thought the Phantom would fare better against the MiGs. But the early F4s lacked any guns! They had the Sparrow but the stupid ROE prevented them from fully being exploited. Meanwhile, the Migs could sneak in close and spray em with lead!
Finally, back to the Grand Slam. I wonder what modern plane could carry the beastie? C130? B52? Nowt in the RAF I bet. The Lanc was so far ahead of its time IMHO. I am also reading a library book about the 'Other War' Bomber Command over Germany in WW2 so expect some quotes from that.... fascinating stats of losses in Pathfinders Lanc vs Mossie. | |
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02-03-2006, 03:07 PM
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#11 | | Senior Member
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| Goes to prove beyond doubt that truth is stranger than fiction. You couldn't make it up | |
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02-03-2006, 03:19 PM
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#12 | | IP/Mech THE GREAT GAZOO
Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Colorado, USA
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Country: | Quote: |
Originally Posted by Royzee617 What makes me laugh is what if terrorists had figured it out.... we don't need these baddies, our incompetence is sufficient sometimes. Read a book recently where a load of B57 Canberras were destroyed in Vietnam. Not by VC but by accident (dunno what). At Bien Hoa in 65 10 B57s were wrecked, worse still 28 personnel were killed. This is probably more losses than by enemy action during missions.
Another example was the loss of two B52s in a mid-air collision. Seems the refuelling tracks were all oat the same altitude. An accident waiting to happen. | Don't forget about the USS Forrestal!!! Quote: |
Originally Posted by Royzee617 I have been reading Robert F Dorr's amazing book 'Air War Hanoi'. Got it from a charity shop for a quid!
It goes on about how the F100 wasn't up to much. So they replaced it with the F4. Seems they thought the Phantom would fare better against the MiGs. But the early F4s lacked any guns! They had the Sparrow but the stupid ROE prevented them from fully being exploited. Meanwhile, the Migs could sneak in close and spray em with lead! | Actually that's half true. In the beginning of the war there were many problems with the Sparrow Missile and the sidewinder was actually in short supply. Eventually a belly mounted gating gun was installed on the F-4. The biggest problem for guys flying the F-4 at the time was prior to the Viet Nam situation, the USAF did away with any type of air-to-air combat training as it was deemed obsolete. Pilots basically went out on their own and trained themselves! Eventually that was rectified.
The NVAF used "sniper" tactics to attack US aircraft, especially those carrying out strikes. They would attempt to chase a flight of say F-105s into a pre determined area where another flight of aircraft would be waiting.
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02-04-2006, 06:06 AM
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#13 | | Master of Ewes
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Country: | dang....you'd know about it if that one went off....and there's no modern RAF plane that could take it (the last being the Victor), i don't know if she'd fit in the bomb bays of the american hevies but there might be a way for her to be carried externally........
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02-04-2006, 08:20 AM
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#14 | | Der Crewchief
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Country:  | Holy **** that is insane!
__________________  US Army Blackhawk Crewchief 2000-2006 Classic ww2aircraft.net quotes: fly boy said: "isn't that the first jet bomber? becasue i have flown one in a flight sim before and i know how it handles" "wait what ok who made the b-2 crash come on people that messed up its a b-2" "ah yes the mistel those things are so annoying is games and in real life" | |
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02-04-2006, 08:46 AM
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#15 | | IP/Mech THE GREAT GAZOO
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Country: | When that blockbuster was on display, I wonder how many times someone went up to it and pounded on it or even kicked it!!!
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