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A blockbuster bomb or cookie was one of several of the largest conventional bombs used in World War II by the Royal Air Force (RAF). The term blockbuster was originally a name coined by the press and referred to a bomb which had enough explosive power to destroy an entire street or large building through the effects of blast in conjunction with ...
Blockbuster bomb "High capacity" bomb for maximum blast effect, only used during World War II: April 1941 United Kingdom: Bouncing bomb: Skips across water; designed to attack German dams in World War II April 1942 Barnes Wallis: United Kingdom: Bunker buster: The first type were Röchling shell: 1942 August Coenders: Germany: C4: 1956 Car bomb
A three-foot (91 cm) nose probe detonated the bomb at the correct stand-off distance. One of the last of the World War II Tallboy designs was dropped during a Commando Vault mission to clear a landing zone for helicopters on a ridge during the 1969 Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam. Dropping from 3,000 m (10,000 ft), the bomb hit exactly ...
The Bomb, Medium Capacity, 22,000 lb (Grand Slam) was a 22,000 lb (10,000 kg) earthquake bomb used by RAF Bomber Command against German targets towards the end of the Second World War. The bomb was originally called Tallboy Large until the term Tallboy got into the press and the code name was replaced by "Grand Slam".
The T-12 (also known as Cloudmaker) earthquake bomb was developed by the United States from 1944 to 1948 and deployed until the withdrawal of the Convair B-36 Peacemaker bomber aircraft in 1958. It was one of a small class of bombs designed to attack targets invulnerable to conventional "soft" bombs, such as bunkers and viaducts.
The Luftwaffe did have some blockbuster weight-class (two short tons/4,000 lb) ordnance designs ready for use: the largest bomb in use at this time was the SC1800. It weighed 1,767–1,879 kg (3,896–4,142 lb) of which 1,000 to 1,100 kg (2,200 to 2,400 lb) was high explosive detonated by an electrical impact fuse.
During World War II, it was designed to divert Allied airstrikes from the actual production site of the arms factory. Operation Hydra of August 1943 sought to destroy German work on long-range rockets but only delayed it by a few months.
On 6 January 1945, a blockbuster bomb was jettisoned on Ziegenberg by a returning Allied bomber, damaging some buildings and killing four residents. With the Ardennes Offensive failed, and no new military plans or the resources with which to carry them out, the German military high command accepted that the western front was lost.