Bomb hits tailplane on release

"Richard Brooks" wrote in message
...
Robert Briggs wrote:
Robert Briggs wrote:
Richard Brooks wrote:
Paul Housley wrote:

A while ago, I saw video footage of a bomb being released from a
fighter-bomber under test conditions. It was on an aviation
documentary. The high speed camera then shows it climb up and
destroy the tailplane. I don't think they quite got their
trajectory calcs right!

This shows up towards the end of a documentary called Dambusters,
which has been seen on UKs Channel 4.

The Lanc may have had guns, but that doesn't make it a
fighter-bomber.

That said, without the "fighter-" qualification (and substituting
"damage" for "destroy"), the description does indeed suggest the old
Bouncing Bomb trials.

Correction: I had a quick look at the Channel 4 DVD overnight, which
showed the mine staying quite close to the surface - but the Lanc was
low enough that the initial splash knocked some bits off the tail
section.

Hi Robert, I didn't notice that but it was an American aircraft that just
turned to flotsam after a second or two in the footage that wsa shown
later
in the documentary.

It kind of reminds me of a short clip shown in (IIRC) an Australian
production called Broadcast which was about the last days of guys running
around with cine-cameras for the film theatre newsreels.

Right at the start is shows lots of news clips and one that stands out is
of
three Beauforts doing a low fly-past over a bay and as they passed the
ship
where the film was being made, one of hte Beauforts took a sharp climb,
tearing the tail of one of the others with them both crashing into the
water.

Amazing and I bet there are lots of bits of film we haven't seen. I also
wonder if anyone cine-filmed an airshow in Britain where a hurricane
accidentally fired into the crowd as it made a pass ?


Richard.

The aircraft was an American A26 and the weapon was a "Highball"
anti-shipping mine that was also indended for use on Mosquitos.

John