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Programme about Amiens Prison Raid
Good day, good people! I think I already know the answer to this question, but would welcome comment. I have just viewed a video I took of a TV programme about the raid on Amiens prison by Mosquitos in Feb 1944. The presenter stated that the Mosquitos had to drop their bombs at no more than one hundred and twenty-five miles per hour because 'any faster and they would have fragmented against the prison wall instead of exploding properly'. I think that the presenter (an ex-major, so may not have clocked it) was fed a dud 'fact' from the script writer, but I can't think of where any such erroneous limit could have originated. Because... 1. I have never heard of a velocity limit on aerial bombs. Most bombs in WWII were dropped from a substantial height, and most industrial targets were made of hard stuff like concrete. Terminal velocity of a GP HE bomb? Suspect rather high... 2. The safety airspeed for a Mosquito carrying bombs was comfortably above 125 mph. The only possible explanation I can think of is that someone believed that, above a certain airspeed, the bombs (almost certainly using delayed action fuses) might have passed straight through the wall - expending their explosion in the courtyard, rather than demolishing the wall. But if that was the case I can only think that the airspeed limit would have been much higher because of the Mossie safety airspeed. So, can anyone who knows anything about the Amiens prison raid comment as to what might be the origins for such a garbled portion of the script? Was there any limit of any sort associated with the raid that might have been so badly misinterpreted? Many thanks. Cheers, Dave -- Dave Eadsforth |
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