We didn't nuke Tokyo for a reason (although we did firebomb it and killed more people than in either of the atomic bombings)But with Hitler and most of the Generals out of Berlin, wouldnt it make a better target?
Attach a parachute to the bomb. That will retard it's fall enough for the slower aircraft in question to get clear before it goes off. This solution was used on the first air-deployable H-bombs as even the jet bombers could get clear otherwise. And it a solution that was known even before the second world war.Short of putting RATO Bottles on a Lanc, there's no way to get it flying high enough(35,000 feet) and fast enough (350mph) to avoid getting destroyed by the bomb blast.
The crew has 43 seconds after release to be far enough way
Attach a parachute to the bomb. That will retard it's fall enough for the slower aircraft in question to get clear before it goes off. This solution was used on the first air-deployable H-bombs as even the jet bombers could get clear otherwise. And it a solution that was known even before the second world war.
Attach a parachute to the bomb. That will retard it's fall enough for the slower aircraft in question to get clear before it goes off. This solution was used on the first air-deployable H-bombs as even the jet bombers could get clear otherwise. And it a solution that was known even before the second world war.
It took years to get parachutes to work with multi-ton high speed nuclear shapes.
ay I suggest that the best use of WALLIED A-bombs was in East Germany?
WALLIES “assist” their Russian Allies by bombing East German cities shortly before the Russians invade. A-bombs ruin transportation links (railroads and canals) while killing millions of Germans.
Russian soldiers march into cities heavily contaminated by radiation and nuclear fall-out. Russian soldiers soon die of radiation poisoning. Fall out contaminates all the Rastern European countries recently “liberated” by Russia. Russian food supplies are contaminated for many years after the war. European communists economies are devestated. Russia loses the Cold War.
Russian soldiers march into cities heavily contaminated by radiation and nuclear fall-out.
The problem with Luena/Merseburg is that it is one of the most defended spots in Germany. I don’t think that the Allies are going to risk loosing an Atomic bomb right out the gate.
Just like OTL the Scientists of the Manhattan Project are going to want a relatively undamaged target in order to see just how effective the bomb actually is.
I think they are going to look for an easier target first.
Even by the summer of 1944 the RAF had already firebombed most of the major German cities.
The RAF failed to get a firestorm started in Berlin OTL because the city was built up with modern concrete and steel buildings, not enough old wooden structures.
Dresden and Chemintz are good for “shock and awe” value and for bomb damage assessment. German propaganda cannot write it off as damage from previous raids. After that you hit one of the oil cities.
Ploesti was captured by the Russians in July 1944 so that is off the list.
IJA got used to three plane Elements that seemed to be photorecon. flying fast&high in the daytime, rather than the massed night-time for incendiary raids.Or they could have an entire squadron fly in with only one bomber armed with the A-bomb.
In order to do that you have to introduce B-29s over Germany. Once the Germans get used to seeing Superforts it becomes “normal”.If it's only one bomber, the Germans will probably assume it's a reconaissance mission and ignore it (that's what happened in Hiroshima). Or they could have an entire squadron fly in with only one bomber armed with the A-bomb.
Will a new type of aircraft really freak them out that much?In order to do that you have to introduce B-29s over Germany. Once the Germans get used to seeing Superforts it becomes “normal”.
I really need to finish my story about nuking Nazi Germany.IJA got used to three plane Elements that seemed to be photorecon. flying fast&high in the daytime, rather than the massed night-time for incendiary raids.
Only B-29s could be used, mixing in B-17s would just get them killed when the bomb goes off.
But using a standard raid as cover would work, Luftwaffe, such as it was, would be trying to deal with B-17 in bomber boxes than a couple high flying B-29 weather or photo aircraft
They were airbursts, and at an altitude that maximized destruction- too high and too small a bomb to suck up a lot of material to make fallout.
Note those downwind OTL did not have that happen with the two detonations
This. The vast majority of the A-bomb's damage comes from the heat and blast. Fallout is almost a minor concern by comparison, with the exception of those Dr Strangelove style Cobalt bombs.The 'massive fallout' is one of the most misunderstood canards on the internet. I can't remember this misunderstanding coming up in conversations back in the pre net days. maybe I ran with a better educated crowd then.
Aside from very little dust and debris being irradiated by the Nagasaki & Hiroshima bombs neither was a particularly dirty bomb in terms of long last particles. Not remotely like the neutron bombs we deployed in Europe in the 1980s. There were some long lasting particles, but the primary radiation danger from both occurred during the detonation, which gave severe or fatal doses to exposed persons within a couple kilometers. Those persons were also severely burned from near visible spectrum radiation as well. While the long term effects like cancer risk can be a problem it is a fact that US Japanese & US military personnel were operating at or near ground zero soon after the detonations without short term effects.
Bottom line is unless one of these devices is detonated at inefficient altitudes that restrict and mitigate the overpressure effects ground units can operate very near ground zero shortly after the detonation. Even then the contamination that will render ground units useless is not widespread over 'thousands of square miles'. Part of my training in this included plotting the danger zone on the ground so we could avoid and maneuver around the downwind contaminated zone.
Yes a new bomber will draw the Luftwaffe’s attention. It means one more aircraft you need to figure out how to shoot down.Will a new type of aircraft really freak them out that much?