The famous British Dambuster Raid of May 1943 would see the first operational use of a bomb capable of bouncing along the surface of water. But it turns out they weren't the only ones to experiment with these bombs. A little known fact is that Germany also had bouncing bombs. Operation Kurt would see the Luftwaffe test bouncing bombs and what's more, the German version of the bomb would have rocket boosters! In today's video we look at the German bouncing bombs of World War Two.
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In 1943, the Royal Air Force would pull off one of the most famous air raids of the Second World War.
Known as the Dam Busters Raid, specially designed bombs were dropped from RF Lancaster bombers,
which bounced along the surface of the water at the targeted dams.
The bombs then sunk along the dam wall before exploding and releasing millions of gallons of
water. But as amazing as these bombs were, the British weren't the only ones to experiment with
Luftwaffe would also test the concept of bouncing bombs, and what's more,
they would take it one step further. The German version of the bomb would be fitted with rockets.
In today's video, we look at the German bouncing bombs of World War 2.
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The much talked about Dam Busters Raid occurred in mid-May 1943,
with the use of British bouncing bombs. These types of bombs were created as
conventional high altitude bombing was too inaccurate to take out a dam wall,
and any torpedoes dropped into the water would be caught up in the anti-torpedo netting.
So the idea to bounce a bomb along the water, similar to that of skipping a rock along a pond,
meant a bomb could finally target a dam wall accurately. The British engineer Barnes Wallace
came up with the idea, and successfully saw his theory put into practice in an immense way.
The raid saw two dams breached, causing devastation to the German war effort,
at a time when they desperately needed water for manufacturing.
The fallout from the raid changed the German thinking when it came to targeting
Allied dams or Allied shipping. They began experimenting with their own version of a
bouncing bomb under Project Kurt. Instead of the large British bomb,
which was around 6,500 pounds or nearly 3,000 kilograms, the German version would be closer
to 850 pounds or nearly 400 kilograms. While the final British version was shaped like a
barrel, the Kurt would be spherical and at around 3 feet with hydrostatically operated fuses.
The British did develop a similar bomb called the Highball,
but opted for the barrel shaped bomb in the raid.
Development of the bomb started in late 1943 at the Luftwaffe Experimental Centre
in Travemünde, Germany. Given the small size of the bomb, a fighter aircraft was
chosen to release it instead of a larger bomber like the British used.
The Focke-Wulf Fw 190 was able to hold two of the bombs and the initial testing showed
interesting results. With the plane travelling at a speed of 435 miles or 700 kilometres an hour,
and at an altitude of 65 feet or 20 metres, the bomb was able to skip along the surface
of calm water. The bomb was accurate out to a quarter mile or 400 metres, but the Germans
wanted more. The second version of the Kurt would feature rocket propulsion. The reasoning behind
this was to give the bomb more range. A large cylindrical rocket section was added at the back
and housed the rocket's propellant and vents. Tails were added for additional stability and
angled to 10 degrees to prevent the bomb from a sharp trajectory into the water.
The rocket would fire in less than a second after its release and burn for nearly two seconds.
Testing with these additions proved the weapon to be volatile, so within the mid-section a gyroscope
was installed. Further to that, apart from the two hydrostatic fuses which would detonate the
bomb at depths up to 26 feet or 8 metres, a third fuse was added on a delay in case the bomb
penetrated the target. Testing with these modifications provided much more range to the
taking it out to more than two miles or 3.5 kilometres. Although the experiments were
fairly successful, the overall project would be shelved in August 1944. The Allies had a solid
foothold in Europe by that time and efforts were better spent elsewhere to defend against the
impending Allied attack on Germany. Much of the documentation for the project was lost in the
fallout of the war. However, during interrogation of German scientists, the extent of the testing
became apparent. The theory of the weapon was great, but ideal conditions with this kind of
bomb were needed. The Dambusters raid would prove this, as many of the bombs dropped on the German
targets that night failed to score a hit. In any event, despite the German version of the bouncing
bomb never seen in combat, it's yet another example of a lesser-known weapon of World War II.
Had you ever heard of the German bouncing bombs of World War II? What did you think? Let us know
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