In World War II, the British were looking for an antibunker bomb. So they copied a Disney idea

The morning of last Sunday, June 22, The United States deployed its B-2 With a mission: launch, for the first time, its new MOP pumps on Iranian bases. These mass bombs have a single function: eX PLACE IN Underground Bases And, despite being avant -garde armamentits technology began to be tested decades ago, in the Second World War. It was the British who developed a bomb capable of bursting a bunker, and their inspiration came from the most unexpected place.

A Disney movie.

Need. It is in the war when the brightest minds of each country gather to invent new ways of killing. Even if they don’t know what the consequences of their creations will be. The World War I It was a period of Technological Revolutionthe second more of the same and In the Cold War The Explosion of nuclear bombs (and almost that of chickens). In short: each country in conflict wants have the “fattest” bomb.

In the mid -2GM, the British sought a powerful bomb, but with a more concrete objective than that of causing all possible damage: they wanted something capable of advising a blow to the bunkers heart and Nazi submarine factories. Thus, they developed the Tallboy and the Grand Slampumps of five and ten tons respectively designed to hit near the target, penetrate the earth, exploit and cause damage to the shock waves transmitted through the ground.

The idea was good, but they still needed something more concrete than those “earthquake” bombs. And then, someone saw this propaganda movie of Disney:

Drawing pump. Leaving aside that you could keep your mouth open because … yes, that Disney produced ithe who saw the short was Edward Terrellof the Royal Reserve of Naval Volunteers. It is said that, after watching the film, Terrell and other officers, they would ask if it would be possible to design a bomb that directly crossed the concrete and destroy objectives such as the Nazi submarinesas seen in one of the frames, instead of waiting for the expansive wave of an earthquake to damage the underground base.

In September 1943, engineers got to work while the viability of the pump was discussed. There were those who opposed, but Churchill was approved and, there, the development began.

Promising. The Disney pump, baptized Officially as “4,500 pump assisted by rocket to drill concrete” (‘Disney bomb’ has much more stuck, where we are going to stop) it was massive not so much because of the dimensions, but because of the weight and its explosive capacity. With just over five meters long and 43 centimeters in diameter, it had a weight of 2,000 kilos. As his name indicated, he was driven by RP-3 rockets And as an explosive it was loaded with 230 kilos of ‘Shellite‘, a mixture designed during World War I.

Thrown from Boeing B-17 or B-29 aircraft, its operation was simple: to boost with the rockets to reach a speed of more than 1,500 km/h, penetrate everything possible due to accumulated kinetic energy and detonate late within the installation. In addition, its maximum penetration was about 5 meters of reinforced concrete, enough to cause great damage to enemy structures.

Afternoon, too late. The bomb was promising, but it took too long. They began to develop late (when they had the idea, go) and that caused that it was not ready until almost the end of the conflict. In January 1945 they carried out some tests and, although the bomb was British, it was the United States Air Force that had of it.

Between February and April 1945 they launched a total of 158 Disney bombs against bunkers and submarine factories in Germany. A clear objective was Valentin, a U-Bats factory That it was about to be completed, something that the allies could not allow and managed to cause damage to the target with armor 4.5 meters thick, but had a trick: it had already been previously damaged by the Grand Slam bombs of the British.

A fair shotgun. The Disney bomb was a disaster for two reasons. The first and most obvious is that it came very late and attacks on underwater bases did not mean a real difference in the outcome of the conflict in the European territory. But, in addition, they failed. During the Valentin bunker attack More than 60 pumps were launched, but only one directly impacted and, as we say, the damages caused were preceded by the explosions of the British bombs thrown days before.

For more inri, in evidence during the years after World War II with controlled releases in the Helgoland Islandof 76 bombs released, it was discovered that the lighting of the rockets failed in 37% of the cases, very limiting the penetrating power of the projectile. In addition, some bombs exploited prematurely and would not serve to achieve the objectives. Yes one thing was discovered: the maximum penetration of 5.08 meters in concrete.

The MOP, Disney’s legacy. In the end, between technical, tactical and temporary problems, the efficacy of the Disney pump was extremely limited, but it is clear that it represented an important technological advance in the Antibunker war. So much that he laid the foundations for future penetration weapons. And of those rains, these sludge, as they say.

The GBU-57A/B. launched by the US against Iran is the latest technology of the MOP bombs, or ‘Massive Ordnance Penetrator’. The big difference with the Disney pump is that this huge 6.25 meters long projectile and the FRIOLERA OF 13,600 KILOS (2,400 of them are explosives) Yes it works, also penetrating up to 60 meters of concrete.

And another difference is that it is launched from such high (12 kilometers from a B-2) that does not need engine, since it is gaining speed as it falls, being very precise thanks to its laser guidance. In short, technology that is not so much of science fiction and that shows that we are great to create things to end ourselves.

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