5 Strangest Weapons Really Used in WW2

Описание: The idea of a "bouncing bomb" was first described by British Engineer Barnes Wallis in a 1942 paper titled "Spherical Bomb - Surface Torpedo". One such bomb, codenamed Upkeep, was developed and tested with the purpose of destroying German hydroelectric dams. The cylindrical device breached two dams during World War II, but its unconventional delivery quickly backfired...

The Upkeep was a cylindrical weapon that needed to be dropped at 232 miles per hour, 60 feet above the water. 500 revolutions per minute of backspin were added so that the bomb would skip across the surface before sinking and exploding at the dam walls.

If successful, the bomb would hit its target, sink, and immediately explode underwater like a depth charge.

Two versions of the bomb were developed, a larger one for dams and a smaller one for vehicles. They were codenamed Upkeep and Highball. The only British aircraft capable of carrying an upkeep bomb were modified Avro Lancaster heavy bombers.

The peculiar explosive device attracted the attention of the British Army for the possibilities it showed in destroying the German battleship Tirpitz, moored in Norwegian fjords.

Previous Allied attempts at destroying German hydroelectric dams with conventional bombing methods were ineffective, as torpedo nets rendered underwater attacks useless.

But if a device, like the bouncing bomb, could breach the initial line of defense and then explode near the dam, the outcome would be different.

Tests were conducted in the fall of 1942 with remarkable success. In one of the tests, a 280-pound Upkeep bomb destroyed a dam at Nant-y-Gro, Wales, without complications.

During Operation Chastise in May of 1943, the bombs breached two Ruhr Valley dams, but their delivery resulted in a high Royal Air Force casualty rate.

Of the 20 aircraft that participated in the operation, only eight made it back to England, and 53 crewmen lost their lives. The aircraft needed to fly very close to the water to drop the ordnance and quickly retract as high as possible before being exposed to enemy fire.

The upkeep bombs were never used again during the war...