{"id":5354,"date":"2026-10-13T05:52:51","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T05:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/weapons\/grand-slam\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T20:07:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T20:07:36","slug":"grand-slam","status":"publish","type":"aircraft_weapon","link":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/weapons\/grand-slam\/","title":{"rendered":"Grand Slam Bomb,"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Bomb, Medium Capacity, 22,000 lb<\/strong> (Grand Slam<\/strong>) was a 22,000 lb (10,000 kg) earthquake bomb<\/a> used by RAF Bomber Command<\/a> against German targets towards the end of the Second World War<\/a>. The bomb was originally called Tallboy Large until the term Tallboy got into the press and the code name was replaced by “Grand Slam”. The bomb was similar to a large version of the Tallboy bomb<\/a> but a new design and closer to the size that its inventor, Barnes Wallis<\/a>, had envisaged when he developed the idea of an earthquake bomb. It was the largest and most powerful conventional (non-nuclear) aerial bomb used by either side during the war.[5]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medium Capacity (MC) bombs were designed to remedy the shortcomings of General Purpose (GP) bombs, with a greater blast and casings which were robust enough to confer a considerable capacity to penetrate, especially the Tallboy and Grand Slam. The Grand Slam case was made of a chrome-molybdenum alloy steel<\/a>, with the charge constituting over 43 per cent of the bomb’s weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standard Avro Lancaster<\/a> bombers could not carry the bomb; Avro<\/a> built 32 Lancaster B.Mk 1 (Special)s with more powerful Merlin engine<\/a> variants, a stronger undercarriage, without bomb bay<\/a> doors and minus many items to save weight. When airborne with the Grand Slam, a Special could barely manoeuvre and pilots were advised to refrain from minor adjustments of the flying controls, allowing the aircraft to wallow. A Lancaster which returned with its bomb was not permitted to land at RAF Woodhall Spa, the 617 Squadron<\/a> base; it had to use the longer runway at RAF Carnaby<\/a>.The largest bomb used in the Second World War, dropped by specially modified Lancasters of 617 Squadron.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The largest bomb used in the Second World War, dropped by specially modified Lancasters of 617 Squadron.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"menu_order":32,"template":"","meta":{"_awp_brands_pos":"","_awp_links_pos":"","_awp_special_pos":""},"tags":[],"aircraft_manufacturer":[],"aircraft_country":[],"weapon_group":[482],"class_list":["post-5354","aircraft_weapon","type-aircraft_weapon","status-publish","hentry","weapon_group-bombs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft_weapon\/5354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft_weapon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/aircraft_weapon"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5354"},{"taxonomy":"aircraft_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft_manufacturer?post=5354"},{"taxonomy":"aircraft_country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/aircraft_country?post=5354"},{"taxonomy":"weapon_group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jfmwebsie.xyz\/my_website2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/weapon_group?post=5354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}