Nuclear Bombs

[Gondor]

I do realise that there have been a few topics in the past about these devices, however most of them were dealing with real world devices. I am looking at building a "device" for a build I have in mind. The operator I have in mind is Nuclear capable in real life, I just want to come up with something that looks convincing to be loaded onto the aircraft of my choice, in this case an Avro Vulcan.

Gondor

[The Wooksta!]

As long as it's no bigger than a Blue Danube (the weapons bay of the V bombers was designed around this weapon), you should be fine.

Argentina or Australia?  Both were interested in buying Vulcans.

[kitnut617]

As Lee says, but for the Vulcan as it was pretty much hampered by it's design. The bomb bay couldn't be made any bigger than it was because the front and rear of the bays were also the front and rear wing spars.  However, the Victor didn't have that problem and had an even bigger bomb bay which could have been made bigger again with a fuselage stretch, something that was considered according to the books I have.

[pyro-manic]

Bear in mind that the early nukes such as Blue Danube and Yellow Sun were huge and primitive. If you're looking at a design from the early 60s onwards they can be much smaller. Red Beard for example was comparable to a 2000lb conventional bomb, and WE.177 was smaller again, the heaviest variants weighing just over 1000lb. They just look like normal dumb bombs. IIRC British nukes were initially painted white, but were re-painted in the normal dark green to avoid attracting attention. American nukes of the period (eg. Mk.43) were a light grey IIRC.

[sandiego89]

Several things will likely impact your design:

-time frame. Agree with the above, if early on, say mid 1950's to mid 1960's, it will likely be large. Some required the pit to be inserted while in the bomb bay.
- yield desired. Again depending on time frame the megaton bombs were huge and heavy.
- delivery method and burst pattern.  Free fall or retarded? Would impact the design if you have a chute on it. Also some had spike for penetration. Some early versions had visible radar antennas.
- Accuracy.  If free fall will need some fins to spin or stabilize the weapon. 
- color can vary as others said. Green, white, black and natural metal have been used.
- either free fall or a stand off missile is possible, and both fit well with the Vulcan. Can be guided, or just stabilized.
- likely thinking of carriage withing the bomb bay, but soem Vulcan plans were external, like the Skybolt
- the technical ability of your country. It took awhile for others to learn how to make them small, and most borrowed heavily from other designs.

So likely go with something pretty close to real world and it will be credible.

[Gondor]

Several things will likely impact your design:

-time frame. Agree with the above, if early on, say mid 1950's to mid 1960's, it will likely be large. Some required the pit to be inserted while in the bomb bay.
- yield desired. Again depending on time frame the megaton bombs were huge and heavy.
- delivery method and burst pattern.  Free fall or retarded? Would impact the design if you have a chute on it. Also some had spike for penetration. Some early versions had visible radar antennas.
- Accuracy.  If free fall will need some fins to spin or stabilize the weapon. 
- color can vary as others said. Green, white, black and natural metal have been used.
- either free fall or a stand off missile is possible, and both fit well with the Vulcan. Can be guided, or just stabilized.
- likely thinking of carriage withing the bomb bay, but soem Vulcan plans were external, like the Skybolt
- the technical ability of your country. It took awhile for others to learn how to make them small, and most borrowed heavily from other designs.

So likely go with something pretty close to real world and it will be credible.

That's roughly what I was thinking  but I wanted others opinions to back up my idea.

-The country in question has not built or has just built its first bombs
-The time frame is mid to late 70's
-Not decided in free-fall or retarded but it will be one of these two
-Size will probably be larger than Red Beard but not excessively so, in fact having a few TSR2 kits I will probably "adapt" a Red Beard

Thanks for the advice people, its one of the good things about this site is the using of the forum as a sounding board.

Gondor

[dogsbody]

I read something somewhere years ago that sais a 20 meg ground burst would excavate a crater a half mile wide and 300 feet deep.



Chris

[Martin H]

that would certainly bust most bunkers.................................

[rickshaw]

Also some had spike for penetration.

I thought a Nuke was more effective if it exploded several hundred feet up, why a spike? Bunker buster Nuke?

Depends basically what effect you're after.  Air burst is best for knocking down buildings and inflicting damage over an optimised wide area.  A ground burst will destroy buildings directly inside the burst radius and also anything under the surface for a wide area because of an "earthquake" effect.  It will also produce a considerably larger quantity of fallout, which will drift downwind, causing increased radiation poisoning to those caught in the plume.

[pyro-manic]

A ground burst is also more affected by the terrain - eg. if the detonation point is inside a hollow or valley then the blast will be at least partly contained. An airburst will not be affected this way, as it will "see over" the terrain. This is why accurate maps are/were so important when planning nuclear target lists, and the method of delivery for each target type.

[lenny100]

here is a good website on uk weapons
http://www.nuclear-weapons.info/vw.htm

[rickshaw]

I didn't know that, now I do I was under the impression they were all air burst type, well bombs anyway, artillery shells I knew could be nuclear and I could see those being ground detonated. Thanks for clearing that up rickshaw

Funnily enough, nuclear artillery rounds (at least initially) weren't ground burst.  They relied on a proximity fuse to detonate them at the optimum height for blast effects.

Speaking of such weapons, there is a very old artillery joke.   Man holds one hand up, over eye, "Nuclear!  Spotting!  Fire one round!"  He then holds his hand over his other eye, "Target on!"   

[rickshaw]

Something just spotted over at Secret Projects.  Boeing was promoting the SRAM missile for use on Tornado!

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1974/1974%20-%201867.html