Attacking German Targets with Rocket Assisted Disney Swish Bombs-- WWII Weapons Review

[@jamesgaynor3035]

My Uncle was a ball turret gunner on a B-17. When I was much younger he described a mission where his plane had been armed with "two rocket-propelled bombs" that were slung under the wings. The target was to be sub-pens along the northern coast but when they arrived on target the weather had them socked in so orders were given to drop the bombs in the channel. My uncle swore when the bomb detonated he could see the bottom of the sea bed. 😀

[@m777howitzer4]

That, is an amazing story.

[@redtobertshateshandles]

You can see across the channel, and I don't think it's very deep either. Pity he couldn't get the fish.

[@JohnRodriguesPhotographer]

@@redtobertshateshandles Hurd's deep is the deepest. You wouldn't want to swim or fish there. Full Unexploded munitions, gas weapons and nuclear wast. About 590 feet deep

[@WWIIUSBombers]

Edit: The E-boat pens bombed, by Disneys were located in the Netherlands, not Norway. Thanks to ReneNvt-se5Ij for catching the error.

[@Mediamarked]

The Ijmuiden E-boat pens are still there, years ago (could be 20 years easily), I climbed on top of the building, having no knowledge of it other than it being a bunker..

[@gctzx]

Love your work! 👍Who else continually pauses these videos to read the reports?

[@stevendorris5713]

Another great presentation, thank you for your dedicated research!

[@dukecraig2402]

I wonder if it was Reaction Motors Inc that provided the rocket motors. Contrary to popular belief it wasn't Werner Von Braun or Rocketdyne that developed the method of circulating the fuels through cooling tubes that wrap around engine bells to cool them and pre heat the fuel (and or oxygen), RMI developed and patented it in 1938. Reaction Motors Inc has roots that go back to the 20's but took that name in the mid 30's, they're who made the rocket motors for the X-1 and X-15 along with other rocket planes, Scott Crossfield said in an interview once "By the time Von Braun and that crew at Redstone got their first rocket off the ground we had over 50 rocket powered flights using Reaction Motors Inc engine's".

[@obsidianjane4413]

RMI made mostly liquid fueled rockets and did R&D work on JATO boosters during WWII. They would not have designed or built these rockets. They were making relatively small rockets compared the ones being developed for ballistic missiles and orbital launchers. Not really comparable.

[@dukecraig2402]

@@obsidianjane4413 Yea and these were small, what does ballistic missile's have to do with it? And they were involved with that stuff more than you know, Rocketdyne bought them just before they designed the F-1 engine and they were a part of designing it, as of acquiring them the Reaction Motors Division as it was known from that point on had more know how than Rocketdyne itself did, that's exactly why they bought them.

[@richardvernon317]

Rocket motors were 3 inch RP motors as carried on the Typhoon and anti sub aircraft. The weapon was developed by the Royal Navy.

[@williamzk9083]

The Germans also had rocket boosted bombs. The three main types were the PC 500 Rs, PC 1000 Rs, and PC 1800 Rs. PC from Panzersprengbombe Cylindrisch ("armor piercing cylindrical bomb") the number from the approximate weight of the bomb in kilograms, and Rs meaning rocket propelled. These bombs were intended to be used against armored ships or similar targets. The purpose of the rocket propulsion was to increase the terminal velocity of the bomb and aid penetration

[@gort8203]

Another superb presentation. Please keep doing it the way you are doing it, which is perfect.

[@stevenwilgus8982]

This was one of the best tech videos I've yet seen. I subscribed. Use of color highlighting was EXTREMELY good, and really served your presentation perfectly.

[@earlthepearl3922]

Nicely done. You continue to school me. I had no idea we had rocket propelled bombs in WWII.

[@mpetersen6]

Well we had rocket equipped. Not all of them were rocket assist. 😖 I wonder just how much electric power was required to initiate rocket ignition.

[@Token_Civilian]

Great period vids. That last clip at the end was the clearest of them all.

[@lonl123]

WOW! I have read a shit-ton of books about the Allied Bombing campaigns in Europe and Japan, and I have never heard of this particular type of ordnance before. Very interesting and good job. You have a new subscriber.

[@ReneNvt-se5lj]

A small note, IJmuiden is in the Netherlands and not in Norway, but otherwise very interesting.

[@WWIIUSBombers]

Thanks for the clarification. I added a note in the video description.

[@samadams2203]

So many interesting technological investigations happened during the war. Thanks for the video, we usually only see the end result, not the steps on the way.

[@paintnamer6403]

A good idea for a B-17 model kit build.

[@ronhudson3730]

It seems there's always more to learn.

[@stephenk578]

THE INTENT OF THIS VIDEO IS TO - *proceeds to drop a dissertation about ww2 aviation*

[@williamkennedy5492]

The Brits developed the 22,000LBs bomb known as the grand slam and they did drop in on the U boat pens and a few other places, they also had a mini version of it called tallboy.

[@TroysMilitaryHistory]

Love your channel! Could you call E-boats S-boats in future please? The English may have called them E-boats for some reason but they are S-boats (Schnellboot/speed boat). This is in keeping with Kriegsmarine classification, Z-boats, T-boats, S-boats, R-boats, M-boats etc. Keep up the great work and thanks from Australia!

[@primmakinsofis614]

Another great video. And more historical document titles for me to search for in the hopes of finding them online. :)

[@JK-rv9tp]

Never heard of the damn things before. Nice work!

[@311Bob]

I agree very detailed. But very hard to watch with the ads cutting in every 1 1/2 minutes! Hope yt is sharing that revenue with you or find out why they aren't.

[@calvinandhubs28]

I bet that little propeller on the back of the bomb wasn't catching enough air to spin and arm the rockets. Thanks for another awesome video!

[@teeanahera8949]

That was its purpose, ignition and arming are different things. The vane powered up a condenser which provided the power to ignite the rockets, it was on a countdown time fuse.

[@Marxman-bi5yu]

Was brought here by the comments of Drachinifel's most recent video which discussed various plans for post war battleship designs that never happened and I've gone from laughing manically at the idea of the Disney Swish crossed with radio guided T-10s from laughing hysterically at the idea of B-36s dropping radio controlled, rocket powered T-28 Amazons with an obscene spinoff name In a prolonged WWII and Cold War gone hot scenario that may not involve nukes. Like seriously if I had the ability to write books (I do not, I can't even read them due to learning disabilities) I have long since wanted to share the alt history fiction idea of a longer more drawn out world war two scenario where certain events didn't happen or happened differently just enough to make the odds a little more balanced. Not so to the point of Axis Victory but to the point where it isn't overwhelmingly in Allied favor once they were able to get their industrial, logistical and technological advantages. Put in a healthy amount of spy play, a few assassinations or campaigns go a different way. A few competent minds prevail and different decisions are made and suddenly it's much closer to a more drawn out peer conflict with less significant advantages. I've been into WWII history since I was 3 or 4 and it's been my strongest and longest lasting hobby ever since. I will never be on the level of knowledgeable as people like you, Ed Nash, Drac, MAH, Not A Pound etc etc but every time I learn something from you guys about an interesting vehicle, weapon or scenario from the 30s, 40s and some cases even as far out as the 20s-60s I get all sorts of happy over theorizing what could have beens and alt history scenarios. Mind you I am GLAD things turned out the way they did because my scenarios would have been far worse had they happened. In particular it was estimated that invading Japan would have cost as many allied lives as the entire war had up to that point, so as atrocious as it was and despite the long term consequences that weren't just radiation of dropping the first two atomic bombs it ultimately put the conflict to a swift end. Honestly I just want to see these ideas and scenarios in a game or TV series. A well done one at that.

[@marc1829]

WWIIUSB, you are an excellent and rigorous historian, producing exquisite analyses, for which, many thanks, 🥰

[@treypeters1087]

wow man you did a great job thanks 4 this

[@ruperterskin2117]

Right on. Thanks for sharing.

[@RogerWKnight]

The German Wunderwaffin programs are famous and well documented. But It is interesting to find out about our Wunderwaffin programs.

[@SgtMjr]

The A-Bomb design "Little Boy" was retained post war for a time as it's robust construction and reliable atomic bomb 'Gun Type' mechanism was thought to possess qualities that made it suitable for bunker busting. It goes to show the allies quest for weapons to attack these types of hard targets carried on post WWII.

[@Arp1757]

Okay, so just how do you pull an unexploded Swish bomb from a 36-in hole that goes down 200ft? :-o

[@perh8258]

Super interesting, thank you for finding these reports. So fun to know Disney named a bomb! "A low order explosion would occur." The shell casing is what caused the fill to be a high order explosion? I have never read this before. Disney film Victory through airpower was a bit more than a cartoon.

[@teeanahera8949]

Disney didn’t name the bomb, the airforce named the bomb after a Disney magazine, “Victory Through Airpower”.

[@perh8258]

This was a film, based on book by De Seversky, I was not being serious @@teeanahera8949

[@JimmySailor]

200ft of penetration in soft soil only to leave a 36 inch crater is wild. Have to wonder if these would have been effective in the pacific campaign if deployed against rocky cave-like targets. Bombing runs at lower altitude would have presumably been more accurate.

[@richardvernon317]

By April 1945, the British had decided that there was going to be no use for the weapon against Japan and production of the was capped at 2000 weapons built.

[@michaeldenesyk3195]

The Disney Bomb reminds me of the GBU-28 ( 5,000Lb) class laser-guided bunker buster used against Iraqi targets

[@dfirth224]

The Disney bomb was the grand daddy. Too bad we didn't have laser guided bombs back then.

[@kidmohair8151]

09:07 "(the) E Boats have left the building..."

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

*Great video...👍*

[@sputnikjones6838]

Nice .I've never heard of them before ty awesome video...

[@JohnRodriguesPhotographer]

This is one I have never read about. That's about 53 years of reading

[@richardvernon317]

First read about it in the mid 1970's in a book about Allied Secret Weapons of WWII

[@nandi123]

Great job! Thanks!

[@rsfaeges5298]

Its not well known that the Disney Swish was developed because of the failure of Warner Brothers' ACME Coyote Bomb.

[@SomeOldGuyYellingattheSky]

Really interesting

[@HairyBogTrotter]

Excellent video, thank you! I wonder what difference a shaped charge warhead would have made?

[@ezrabrooks12]

Good Video/Info.

[@iskandartaib]

As an aside - in Dutch, "ij" is prounounced "ai". So Nijmegen would be pronounced "nai meh gen". One of the useless things you pick up over the years... My guess is the "Ijmuiden" pens were located somewhere along the "Ij", the large estuary near Amsterdam.

[@scrubsrc4084]

Whu did they choose shellite as a filler?

[@grizwoldphantasia5005]

Maybe it was more stable for the higher shock on hitting, could survive the penetration better, tended to stay together better? Just guessing.

[@gctzx]

@@grizwoldphantasia5005 According to Wikipedia it seems you are correct. Shellite originated after World War I as a development of lyddite (picric acid). During the war, lyddite-filled, armour-piercing shells had been found to be shock-sensitive, with a tendency to prematurely detonate upon impact rather than after penetrating the target's armour plate.[2] Shellite was less sensitive, and also had the advantage of a low melting point, that allowed it to be easily melted and poured into shell casings during manufacture.[3] The first trials of shellite took place in 1921, when the British monitor HMS Terror experimentally fired different types of 15 inch (381 mm) shell at 500-yard (460 m), point-blank range against the surrendered German battleship SMS Baden.[3] During World War II, Shellite continued to be used in naval shells. It was used in the British Disney bomb, a type of concrete-piercing bomb.

[@richardvernon317]

@@gctzx The bomb was designed and developed by the Royal Navy!!!

[@casparcoaster1936]

Thanks, really interesting.

[@MarcinP2]

1. Wonder what was German reaction. If the Germans moved the uboats after the raid that would make the raid effective. 2. The effects of speed increase are not very inpressive. In heindsight the extra weight of the bomb could be better used to add a prevoursor cummulative charge to errode a narrow tunnel for bomb to squeeze into. That would require a pizo fuze however.

[@MarcinP2]

Precursor shaped charge.*

[@redtobertshateshandles]

I heard that one who's beer bottles broke was Grumpy, the one who's clothes blew off was bashful, the dust kicked up made one sneezey, etc

[@richardvernon317]

British had been blowing holes in large concrete structures for around 7 to 8 months when this thing first was used.

[@jamesharmer9293]

Did they ever find out why the rockets were so unreliable ??

[@lamwen03]

Wow

[@ned900]

Awesome

[@c1ph3rpunk]

Ok, you sold me, I’ll take a couple hundred, and I’ll need crew to help arm and load. Take a PO on net 30?

[@MikeF1189]

Engagement

[@atompunk5575]

Sounds like a smart bomb😮 talk about advanced weaponry

[@DK-sc4gn]

Did u mean 23 inches not 23 feet thick????

[@aussie6910]

Up to 23 feet & some were layered like spaced armour to make them even harder to punch through. 15ft was pretty much the standard roof thickness for a U-boat pen. Sometimes even 12,000lb Tallboys hitting at Mach .95 (750mph) couldn't get through. These are massive structures that will be there forever. The Germans pored so much concrete in WWII they ran out of river sand & had to use washed beach sand.

[@eddieslittlestack7919]

A rocket powered bomb… Murica

[@aussie6910]

Why not? The Germans copied the British bouncing bomb & put a rocket motor on it to give it more bounce.

[@parrotraiser6541]

It's depressing to think how many men must have been killed on missions to deliver ordnance of various types, all of which were ineffective.

[@chemputer]

Cruciform is pronounced like crucifix or crucified, that's the first time I've heard "curse-i-form" lol but English is hard. Great videos man keep up the good work!

[@SoloRenegade]

never Once heard of this before.

[@dfirth224]

Because they didn't work very well. But research went on after the war leading up to Iraq in 1992.

[@richardvernon317]

@@dfirth224 1991 was when the USAF jury rigged the GBU-28 into existence, but they did have the BLU-109/B 2000lb bomb casing in service.

[@SoloRenegade]

@@kiereluurs1243 why is that impressive? Most people have probably never heard of it. I've studied WW2 for nearly 3 decades intensely, with a very large and very technical personal library of WW2 material and sources. yet this channel shows me many things I've never even heard of yet. But I don't focus so much on the bombers as I do other things, and specially not so much energy on the specific munitions like this channel and a few others do. I'm just amazed that such a weapon never seems to have even presented in passing, even though I knew many of the other bombs in its class. But the fact is was mostly an experiment, and proved largely useless except to help inform future bunker buster development, it does make sense why most sources would ignore it.

[@richardvernon317]

@@SoloRenegade Germans had this type of weapon as well apparently. The reason it isn't well known is that the weapon wasn't American and the British didn't declassify anything in detail about the weapon until the Mid 1970's. A couple of British books from the 1980's covered the weapon in some detail.

[@SoloRenegade]

@@richardvernon317 "Germans had this type of weapon as well apparently. " what was it called? "The reason it isn't well known is that the weapon wasn't American and the British didn't declassify anything in detail about the weapon until the Mid 1970's" the Enigma wasn't declassified until after the 1970s either, and I knew about that. Similar with details about the success at Midway, leading to people having a false perception of how and why that battle was won. But I know of that as well. 1970s was DECADES ago. I wasn't even alive yet. Also, being British has NOTHING to do with it. I'm very familiar with the other british bombs, and many other things that few others are aware of concerning WW2. More likely, since it wasn't a success or amazingly big like the others, nobody cared to talk about it. people like focusing on successes.

[@williamromine5715]

When you have only two bombs to drop, there is more pressure to make sure the bombs hit the target, because everyone can if it's a hit or a miss. The videos of the actual bombing demonstrates that the bombs don't drop straight down. It's no wonder why so many bombs missed the target during the war.

[@Ka9radio_Mobile9]

🥰

[@redtobertshateshandles]

RIP slave workers.

[@waynepolitte4659]

Disney “Swish”! How prescient! 🤣🤣🌈🤡

[@dirkbogarde7796]

amazing content. So good. so interesting. I love it. USA USA USA Go USAAF

[@richardvernon317]

Bomb was actually British and designed by the Royal Navy!!!