In 1941, an engineer named Wallis came up with a unique idea for the Allied forces. He proposed dropping an incredibly heavy bomb near a target, which would then penetrate deep into the ground before detonating. The resulting explosion would create a tremendously powerful shockwave that could severely weaken the foundations of a building, rendering it useless.

The goal was not to directly destroy the target in the traditional sense, but rather to cause what can be described as an “earthquake” effect. This approach was based on the scientific understanding that shockwaves travel faster and more efficiently through solids compared to air. The British Royal Air Force (RAF) approved Wallis’s proposal and allowed him to experiment with creating this unique bomb.

This bomb was known as the Tallboy. It should not be confused with a small can of beer, as it weighed a staggering 12,000 pounds. To put this into perspective, the heaviest bomb available before the Tallboy weighed only 1,000 pounds. Standing at 21 feet tall, Wallis’s creation truly earned its name.

The Tallboy had a diameter of 3 feet 8 inches and had a total weight of 11,855 pounds. The bomb contained 5,200 pounds of Torpex D1, an explosive twice as powerful as TNT. When dropped from an altitude of 20,000 feet, the bomb created a crater that was 80 feet deep and 100 feet across. It had an estimated terminal velocity of around 3,600 feet per second and could penetrate through 16 feet of concrete. Upon impact, the Tallboy would be traveling at approximately 750 miles per hour.

Over 700 Tallboy bombs were dropped during the course of the war, targeting various locations including the German battleship Tirpitz.