Thread: Ancient History: Kite bombs

I don't know if this will be shown in the UK, but I'll try and keep an eye out for it.

I was also intrigued by the " mortar skipping " they showed on the same episode. Leveling a canon to near sea level, gave them the ability to just shoot in the direction of a target ship, without worrying whether a LOB would come down in the right place or not. As long as the mortar had enough energy to reach the target, it would hit and explode at close to the water level; sinking the ship...

Gosh...

Especially the "rock skipping" application.

I remember showing my buds when I was younger, that I could skip any palm sized or smaller stone they could find. This just means I wasn't the first to know one can skip round objects across the water LOL

The Dam Busters .

Yes, they actually mentioned that they were probably inspired by this ancient practice (although the ancients used canons anchored on the shore line) :-)

Have you heard of the dam busters? It was a particular type of bomb that skipped along water under an anti bomb net thingo, once it hit the wall the spinning action would send it down till it got to a certain depth and the pressure of the water would set it off. Truly amazing stuff. Ooh, found it. www.dambusters.org.uk/

And I thought I had this post. : ( It's a great movie, have you watched it?