Good day, good people!

I think I already know the answer to this question, but would welcome
comment. I have just viewed a video I took of a TV programme about the
raid on Amiens prison by Mosquitos in Feb 1944. The presenter stated
that the Mosquitos had to drop their bombs at no more than one hundred
and twenty-five miles per hour because 'any faster and they would have
fragmented against the prison wall instead of exploding properly'.

I think that the presenter (an ex-major, so may not have clocked it) was
fed a dud 'fact' from the script writer, but I can't think of where any
such erroneous limit could have originated.

Because...

1. I have never heard of a velocity limit on aerial bombs. Most bombs
in WWII were dropped from a substantial height, and most industrial
targets were made of hard stuff like concrete. Terminal velocity of a
GP HE bomb? Suspect rather high...

2. The safety airspeed for a Mosquito carrying bombs was comfortably
above 125 mph.

The only possible explanation I can think of is that someone believed
that, above a certain airspeed, the bombs (almost certainly using
delayed action fuses) might have passed straight through the wall -
expending their explosion in the courtyard, rather than demolishing the
wall. But if that was the case I can only think that the airspeed limit
would have been much higher because of the Mossie safety airspeed.

So, can anyone who knows anything about the Amiens prison raid comment
as to what might be the origins for such a garbled portion of the
script? Was there any limit of any sort associated with the raid that
might have been so badly misinterpreted?

Many thanks.

Cheers,

Dave

--
Dave Eadsforth