# Could You "Slim Pickens" a Bomb In? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 6, 2007, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-slim-pickens-a-bomb-in/386973 "2007-01-06T21:28:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-slim-pickens-a-bomb-in/386973/41 "2016-06-08T21:26:35Z")
I’m surprised the bomb was intended to go off on the ground rather than an airburst like in Japan. Would that be to have maximum impact on hardened targets? ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-slim-pickens-a-bomb-in/386973/42 "2016-06-08T21:55:37Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > > [@LSLGuy](#): > > > > The time delay is waay too short for James Bond to find the bomb & defuse it while the babe falling out of her shirt looks on nervously. > > That was Felix Leiter. > > Bond was about to pee on himself, watching the timer, and Felix reached over his shoulder and pulled a wire off. Somehow, I can’t get overly excited at Felix Leiter falling out of his shirt… ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2016, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-slim-pickens-a-bomb-in/386973/43 "2016-06-08T22:42:42Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > The film _Goldfinger._ They were in Fort Knox, Goldfinger planning to make US gold reserves worthlessly radioactive, and therefore his personal gold more valuable. Amd it was M not Felix that disarmed the bomb. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-slim-pickens-a-bomb-in/386973/44 "2016-06-09T00:53:58Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > I’m surprised the bomb was intended to go off on the ground rather than an airburst like in Japan. Would that be to have maximum impact on hardened targets? I happened to do quite the wiki crawl on that sort of thing, but regarding explosive bombs in WWII rather than atomics. The Brits and the Americans seemed to take different approaches to very heavy bombs. The Brits favored bombs with very heavy casing designed to dive into the ground before detonating, causing earthquakes to damage the foundations of buildings. Meanwhile, the Americans had bombs with a higher proportion of high explosives and proximity fuses to set them off a certain altitude above the ground, attempting to flatten their targets from above instead (it’s not a coincidence that these bombs were designed with similar proportions to the Fat Boy, which I think had a similar mission profile). And in response to **Leo Bloom** , no, I don’t chuck bombs, I fly a desk and work radios and spreadsheets. It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-slim-pickens-a-bomb-in/386973/45 "2016-06-09T16:07:21Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > …The Brits favored bombs with very heavy casing designed to dive into the ground before detonating, causing earthquakes to damage the foundations of buildings… Gotta love what the Tallboys could do: [Operation Catechism - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Catechism) ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-slim-pickens-a-bomb-in/386973/46 "2016-06-09T17:42:12Z")
I’ve honestly long been curious if there were any air campaigns that used both ground penetrating bombs and air-burst bombs in concert. I can only imagine the sort of carnage you’d accomplish with that one-two punch. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-slim-pickens-a-bomb-in/386973/47 "2016-06-09T21:26:19Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Gotta love what the Tallboys could do: [Operation Catechism - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Catechism) I understand where you’re coming from, but I must say an unfortunate use of language. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-slim-pickens-a-bomb-in/386973.md?page=2)