The American bomb was an enlarged version of the British ammunition.In the course of development, however, some technological nuances had to be taken into account, due to which the weight of the finished bomb went beyond the intended framework. The finished Cloudmaker weighed 20 tons and was about twice as tall as Tallboy. Torpex explosive charge - about eight tons. The weight and dimensions of the new seismic bomb were such that only one aircraft could carry it - the Convair B-36 Peacemaker bomber.
However, the Pismaker did not immediately become the carrier of the T-12 bomb. First made several test dumps from a smaller aircraft, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. For testing specially remade serial bomber. It was made as easy as possible by removing all unnecessary parts (armor and weapons), remade the cargo compartment to accommodate a large ammunition, and also calculated the amount of fuel poured accordingly. Until the first test bomb was dropped, everyone involved in the project was very nervous: nothing could tell how the bomber would behave, the maximum take-off mass of which was only three times the mass of the bomb. The designers feared that the plane, freed from the load, would throw up, and the resulting overload would damage its design. Luckily,Test pilots coped with the sharp arisen cabrirovaniem and B-29 safely returned to its airport.
ccording to some data, during the tests, the T-12 bomb dropped from a height of ten kilometers penetrated up to 50-55 meters of soil or up to 8-10 meters of concrete. Thus, the capabilities of the new American ammunition were significantly higher than that of any other bombs of this class. In addition, due to the principle of its operation, a seismic bomb in depth in some cases could be more effective than nuclear weapons exploding in the air or on the surface of the earth.
Shortly after the B-29 began testing, the first reset of the Cloudmaker from the B-36 aircraft took place. For a heavy strategic bomber, this procedure turned out to be completely safe, although the Peacemaker had to be redone accordingly. In January 1949, as an experiment, one B-36 took off at once with two T-12 bombs. The flight took place without incident, although the bomb load of 43 tons (two bombs and suspension devices for them) exceeded the maximum allowed.
Also in 1949, the T-12 Cloudmaker bomb was adopted. Around the same time, the chiefs of the Pentagon finally decided on the priorities for the development of their air force. Now the strategic bombers B-36 were considered solely as carriers of nuclear weapons. Cloudmaker bombs that have a specific tactical niche have lost their priority. Finally, in the mid-fifties, American nuclear engineers created several new nuclear bombs that acted like seismic ones: they "stuck" into the ground and exploded there. These munitions turned out to be much smaller and lighter than the "Cloudmaker", which is why not only B-36s, but also other American bombers of that time could transport them.
The T-12 Cloudmaker seismic bomb was in service with the United States Air Force until the late 1950s. On February 12, 1959, the command ordered the B-36 bombers to be removed from service. Since no other aircraft could use the T-12 super heavy bomb, it was also excluded from the list of weapons of the American air force. In the future, the United States did not deal with the themes of ultra-large caliber bombs. This niche was firmly occupied by less heavy ammunition with sufficient characteristics. In addition, over the past decades, the bomb is accelerated to the desired speed, not in a free fall, but with the help of a solid-fuel accelerator. The time of huge seismic bombs weighing several tons has passed.