Tons of bombs dropped in WW2

[ClayO]

I've read that the U.S. and Great Britain dropped 2.7 million tons of bombs on Europe from 1940-1945 (Smithsonian Magazine, Jan/Feb 2016). That's a difficult figure to comprehend, so I tried to figure out how space that many bombs would take up. Since there were a lot of different size bombs dropped, I used a 500 lb MK-82 bomb as a reference. Its dimensions are 7' 6.2" by 18" diameter. That's a volume for one MK-82 =(7+(6.2/12))*(PI()*(1.5/2)^2) = 13.28 cu. ft. (I gave the formula in Excel format so you can plug this in and check my numbers, if you want.)

2.7 million tons of bombs is 10.28 million MK-82's, which would be a volume of 143.5 million cubic feet.
At 950,000 square feet and 150 feet tall (according to Wikipedia), that's about the size of the Staples Center in Los Angeles - actually larger, because the roof isn't flat:

That is one hell of a lot of bombs.

 

[33k in the air]

Strategic bombing tonnage by year by year and air force, 1942-45.

Bomber Command
1942: 051,028
1943: 176,352
1944: 571,075
1945: 198,835

8th Air Force
1942: 002,727
1943: 047,340
1944: 445,603
1945: 207,257

15th Air Force
1942: —
1943: 002,839
1944: 171,917
1945: 070,959

Figures are from the British Bombing Survey.

 

[Graeme]

Butterfly Thread Drift - but was there any chance the entire 64 kg of uranium being converted to energy?

(Midnight in Chernobyl - Adam Higginbotham - Bantam Press 2019)

 

[Airframes]

Frightening that so little did so much !

 

[pbehn]

Frightening that so little did so much !

That is what E=MC^2 is all about, you don't need a great deal of mass when multiplied by the speed of light squared.

 

[Airframes]

Agreed, but what I meant was the very small percentage of the material that actually worked - it's mind-blowing to think what the result would have been, had the entire "mass" functioned as designed.
OK, today, we are "used" to what the effects of nuclear weapons will produce, depending on yield, but back then, with the first two weapons doing so much damage, let alone the after effects, the possible results are still staggering.
As I said - frightening !!

 

[ClayO]

Strategic bombing tonnage by year by year and air force, 1942-45.

Figures are from the British Bombing Survey.

That's a total of 1.95 million tons, which would result in a much lower number, even with 1940 and '41 included. I can't explain the difference in the totals, since I don't know how either the Smithsonian or the British Bombing Survey got their numbers.

At any rate, it would take up 103 million cu. ft, or a little more than the volume of the Empire State Building (99.1 Mcu ft.). Still a heck of a lot.

 

[pbehn]

Agreed, but what I meant was the very small percentage of the material that actually worked - it's mind-blowing to think what the result would have been, had the entire "mass" functioned as designed.
OK, today, we are "used" to what the effects of nuclear weapons will produce, depending on yield, but back then, with the first two weapons doing so much damage, let alone the after effects, the possible results are still staggering.
As I said - frightening !!

I think that is how it works, even in a successful reaction only a small amount actually reacts, you may not be surprised to hear I am not an expert on making nuclear bombs, but in a previous life I was involved in handling isotopes, a small industrial isotope needs a projector that weighs as much as a suitcase to keep it safe.

 

[Graeme]

I can't explain the difference in the totals, since I don't know how either the Smithsonian or the British Bombing Survey got their numbers.

Hi Clay.
Found this - talks about a "Nonstrategic" figure, which when added gets close to your figure - give or take a few hundred thousand tons of bombs.

Still a heck of a lot.

Agreed.

 

[Milosh]

army_air_forces_statistical_digest_ww2_1945.pdf (91stbombgroup.com)
2,057,244 tons in all theaters

 

[ClayO]

army_air_forces_statistical_digest_ww2_1945.pdf (91stbombgroup.com)
2,057,244 tons in all theaters

Those numbers are overwhelming: over 6 million high explosive bombs dropped fighting Germany, almost 1.7 million HE bombs dropped fighting Japan - not including fragmentation, incendiary, etc. Over two million people in the AAF in any year 43-45, a million of them overseas; over 120 casualties, over 40,000 died - which of course doesn't include the casualties in the LW, IJA, IJN and civilians. There are a lot of individual stories in those lists of dry numbers. I'm glad they're not all forgotten.

 

[33k in the air]

army_air_forces_statistical_digest_ww2_1945.pdf (91stbombgroup.com)
2,057,244 tons in all theaters

The interesting thing is the table showing the type of bombs dropped against Germany (Table 138 on page 258 of the PDF) appears to leave out some types which were dropped according to other sources. For example, that table does not list the 300 and 1,100 lb demo bomb types (basically the predecessor of the GP series). Yet if one looks at Roger Freeman's Mighty Eighth War Diary, which lists the total number of bomb types dropped for each 8th AF bombing mission in 1942-43, those demo bombs weights were used. I went through it and got the following totals: 1,100 lb demo bombs, 121 dropped; 300 lb demo bomb, 21,886 dropped.

Because that table (and table of bomb types dropped vs. Japan) only list the munition by weight class, it is a bit of a challenge to figure out exactly what was the model of some of those bombs dropped.

 

[l'Omnivore Sobriquet]

Well being a Frenchman and a rather ageing aviation enthusiast, i'll just 'drop' this little contribution which i've be been holding for true since my serious readings on the matter : France ranks as number 2 for the tonnage of bombs received, in wwii, all countries, all contributors summed up.

Yes of course the Italians did contribute, also, but, well, didn't really steal the computation...
Number 1 is Germany beating us again arrghh.