Replies

Reports of such bombs found in europe/germany surface every so often. This is the first I recall of a ‘dud’ found in Japan. I wonder why.

Less tonnage dropped due to logistical issues. Despite the A-bombs, we killed more Germans via aerial bombing because occupied Europe was just across the channel. Bomb attacks on Japan were a major undertaking because of the Pacific Ocean. The A-bomb attacks on Japan took off from 1500+ miles away on Tinian. The distance between London and Hamburg is 400+ miles away, and closer for much of occupied Europe. 10% of the German population died during WWII, as compared to less than 5% of the Japanese population.

7 posted on 10/30/2012 5:48:00 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)

Could the change to the firebombing campaign (where incendiaries were much lighter and used airbursts) be a reason as well?

11 posted on 10/30/2012 8:34:45 PM PDT by M1903A1 ("We shed all that is good and virtuous for that which is shoddy and sleazy... and call it progress")