After 70 years at bottom of a loch, top secret bomb bounces back
FOR more than seven decades, they have lain in the cold, murky depths of a sea loch.
But yesterday, one of the most innovative weapons developed during the Second World War was recovered from the bed of Loch Striven in Argyll by divers.
A Highball bouncing bomb, tested on the loch during 1943, was retrieved ‘in perfect condition’ from the depths following a major operation by diving enthusiasts and the Royal Navy.
It is the first time anyone has seen one of the prototype weapons since they were originally tested out.
The team hopes to retrieve at least one further Highball today.
The Highballs were a version of the Upkeep bouncing bombs used in the Dambusters raid in May 1943 and were intended for use against German battleships, especially the Tirpitz, which was located in a Norwegian fjord.
Footage of the Loch Striven Highball bomb-runs featured in the 1955 Dambusters film because images showing the Upkeep bombs were still classified.
More than 200 of the bombs, designed to skip across the water and avoid anti-submarine nets, were tested at Loch Striven by Mosquitos from RAF Coastal Command’s 618 Squadron.
They were dropped in pairs at extremely low altitude but were never used in combat.
The mission to retrieve the bombs saw members of the British Sub-Aqua Club and the Royal Navy slip beneath Loch Striven yesterday afternoon. Divers descended to 160ft to identify two Highballs suitable for recovery and secured them for lifting.
Royal Navy divers attached specialist lifting equipment to the bombs, which were then winched out of the water by members of the Royal Navy’s Northern Diving Group (NDG), onto their workboat the Cato.
Underwater film maker Lindsay Brown, from Newport-on-Tay, said: ‘The anchor chain is about 60 metres long and we could see a lot of the Highballs strewn along it. It was absolutely stunning to see one brought to the surface.’
The recovered devices are dummy bombs built for test purposes and contain no explosives.
The bombs will be sent to two English aviation museums after conservation.
Dr Iain Murray, a lecturer at the University of Dundee, said: ‘The Highball is the only one we don’t have on display to the public so we are filling that final gap.’