Lancaster Bomber with 8000lb cookie bomb

Original Silver Gelatin photograph, September 1943

19 x 25 cm

Stamped to reverse ‘Copyright this photograph must not be reproduced without the written permission of The Aeroplane.’

BRITISH OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH CH 10939(WK)

Air Ministry Photo- Crown Copyright Reserved

(Picture issued September 1943)

THE RAF’s EIGHT THOUSAND POUND BOMB

Stamped to reverse ‘British Official Photograph, Crown Copyright Reserved, Supplied by BIPPA, Passed for publication by Ministry of Information’.

The press release states: First official photographs of the RAF’s 8,000 lb and 4,000 lb bombs are now released. Their weight has been felt with devastating effect on enemy targets in Italy and Germany. Picture shows:- Close-up of an 8,000 lb bomb in front of the Lancaster which will carry it on the night’s raid. 

The 8000 lb ‘super cookie’ was a ‘blockbuster’ bomb, so-called because it could destroy an entire block of flats on its own. The Germans called these large bombs ‘Luftminen’ – airmines – as during the Blitz the large bombs used by the Luftwaffe were adapted marine mines.

Judging by the length of the hair of the person sitting by the bomb, this is a member of the WAAF. WAAFs were often used to drive tractors on aerodromes during the war.

Condition: generally good

Provenance: from the collection of Philip J R Moyes, author of many books on the RAF, most notably The Pictorial History which ran to several volumes.