Tsunami-1

[Tomsdad]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Historically, the British did think of it independently. Quite a lot of people did: the paper describing the discovery of fission was openly published in January 1939. Within a year, there had been over a hundred follow-up papers. Germany and Japan were the first to start military projects, in April '39, but they didn't get anywhere. FDR reviewed Einstein's letter on October 11th. Igor Kurchatov informed his government some time the same year, and the British had their first go that year too, but stalled out.

Frisch and Peierls, German emigres in the UK who were technically enemy aliens and thus not allowed to work on military projects had a go on their own initiative early in 1940, found an easy way to calculate an approximate critical mass, and realised the job was doable. The British project was called "Tube Alloys" but most of its people ended up at Los Alamos.

Merging the projects just made sense historically: the US had far more industrial capacity and money, and was not exposed to bombing.

Right but the thing with all that it kind of demonstrates that it's not just

1). have idea to build a bomb using fission
2). chuck money at it
3). have atom bomb


There were alot or pitfalls and issues along the way.

Originally Posted by johndallman

The Lancaster was thoroughly capable of dropping a atomic bomb. In fact, that was exploited by the Manhattan Project when the USAAF took against the idea of supplying B-29s. Pointing out that the British would doubtless happy to supply Lancasters changed the USAAF's mind swiftly.

The Lancaster doesn't have the same range capability as the B29, but that just means you have to launch from Okinawa rather than the Mariana Islands. The bomb shackle that was used in the B-29 for the atomic bombings was from the Lancaster, and had been developed for the Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs, the latter of which was far heavier than the WWII nukes.

It not just range it's also altitude, speed and survivability (which is not just armament and frame but also linked to altitude & speed, but also what's escorting it and so on)

It also not just about can it take the load and get off the ground but what the impact to it's capabilities are while doing so.

Basically the Lancaster carrying a fat man is closer to it's max operational tolerances than the B29 carrying the same and will suffer disproportionately for it. Plus the Lancaster's ceiling, speed and range are starting lower already as well. Adding to this is the complications when it comes to dropping atom bombs. Both Fatman and Littleboy were dropped at over 9,000m partly to give the bombs their flight time of 40+ seconds with an air burst

Like I said yes it can do it in theory but it is more limited in the role than the B29 is.

On top of this and exacerbating it, those limitations will kick in more when you trying to hit Germany with Lancasters (especially when not doing so after an extended, concerted bombing campaign, plus an air war of attrition which the LW loses facing combined GB, & Co and US production in other areas than just bombers).


Which brings up a more general point in regard to this TL. In an uneasy cease fire between Germany and the UK from Oct 1942 - Feb 1945, if the UK is doing lots of work on large 4 prop bombers, 4 prop bombers that are only ever going to have one target it's going to trigger a German response even if it's just to work on counter measures. A Germany that's doing better in Russia and not fighting the western allies elsewhere (including not getting bombed night and day) has more resources to devote to this.

More esoterically a Germany not fighting the western allies and only fighting the USSR is a very different situation in terms of maybe physicists and engineers fleeing Germany to work for the allies during the ceasefire. Equally a US that is struggling to deal with the Tsunami and not marshalling all efforts to fight the Axis, as well as not being 'a peaceful haven away from a world a-flame since 1939' is a different environment in terms of bringing together all the resources required in the Manhattan project other than just cash. Basically lots of butterflies here.