Some fuel air bombs are as destructive as small nukes. To me, their techology appears to be far simpler than that required to develop nuclear weapons.

Is the reason they weren't used in WW2 that nobody had planes big enough to carry one?

That is an interesting question. I'm sure that depends on when the technology was actually developed.

Can't have been that recent. Think about it: Nukes are based on a principle that was only discovered in the 1920s. Fuel air bombs are based on the principle that...fuel...burns...in air.

Are you talking about fire bombing?

No, no. Fuel air bombs that disperse some fuel during their fall and then ignite the whole thing.

Originally Posted by Mohmar Deathstrike

Some fuel air bombs are as destructive as small nukes. To me, their techology appears to be far simpler than that required to develop nuclear weapons.

Fuel-air explosives were first developed, and used in Vietnam by the United States

Is the reason they weren't used in WW2 that nobody had planes big enough to carry one?

The British WW2 bomber the Avro Lancaster could carry a 22,000lb bomb called a 'Grand Slam'.

Thanks for the info. So they would have been technologically possible in WW2, but nobody had given them any thought yet, or if they had, deemed it ineffective?

During the island hopping during WWII, the US forces found that a lot of Japanese were asphyxiated by flame throwers in bunkers. The conclusion was that a large flame depleted the oxygen long enough to kill anyone in a small space.

I think the basic reason that no one had used this weapon in WW2 was becuase they had not thought of it.

Originally Posted by LeEnfield

I think the basic reason that no one had used this weapon in WW2 was becuase they had not thought of it.

Right in one. Although in their defense, the timing of an FAE is tricky. If the squib goes off too fast, the fuel-air mixture will be too rich and it will not burn well. If it goes off too late, the explosion will be small... if there is one. The technology to time such a bomb did exist at the end of the war, (the atomic bombs had them) but not at the beginning.

Dean.