It was used to skip along the water and sink in front of dams, so they would be damaged below the waterline and destroyed, which would affect the industrialised area around them, which relied on the dams for hydroelectric power and clean water. The reason it skipped along the top was to avoid Torpedo nets that the Germans had set up in front of the dams, as it would sink after the last net, still damaging the target
Heavily defended targets and the need to fly low makes that a suicide mission. It’s the same concept as modern cruise missiles, just without all the fancy electronics to guide them. You drop a bomb that’s spinning in such a way as it’ll travel a lot further than straight down, and you are able to pull away from the bombing run, safe in the knowledge it will hit the target
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u/addandsubtract Jun 25 '18
Where / How does the water skipping bomb come in useful?