618 Squadron HighBall Search & Recovery Project - Loch Striven, Scotland
In association with Dr Iain Murray, University of Dundee



Bouncing bomb. (2008, April 28). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 11:01, May 4, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bouncing_bomb&oldid=208686592
Allied Secret Weapons a Purnell's History of the World Wars Special - Phoebus - 1975 - (No ISBN) Credited to: Vickers Ltd.

No. 618 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, intended to carry of a variation of the Barnes Wallis-designed Bouncing Bomb, code-named Highball. Due to various circumstances the Highball weapon was never used and the squadron disbanded at the end of the war.  618 Squadron was first formed at RAF Skitten on 1 April 1943, as part of No. 18 Group of Coastal Command, from crews of No. 105 RAF Squadron and No. 109 RAF Squadron. The unit was equipped with Beaufighter IIs fighter-bombers, quickly changing to converted Mosquito IV.

The Highball device was intended to bounce across the sea until it hit an enemy ship, sank and exploded. Unlike the cylindrical Upkeep weapon used by No. 617 Squadron RAF in Operation Chastise, the Highball was more spherical.  The squadron's primary target was designated as the Kriegsmarine Surface Fleet, primarily the battleship Tirpitz, so the squadron remained training in Scotland and waiting for the Surface Fleet to sortie into the North Sea until July 1944, when this threat had lessened. During this time, as the German Surface Fleet never emerged from its bases in Norway, 618 Squadron did not have the opportunity to use the Highball weapon. In August 1944, the squadron deployed to RAF Beccles in Suffolk, and in September changed aircraft again to Mosquito XVIs, transitioning to Mosquito XVIIIs in October.


Press Release from May 2008:

Dambusters Anniversary Anticipates Recovery of Highball Bouncing Bomb:

"Friday 16th May 2008 is the 65th anniversary of the famous “Dambusters” raid, during which Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron destroyed two German dams with the “bouncing bomb” invented by Sir Barnes Wallis. Various commemorative events are taking place around the country to mark the anniversary of this famous raid.

Dr Iain Murray of the University of Dundee’s School of Computing is currently researching a book about Wallis’s scientific work and is visiting Lossiemouth, current home to 617 Squadron, on Friday. “The squadron holds a number of historical photos and documents relating to their wartime activities, and I was keen to review this as part of my research” said Dr Murray, the offer of visiting on the day of the anniversary “being just too good to turn down”. He will also be interviewing 617 aircrew who fly the “swing-wing” Tornado aircraft - the original work on swing-wing development was another of Barnes Wallis’s projects, which was carried out secretly in the decade following the war, eventually reaching fruition in the Tornado.

A smaller version of the "bouncing bomb", the 'Highball', was tested by 618 Squadron on the west coast of Scotland, and though never used in anger - it was designed to sink the German battleship Tirpitz. Many were dropped during tests in Loch Striven, off the Firth of Clyde. Dr Murray and Peter Pritchard of the Archaeological Divers Association  have reviewed reviewed archive films to find the exact location of the ships that were used as targets during the trials in 1943 and 1944, with a view to recording some of the bombs for research. "There must be dozens on the bottom of the loch" said Dr. Murray, "but the loch is very deep and out of the range of recreational sports divers".

The team are currently looking for commercial sponsorship to support a diving expedition of the loch, which will survey and locate some of the Highball bouncing bombs and establish their condition and the possibility of recovering a sample for further non-intrusive and intrusive sampling and recording which can not be carried out underwater. Eventually it is hoped an example can be housed in a museum. No complete examples of the smaller bomb, which are spheres about 1 metre in diameter, currently exist in museums for display.

For further information, please contact:

Iain Murray
School of Computing, University of Dundee
Dundee DD1 4HN.
(01382) 384155
irmurray@computing.dundee.ac.uk