MOAB:

The US weapons specialists described their Mother Of All Bombs dropped on a terrorist infestation site Thursday as the biggest such non-nuclear weapon ever used in battle.

Not quite. Actually, it is 1000 lb lighter than the GRAND SLAM developed by British demolition specialist Barnes Wallis in the course of WWII. Wallis calculated that's how much explosive power was needed to crumble the heavily reinforced Nazi submarine pens along the coast in occupied France and in Hamburg.

It worked, too. The Grand Slam, delivered by British Lancaster Bombers, punched enough holes in those submarine pens to prevent the successful launch of Germany's state-of-the-art Type XXI submarine. This U-boat was so advanced that the first nuclear subs deployed by the allies a couple of decades later incorporated many of its features.

The Grand Slam was an evolution of Barnes Wallis's Tallboy bomb that preceded it, but was found to be inadequate for the really destructive blast needed to demolish the heavily reinforced concrete.

Wallis was perhaps better known for the bouncing bombs used by the Dambusters to  take out the Ruhr's extensive hydro complex powering Hitler's weapons industry deep within Germany.

And there's a Canadian connection here, too. Cmdr Jean Luc Fauquier took over the Dambusters squadron from Guy Gibson, its young leader, when he retired for medical reasons. Fauquier led the squadron on the heavy bomber sorties that followed, directing the drops from his speedy and agile Mosqito Pathfinder.

Smart Bomb technology was not yet a factor, so the Allies used Pathfinders in fast little Mosquito aircraft to get down low over the drop zone, locate the target and drop colored flares to mark the spot for the heavy bombers to zero in on. The modern MOAB is equipped with parachute, tail vanes with movable slats to correct descent to the target. No Pathfinder required.

Fauquier was a Canadian bush pilot before he joined the RCAF at the start of the war. He was a fellow Mississaugan, living on Broadmoor Ave at the time I interviewed him in '67.

One of his favorite targets was Hamburg, the site of some of those submarine pens. He said he had an awkward moment when, on a business trip in the years following the war, a German customer asked him if he'd ever been to Hamburg.

Another favorite target was Peenemunde where Werner Von Braun was building long-range V2 rockets for Hitler.

At the time of the interview, Fauquier was in the concrete business. He said he probably supplied more concrete in the Toronto area over the post war years than his Lancaster squadrons had demolished in Germany.

Note: Fauquier earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, The Distinguished Service Order and bars for both awards, all well deserved for his contribution to a successful end to the war.