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After the parachute opened, the mine would descend at around 40 miles per hour (64 km/h). If it came down on land, a clockwork mechanism would detonate the mine 25 seconds after impact. If the mine landed in water it would sink to the bottom. If the depth was greater than 8 feet (2.4 m),
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385:, while Army bomb disposal staff were warned that it was extremely inadvisable to attempt to render them safe without Naval guidance. The official British designation for these weapons on land was "Parachute Landmines", but civilians just called them "land mines".
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Prior to the war, the
Admiralty had been developing mines including acoustic and magnetically-triggered types and these were brought into use early in the war. Laid in shallow water they would be set off when a vessel passed over them.
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were initially responsible but they had few aircraft and their medium bombers could only carry one mine so RAF Bomber
Command took over responsibility with their heavy four-engined bombers which could carry four mines. The
290:(LMB) weighed 500 kg (1,100 lb) and 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) respectively. The LMA was 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) in length and the LMB 8 ft 8 in (2.64 m).
359:. This involved either the installation of electric wires around the inside of the hull, or for smaller vessels, by passing an electric cable under the hull, known as "wiping".
374:. From October 1940, mines were also dropped in raids on other British cities such as Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Coventry. Clearance of these was carried out by the
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water pressure and the dissolving of a water–soluble plug would deactivate the clockwork time-detonator, and activate an anti-shipping detonator. These were initially
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had ordered parachute mines to be dropped on London in a fit of temper, but it is more likely that they were originally intended to disrupt shipping in the
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The threat to shipping posed by magnetic detonators was effectively negated after a German parachute mine was captured intact when it landed in mud in the
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Mines were about 9 feet long and 17 in (0.43 m) in diameter. The explosive content of a mine was 750 lb (340 kg) of explosive such as
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but later, acoustic or magnetic/acoustic detonators could be fitted. The
Luftwaffe began dropping mines in British waters in November 1939, using
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The use of standard parachute mines declined after 1941, but the
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beneath a cover which detonated the bomb if exposed to light to counteract the work of bomb disposal units.
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During the Second World War, the
Luftwaffe used a number of different kinds of parachute mines. The
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Parachute mines were first used against land targets on 16 September 1940 in the early stages of
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was killed by a parachute mine which exploded outside his flat in Jermyn Street, London during
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In 1941 a parachute bomb destroyed
Victoria Hall, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, site of the
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and targets were chosen by the
Admiralty though the laying was carried out by the RAF.
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was used after it was removed from front-line operations against German cities.
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Minelaying operations by RAF were known as "Gardening", the term carrying over
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Designed to Kill: Bomb disposal from World War 1 to the
Falklands
562:. National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy. 12 December 2015
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Arming a
Liberator for minelaying along the Danube, Celone, Italy
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A defused, German 1,000 kg 'Luftmine'. Glasgow, 18 March 1941
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A German parachute mine that landed in the grounds of the
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World War 2 naval mine dropped from aircraft by parachute
333:, was damaged by a parachute mine on 21 November in the
715:"RAF Bomber Command Gardening Operations during WW2"
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490:"Non-Contact, Parachute Ground (Land) Mine Type GC"
90:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
520:"Death By Parachute - German Aerial Mine Warfare"
378:, which quickly dispatched a team to London from
263:. Frequently, they were dropped on land targets.
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529:. Black Country Living Museum. Archived from
326:land–based bombers. The new British cruiser,
53:Learn how and when to remove these messages
694:Glossary of R.A.F. Slang & terminology
662:"Children's deaths that shocked the world"
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215:Learn how and when to remove this message
150:Learn how and when to remove this message
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743:"Landmine in Dudley Drive, March 1941"
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188:Please consider expanding the lead to
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608:"WW2 People's War - Parachute Mines"
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414:which broke up on impact. It had a
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719:The last flight of Lancaster ED559
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34:This article has multiple issues.
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637:. Sam Houston University.
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585:. Stephens. p. 69.
366:. It was rumoured that
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401:Victoria Hall disaster
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492:. Imperial War Museum
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255:and initially by the
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691:MacIsaac, James J.,
348:on the same night.
84:improve this article
783:Naval mines by type
635:"The Coming of the"
444:RAF Coastal Command
440:blockade of Germany
316:magnetic detonators
556:"Degaussing Ships"
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422:British operations
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335:Firth of Forth
324:Heinkel He 111
322:seaplanes and
320:Heinkel He 115
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773:Mine warfare
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82:Please help
77:verification
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36:Please help
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388:The singer
762:Categories
724:2023-07-08
592:0850598656
496:October 1,
473:References
408:Bombenmine
376:Royal Navy
357:degaussing
283:(LMA) and
241:naval mine
110:newspapers
39:improve it
612:bbc.co.uk
403:of 1883.
394:the Blitz
390:Al Bowlly
364:the Blitz
272:Luftwaffe
253:Luftwaffe
245:parachute
182:summarize
140:July 2008
45:talk page
639:Archived
412:Bakelite
303:Woolwich
286:Luftmine
279:Luftmine
700:4 March
676:13 June
645:24 June
346:Harwich
330:Belfast
267:History
251:by the
124:scholar
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463:Amatol
382:Vernon
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534:(PDF)
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467:Minol
341:Gipsy
307:circa
239:is a
131:JSTOR
117:books
702:2014
678:2008
647:2010
620:2019
587:ISBN
568:2019
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498:2012
380:HMS
339:HMS
328:HMS
103:news
301:at
86:by
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506:^
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235:A
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