Use By The United States
The T-10 was an American-made version of the 12,000 lb Tallboy modified to use standard American components. Development was started in late 1944 and plans were made to drop them on the fortified island strongholds of the Pacific to aid in softening their defences before amphibious assaults. None were ever used in combat, since the capitulation of Japan following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki negated their need. In the late 1950s the T-10 was re-designated the M-121. During the Korean War a number of T-10s were converted to the radio guided Tarzon bomb and were used to destroy railroad bridges and reservoir dams, being dropped by the B-29 Superfortress.
After the Korean War ended and the B-29 and B-36 bombers were retired, the United States Air Force no longer had an aircraft that could drop the completely assembled M-121 and they were put in storage. Production of the T-10 ended in 1955. The B-36 was the last operational aircraft that could drop a fully assembled Tallboy type bomb in the conventional way. During the Vietnam War, some M-121s, minus their rear streamline shroud and tail fin assembly were shipped to Vietnam for Commando Vault missions where the warhead was dropped by C-130 using radar control. The warhead was mounted on a platform and pulled by a parachute from the rear loading ramp of the C-130. After clearing the aircraft the large extraction chute and pallet were cut away and small triangular chute stabilized the large warhead till impact. A three foot nose probe detonated the bomb at the right stand-off. One of the last of the World War II Tallboy designs was dropped during a Commando Vault mission to clear a landing zone for helicopters on a ridge during the famous Battle of Hamburger Hill. Dropping from 10,000 feet, the bomb hit exactly where it was needed. The Commando Vault missions were more accurate in bomb delivery on target than the more modern B-52s.
Work still progressed on the 43,000 lb (20,000 kg) T-12 Cloudmaker, which the B36 Peacemaker had been redesigned to deploy.
Read more about this topic: Tallboy (bomb)
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