T-12 Cloudmaker

For other uses, see T12 (disambiguation).
T-12 Cloudmaker General Purpose bomb
T-12 casing at the Air Force Armament Museum, Florida
TypeEarthquake bomb
Place of originUnited States
Service history
In service1949 - 1958
Used byUnited States Air Force
WarsNone
Production history
Designed1944
Produced1944–1948
Specifications
Mass44,000 lb (20,000 kg)
FillingTritonal
Filling weight8,000 kg (18,000 lb)
Blast yield9.44 t (9.29 long tons; 10.41 short tons) TNT equivalent

The T-12 (also known as Cloudmaker) earthquake bomb was developed by the United States from 1944 to 1948 and deployed until the withdrawal of the Convair B-36 Peacemaker bomber aircraft in 1958. It was one of a small class of bombs designed to attack targets invulnerable to conventional "soft" bombs, such as bunkers and viaducts. It achieved this by having an extremely thick, hardened nose section designed to penetrate deeply into the earth before exploding and then damage the target by the resulting shock wave.

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