October 28, 2003 A trainload of parachute bombs arrives at an RAF bomber station to be loaded aboard waiting Hampden bombers. Dropped by parachute, a bomb's rate of descent slowed markedly and struck the target nose-first, so it would detonate with more destructive force to each side (rather than most of the impact being absorbed by the earth or traveling upward), causing more blast damage, especially in built-up areas. Both Allied and Axis air forces used them. ACME News photo dated February 5, 1943.