Urchin,
I'd very much appreciate you pointing out every instance of my knowing physics more than anyone else.
Never claimed to have any more formal training than any one else here in physics. I have said that I have spent time with WW2 armour and that I have spent time looking at a good amout of the OEM drawings and manuals that were available, specifically for the purpose of future restoration projects, or to provide me the ability to assess the restorative qualities on certain vehicles that I arranged import for, for various buyers in the past.
All I have said since the get go was that:
A: WW2 rockets and bombs did kill tanks.
B: Close hits by bombs also caused numerous tanks being either totally destroyed to damaged.
C: It was with enough frequency that the Germans and Russians considered air to ground weapons a threat.
D: That Wittman died from air attack. (Since none of us were there, I am sticking to what the man who examined his tank reported.)
Based upon the the known facts of the Tiger I, we know the following.
The top armour was .98 inches / 25 mm thick.
The standard HVAR rocket available in mid '44 was capable of penetrating 1.5 inches of armour plate.
The math to me shows that IF the projectile described above hits at anywhere from 90 to 34 degrees, the weapon will penetrate. Consider the next fact, that German tanks were gasoline powered. If said weapon makes it into the engine compartment, and likely ignites the fuel. Said tank is more than likely toast. If the gasoline does ignite, the chances are also high that the resulting explosion will penetrate the crew compartment. If that happens it will likely ignite the onboard main gun ammunition. If that happens, the tank is going to literally explode.
Thats just a rocket. What if a 500lb GP egg lands on the top of a tank? While I do not know the formulas, it is likely going right on through that 1.5 inches of armour and right on inside to make the occupants extremely unpleasant.
Lets also consider a 500lb GP bomb withing 5 meters of a Tiger. If that weapon detonates, the reulting crater is more than likely going to allow the tank to fall in. If the tank goes over, a myriad of problems are going to arise, from dislodged internal equipment, turret crushing the turret ring, the list goes on adfinitum. If that happens, you can consider the tank dead, unless a large amount of time will be allotted to carefully right the vehicle and go about the task of transporting the vehicle to a major overhaul facility. That rarely happens in combat.
The risk of even more damage increases with the size of the ordinance getting bigger is a fairly reasonable assumption. T
hose are just the physical aspects of what happens to the vehicle that I can think of. Take into count the effects of the blasts shockwave, the over pressure, positions of the crew, and these add even more factors into it.
Seems fairly simple to just agree that the air to ground weapons used against armour were capable of "busting tanks" instead of the quoted statement by another individual.
