Warfront #37 (1966), story page 2 by Wood and Atkins

"The V-3: A True Warfront Feature" two-page story. Cover date September 1966.

GCD notionally credits Wally Wood as writer and him and Dan Atkins as pencillers.

Historical note: The Tallboy raid depicted in the story wasn't the first. The first mission was in support of the Normandy invasion. On the night of June 8-9, 1944--two days after the landings--Tallboys were dropped on a railway tunnel to prevent its use by a Panzer unit. One bomb bored through the hillside and exploded in the tunnel about 60 feet below, completely blocking it.

Subsequent raids in June hit heavily fortified assembly and launch sites of the V1s and V2s falling on British cities as well as bunker pens for U-boats and E-boats--German version of PT boats--attacking Allied ships.

The mission depicted in the story didn't occur until July 6. They didn't learn until later that this site housed the V-3 cannon effort. (You can visit the bunker in Mimoyecques, France.)

Another example of the Tallboy's effectiveness occurred when they were used against the underground V-1 assembly and launch facilities at Wizernes, France. One caused a landslide that completely blocked an entrance to the underground storage area and on a second raid, additional landslides were caused that completely blocked the remaining four entrances. The earthquake-effect of the weapon was demonstrated on numerous other occasions such as when a "near miss" of sixty feet was sufficient to destroy a railway bridge.

In addition to hitting heavily fortified V-weapons sites and harbor facilities, Tallboys also sank a battleship and two cruisers, partly through near misses. Its record against dams and viaducts, however, was mixed.

The Royal Air Force developed three different versions of the Tallboy "earthquake" bomb. The most powerful was called Grand Slam.

The US Army Eighth Air Force also tried to develop a weapon to penetrate V1 and V2 bunkers by converting bombers into pilotless missiles. Though remote-controlled, the bombers required a two-person crew to get the aircraft off the ground and ensure it stayed on course, at which point the crew bailed out. Joe Kennedy, the Kennedy clan's eldest son who bore his father's political ambitions, volunteered for the first mission, despite having already completed his required number of combat flights. During the first mission on August 12, 1944 the bomber exploded before they were told to bailout, killing both Kennedy and the co-pilot. Their flight occurred after two months of successful RAF Tallboy raids.

Sources: Wikipedia, Smithsonian Institution, Bomber Command Museum of Canada, Historynet.com, thisdayinaviation.com