This, however, was not the primary intention of Barnes Wallis's design. The bomb was designed to make impact close to the target, penetrate the soil or rock beneath or around the target, and then detonate, transferring all of its energy into the structure, or creating a camouflet (cavern or crater) into which the target would fall. This 'earthquake' effect caused more damage than even a direct hit that penetrated the armour of a target, since even a burst inside a bunker would only damage the surroundings, with the blast dissipating rapidly through the air. An earthquake impact shook the whole target and caused structural damage to all parts of it, making repair uneconomic. The attack reports below should be considered with this in mind. An alternative technique was to arrange detonation depth so that the crater broke the surface—useful for attacking railway marshalling yards and similar targets. The Tallboy produced an crater with depths up to , unlike conventional bombs which would produce many shallow craters across a target—each one of which could later be filled in rapidly with earth-moving equipment. Such a huge hole was time-consuming to fill; multiple trucks and bulldozers could not be fitted around the periphery of the hole to speed the process. Manufacturing Tallboys were largely hand-made, requiring much labour during each manufacturing stage. The materials used were costly, with precise engineering requirements in casting and machining. To increase penetrative power, a large, specially hardened, steel plug had to be precisely machined and mated to a recess in the nose of the bomb. The ogive had to be perfectly symmetrical to ensure optimum aerodynamic performance. This was no easy task when manipulating a bomb casing with the size and weight of a Tallboy. The Torpex filling was poured by hand into the base of the upturned casing after melting it in "kettles". The final stage of explosive filling required that a one-inch layer of pure TNT be poured over the Torpex filling, followed by sealing the base with a layer of woodmeal-wax composite with three cylindrical recesses fitted with the explosive boosters and into which three chemical time-fuses were inserted when the bomb was armed. Tallboys were not considered expendable, and if not used on a raid were to be brought back to base rather than safely jettisoned into the sea. The value of the weapon offset the additional risk to the aircrew. Given their