to cause damage to buildings, specifically to blow roof tiles off, so that the small incendiary bombs could reach the building interiors. In contrast to the American AN-M56 ordnance, the cylindrical "HC"-class British-design high capacity bombs were used only by the RAF, which was the only air force with bombers with bomb bays large enough to hold them. In 1947 Alfred Cecil Brooks of Stourbridge was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for creating the Blockbuster, although his citation was worded "outstanding services to the King of a nature that cannot be revealed". The local newspaper referred to him as "Blockbuster Brooks". Operational use The first type of aircraft to carry bombs operationally was the Wellington during a strike on Emden in April 1941; carriage of the bomb required the bomb beam to be removed from the bomb bay and a slot cut in the bomb doors - the bomb protruded slightly through this and, on release, simply fell out through the hole. The bomb later became part of the standard bomb load of the RAF's heavy night bombers, as well as that of the Mosquitoes of the Light Night Strike Force, whose aircraft would sometimes bomb Berlin twice in one night, flown by two different crews. The 2,000-lb HC was used until the end of the war; use peaked in 1944 with over 16,000 dropped The and the could be carried only by the Avro Lancaster which needed to be slightly modified with bulged bomb-bay doors. The first use of the HC was by 15 Squadron Lancasters against Berlin on 2 December 1943. Bad weather and other factors meant their effectiveness was not noted. The "cookie" was regarded as a particularly dangerous load to carry. Due to the airflow over the detonating pistols fitted in the nose, it would often explode even if dropped in a supposedly "safe" unarmed state. The Safety height above ground for dropping the "cookie" was ; any lower and the dropping aircraft risked being damaged by the explosion's atmospheric shock wave: 617 Squadron developed a technique of dropping a 1,000lb MC bomb just before a 12,000lb HC bomb; the shock wave from the 1,000lb explosion fired the pistols on the 12,000lb bomb to give an "air burst"; this technique was used successfully in attacks including the Michelin factory at Clermont-Ferrand in March 1944. Post-war unexploded ordnance An unusual dry period