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You're Only Supposed To Blow The Detonator Off


wymberley
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In this modern world where we can video-chat in real-time to people on the other side of the world, send people into space, send probes to the outer reaches of our solar system, and above all work out what women want..... can we not dispose of a UXB without damaging half a bloody town??!!  Madness!

Although admittedly I'd have loved to have been there and witnessed the blast!

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15 hours ago, Jim Neal said:

In this modern world where we can video-chat in real-time to people on the other side of the world, send people into space, send probes to the outer reaches of our solar system, and above all work out what women want..... can we not dispose of a UXB without damaging half a bloody town??!!  Madness!

Although admittedly I'd have loved to have been there and witnessed the blast!

Jim If you want me to I could ask if you can go along and help!:good::w00t:

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12 hours ago, peck said:

I am sure the Navy would welcome your input on helping them. Plenty of jobs going for Bomb Disposal Officers. Go along and fill your boots. 

Maybe I will!  What could possibly go wrong?  I was trained by this guy...

254609732_bombdisposal.gif.cb5752a442cc987b005819b0b62b2858.gif

11 hours ago, Centrepin said:

Really!!!!...............🤣🤣🤣

OK maybe I threw in a little red herring there.

But the space exploration stuff is truly amazing.   One evening when I told my mrs we're sending a probe to Uranus she said "No you're bloody not!" 🤣

7 hours ago, TIGHTCHOKE said:

Jim If you want me to I could ask if you can go along and help!:good::w00t:

I've got a good hoover.....

Edited by Jim Neal
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I don't pretend to understand these things, but apparently it was deemed unsafe to move and in such a condition that they couldn't work out what was what and whether or not it had been booby trapped. Consequently, separating the detonator from the explosive was not on and a big bang inevitable. I can understand the 400 tonne sand bund, but laying a load of what looked like dual carriageway steel barriers on top has got me beat. In view of the title; throwing, stop, me and spears seems appropriate.

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It was a calculated risk.

You can evacuate people and you can repair damage to property.

You work out where all your services are, take account of likely damage, dig trenches to take the force and cover the bomb and its charge with sand.

I cannot work out what they thought the steel sheeting would add, that just became projectiles.

No lives were lost, no one was injured and a very old corroded German bomb was made safe.

 

In an ideal situation the fuse or fuses and their associated gains would have been taken out remotely, unfortunately much of the German ordnance from that period had a Zeus 40 fitted below one or both of the fuses. This was an anti tamper device and almost all of the big stuff had them fitted. move the fuse above a Zeus 40 and the bomb will high order anyway.

You pays your money and takes your chance, the days of an operator approaching that bomb to manually remove anything are long gone.

 

It may have been possible to trepan the bomb casing and steam the filling out. But I was not on that task and would not challenge anything that the team did.

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On 07/03/2021 at 16:27, Fisheruk said:

Yep, but they probably don’t use 1000 lb of explosives 🤔

The same thing happened with a yank bomb in Munich some years back, it was found next to the bar that I had used when I met the wife there in 1980 as it was surrounded by lots of 8-12 height blocks of flats they decided to deaden it with piles of straw. Off it went and strewed burning straw all over town caused a lot of laughs and damage that one.

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