World War II bomb to be exploded

[Notebook]

Earlier this week the bomb began ticking as they approached it.
"It is a fairly dangerous operation. We are taking all the safety precautions we can," said Major Matt Davis.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7439249.stm

I've got my tin hat on.

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

Only 200m safety distance? In Germany they evacuate already 1 km distance for only disarming a 500 kg bomb. Even if it is in the center of a city. In Braunschweig, they evacuated to a distance of about 800m after a 200 kg bomb was found inside the university quarter.

Also, using a small explosion for disabling only the fuse is pretty risky. Better is explosively cutting the bomb shell open, so the explosive fill can burn free. That's usually used when the bomb can't be moved, as the majority of the shrapnel stays inside the crater and the explosion looses a lot of power by not being constrained by the shell.

EDIT: Report of the disarming of a 250 kg bomb in the downtown of Braunschweig (in German).

http://www.feuerwehr-lehndorf.de/einsatzberichte/bombenfund2005.pdf

250 kg, 500m safety distance, bomb moved to a save location for explosion afterwards. Evacuation included hotels. 3100 persons found shelter in the local Volkswagen hall. Luckily it was a mostly commercial area late at night, so no customers and workers affected.

 

[Coolhand]

Remember kids, duck and cover.

 

[simonpro]

Do bombs actually tick? I've been around a few of the things (admittedly not while they've been exploding) and I've never heard one ticking.
Is this a special feature of WWII german bombs or is it a special feature of the BBC reporter watching too many hollywood movies?

(edit) Maybe it's got an alarm clock on it too.

 

[Notebook]

Maybe its just running slow?

N.

 

[Bj]

Only 200m safety distance?

I am 7756 KM away, I am not too worried about my own safety.


If I was there though, I would put some distance away (and some concrete) from it before it goes off....

Maybe its just running slow?

N.

what almost 67 years slow? :lol:

 

[Coolhand]

These things have all sorts of crafty fuses, to make them more dangerous to the defusal teams in ww2. Once they had one design figured out, the design would change so the old defusal process would cause it to detonate.

 

[Ghostrider]

Maybe its just running slow?

Can't be, it's a German bomb. It's not a cheap made-in-PRC knockoff. The only thing that may run as precisely as a German bomb would be a Swiss bomb.

Wait one, I'm going to check mine.

 

[gawinnard]

Cheap copy watch from Thailand Couple of friends have gone to investigate (from a safe distance) as its very close to where they live.

Watched the Bomb disposal dispose of a bomb off Formby/Crosby point, didn't see much from where we stood.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/4988294.stm

 

[Notebook]

Just seen some local news pictures, if that was a controlled explosion, I wouldn't like to be near an un-controlled one...
If any videos pop up, I'll give a link.

Seems to have been a "Herman", code for the type and size I presume?

N.

 

[Urwumpe]

Just seen some local news pictures, if that was a controlled explosion, I wouldn't like to be near an un-controlled one...
If any videos pop up, I'll give a link.

Seems to have been a "Herman", code for the type and size I presume?

The SC-1000 bomb was nicked "Hermann" in the German Imperial Air Force.

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/sc1000.html


About the possible fuse, see this:

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/41 mechanical clockwork.html

Maybe the bomb was dropped at a too low altitude and instead of exploding in the air, it crashed into the ground and the mechanism got stuck... and small movements of the bomb after excavating it, enabled the clockwork to run a bit.

 

[Quinn]

They often dropped bombs with timer fuses in them, some of them set to go off days later. The bomb was supposed to detonate while rescue crews were looking for survivors or while crews were clearing debris. It was meant to demoralize the population.

 

[gawinnard]

Video now available on the beeb, I'd hate to be around when several of those going off. I'm surprised that cities are still around after WWII

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7441356.stm

 

[Woo482]

so thats how we disarm bomb's in the uk !!!!!

 

[James.Denholm]

Meh, looks harmless. I've seen firecrackers bigger than that.

To be honest, I'd hate for that to drop on my house. Anyway, that's why I don't live in England.

Hey, that house in France that I've had my eye on is finally on the market...