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Frank Kelley 02-03-21 08:18 AM

Bomb found in Exeter
 
I was somewhat surprised by the way a 1000kg German bomb was dealt with in Exeter on Saturday, actually blown up, I think by the RN in situ with the result of considerable damage to surrounding properties.:eek:

leigh kitchen 02-03-21 08:41 AM

Where I live that'd be called causing thousands of pounds worth of improvements to the area.

Frank Kelley 02-03-21 08:57 AM

There is footage on the BBC web site, but, I was just surprised that it could not have been safely removed, I can't remember anything similar taking place.

magpie 02-03-21 10:07 AM

It obviously was just too dangerous to move any distance safely, what would have happened if they had put it on a lorry and started to take it somewhere, a lot of work had gone into the design of bombs fuzes and devices that stopped disposal teams from making them safe way back then and it probably doesn't help that its been in the ground for 75 years.

magpie 02-03-21 01:56 PM

1 Attachment(s)
For those who don't know the size of a Hermann

SemperFi 02-03-21 03:35 PM

I’m a retired Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technician with over 30 years of experience. The 1st priority with unexploded ordnance incidents always is protecting lives; the 2nd priority is then protecting property.

For incidents such as the one at Exeter, it is always preferable to render ordnance fuzing safe in situ and then safely transport an item elsewhere for disposal (explosively). However, there are situations where it impossible, because of a variety of factors, to perform fuze render safe procedures. In these cases, the only viable alternative is blowing ordnance in place using substantial tamping.

Whilst there is now a tremendous amount of science underlying how ordnance items, both un-tamped and tamped, behave when detonated, the detonation behavior of an explosive item can still be wildly unpredictable. An EOD team will do their utmost to mitigate potential undesirable effects of a detonation such as the one at Exeter but things can occur with a detonation that are beyond an EOD team’s, or anyone’s, human control.

Assuredly, there will be a thorough investigation of the Exeter incident and there will be accountability if errors were made; however, given the exceptional training EOD personnel receive along with the high levels of professionalism and competency this work demands, it’s highly unlikely the team made errors and instead what occurred was well beyond the team’s control.


Best regards,
Jay

manchesters 02-03-21 06:09 PM

Well said Jay.
Blow it up, dont risk EOD lives.
Job well done, damage or no damage.

regards

NEMO 02-03-21 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manchesters (Post 540826)
Well said Jay.
Blow it up, dont risk EOD lives.
Job well done, damage or no damage.

regards

Excellent point - A single life is worth more than a sh%t load of new double glazing ....

Martin J Wright 02-03-21 06:15 PM

Bomb fpund in Exeter
 
Thank you for your reply. It was very interesting.

MJW

Home Guard 02-03-21 06:18 PM

Here's a couple of links to seeing the detonation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEkRM_foc8Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72SDEBPExQc

Terry

manchesters 02-03-21 06:29 PM

Just as dangerous as they day they dropped it.

Any photos of the crater yet?

regards

Artynut 02-03-21 10:19 PM

SemperFi.. (Jay) Don’t know where you’re from..... but did you ever watch the series “Danger-UXB”.? I’m wondering, to the untrained eye, the episodes were pretty impressive, (technically), but were the actions undertaken really well done and truthful to the “Trained Eye”? Maybe a trifle out of your timeline but give us the “Gen”. Regards, D.J.

SemperFi 03-03-21 02:45 PM

Hi D.J.,

It’s been eons since I watched the Danger UXB episodes—your posted encouraged me to buy the series on DVD and watch it again…lol—but the technical details were mostly accurate, albeit some aspects sexed up and others downplayed. Bit ambiguous reply right?

The early years of BD were brutal in terms of the learning curves for the field and tragically many lives were lost in that process. Many practices still in effect today resulted from those lessons learnt that cost men their lives.

For example, early in the war newspapers innocently published we were able to defeat (i.e., render safe) some German bombs and also how we did it. The Germans consequently learnt this and subsequently began installing anti-removal/handling devices that targeted BD and killed many men until we realised what the Germans knew and had done. From that point forward, ordnance render safe procedures (RSPs) became secret (i.e., classified) information.

Another example is the two-person rule—we always minimally worked in pairs. One technician would perform the work whilst another technician observed from a safe distance. The reason behind this rule is that if a weapon detonates and kills the technician working on the device, the observing technician can report what procedures were performed up until the blast. That reporting then can allow engineers or etc. to evaluate if possible design changes were made to a weapon, the viability of a RSP protocol, and etc. This rule enabled us to figure out during WWII, often at the cost of men’s lives, when, for example, the Germans modified weapons specifically to kill BD personnel.

To this day, it still is very much a cat and mouse game between EOD and weapons makers (be it government-made ordnance or rouge-made improvised explosive devices (IEDs)).

Another aspect of the field that comes and goes is photographing EOD technicians. At various times since WWII, EOD technicians have not been permitted to have their photographs and names published or etc. This practice was common during the Cold War—EOD technicians are rich intelligence sources about how weapon systems work and etc. They also are prime targets; for instance, Al Qaeda in Iraq offered monetary bounties for killing us…we were bad for their IED business! ;)

A bit long-winded post—I hope I kind of answered your questions DJ! :D

Jay

Artynut 03-03-21 04:31 PM

Jay, That was an absolutely SUPERB answer! The time taken to write and explain the aspects of the “Trade”, the explanation of the evolution of procedures and all the historical (WW11) notes you included were very much appreciated. I would be so bold as to suggest that it was a “Labour of Love” answering my inquired in the way you described the role that you and many unknown “heroes” played in the past and continue to do so today. I will now take a screen shot of your answer and slide it into one of the disc covers of my set of the series DANGER-UXB.
Thank you once again. Best regards, David Jeffrey.

dumdum 03-03-21 10:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Artynut (Post 540866)
SemperFi.. (Jay) Don’t know where you’re from..... but did you ever watch the series “Danger-UXB”.? I’m wondering, to the untrained eye, the episodes were pretty impressive, (technically), but were the actions undertaken really well done and truthful to the “Trained Eye”? Maybe a trifle out of your timeline but give us the “Gen”. Regards, D.J.

A very interesting and informative exchange. We watched "Danger-UXB" and greatly enjoyed the way it portrayed this vital work.

Sadly, we are now "fed" (:rolleyes:) a diet of cooking shows, DIY series, survivor dramas with inane tasks to perform and relationship programmes....

Sigh....where has all the quality programming gone to? I know, those were expensive to create and the others much cheaper as any fool just would crawl over broken glass to be seen on TV!


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