There's a Bomb at the bottom of the Garden

Daaad…!!! shall I put this back where I found it ???

I found incendiary in a farmer’s field after a heavy downpour. I handed it to the farmer, who dropped it on his tractor floor, said “another one for the pile for the annual BD visit”. Drove off with it rattling around on his tractor cabin floor.

Now this farmer in Kent was an intelligent man. So was the policeman who picked up some incendiaries near my home, placed them on the back seat of his panda car (1960s) and drove off.

These aren’t nuclear reactors:dev2:

Same here in Belgium. Farmers find WW1 bombs all the time on their field. They just leave them by the roadside and the army comes to pick them up once a week or something. No reason to panic. Just don’t hit them with a sledgehammer :p

Are the bits you kept as souvenirs still around and can they be photographed

Are the bits you kept as souvenirs still around and can they be photographed and then opinions of these experts on the forum shared after which you can decide Police or let sleeping bombs lie.

This is just on the off chance that as someone has already posted above – your 30 year old recollection of what the bomb looked like isn’t exactly what is in the Google image.

Thanks for the replies. I think I will wait a few days while “other” activities in the UK die down hopefully. Then I’ll report back.

Incidentally all 3 were found under a garden shed, just up the road, close to Southend Airports boundary. If I remember correctly my brother who found them decided to keep it low key shall we say, as only a few weeks before, he had found on the bed of the shallow River Roach, a string of machine gun bullets, all live. These were taken to the local Police, and guess he was a little nervous of a 2nd visit.

I bought one of these incenderies from a local auction in Cornwall (!)

The bloke who lived in my gaff, 30 years ago, found a mills 36 grenade in the garden, (in the countryside) complete with very rusty safety pin. Being conscientsious, he took it down the local nick and placed it on the desk. Half the town was then evacuated for several hours whilst bomb disposal dealt with it.

Baz

I found incendiary in a farmer’s field after a heavy downpour. I handed it to the farmer, who dropped it on his tractor floor, said “another one for the pile for the annual BD visit”. Drove off with it rattling around on his tractor cabin floor.

Now this farmer in Kent was an intelligent man. So was the policeman who picked up some incendiaries near my home, placed them on the back seat of his panda car (1960s) and drove off.

These aren’t nuclear reactors:dev2:

Norman Stanley Fletcher at his best!

Got pulled over by a CHP cop called Mackay while my dad was visiting. Cop goes back to his car to run my license etc & my (74yo) dad promptly goes into a Fletcher impression. Managed to keep a straight face when he came back (let off with a warning not to do 63 in a 45mph zone…)

Better still leave it and tell the BD where it is.
I know it is only an incendiary, but even they can cause harm. Several were found in a row of gardens in my town a few years ago, when the BD turned up they looked for, and found three SC50’s not very far away!

Contact the present owner, dig it up(carefully!), and contact the army bomb disposal unit to come pick it up. No reason to panic 🙂

Not the old – ‘Get the garden dug for free trick’? 🙂

Mark

Norman Stanley Fletcher at his best!

I used to have a german incendiary which my grandad had fished out of a water tank in the loft of a local house when he was an air raid warden.
Mine had the fins broken off and Stan Brett and Bill Gent reckoned it had been done to get rid of the fuse under the sheet metal fin section. Mine went to Rochester to be checked and Stan Brett lost the contact he had there so I never got it back. It didn’t look anything like the picture shown in post 1.
I remember the manufacturing date on it was 1936!

Not the old – ‘Get the garden dug for free trick’? 🙂

Mark

Well its worth a try :diablo:

Poor sods are either going to get stoned to death by morons in the cities or blown up in the OP’s garden :diablo:

Which would you go for 😉

Dig a deep hole and bury it.

contact the police – Immediately.

Not the old – ‘Get the garden dug for free trick’? 🙂

Mark

Google pic is wrong

The google pic is a two inch mortar bomb,Not the two kilo electron bodied incendiary [of which there were several types….the most dangerous ones had/has a penthrite wax “window breaker bang” under the tin tail which cannot been seen from outside unless the identification numbers can still be read..these numbers are stamped into the flat base end]

Thats not to say the bombs at the bottom of the garden are not British issued mortar bombs…many duds were left on ranges.

I have little doubt that if it is a Luftwaffe i/b then it is relatively safe, although some had a small explosive charge.

Frankly, if you tell the Police the response will be hugely dis-proportionate. I can see homes evacuated for miles, motorways shut, railways closed…tc etc. Been there. Done that.

However…..the thing you illustrate is not an I/B but a mortar bomb. At least, it looks so to me! Might be a tad more worrying, frankly. Are you SURE it was like that? What made you think it was an incendiary bomb?? Could your memory be at fault as to what it looks like? If your ex RAF uncle was “not too concerned” it makes me think German incendiary bomb rather than mortar bomb.

However, I rather think the Police have more to worry about right now.

contact the police – Immediately.

Why on earth hasnt it been reported to bomb disposal before? :confused: you’re a bit mad chap!