WW 2 bomb kills three in Germany

I just read that since the end of WWII German EOD has defused 7500 bombs in Berlin alone and guess that another 3000 are lying around somewhere in Berlin city. By the way a German pound is 500 gramm and 1000 gramm equals a kilo. so in Germany 500kg is 1000lbs. Germans actually list the bomb as a 10 Zentner (one Zentner is 50kg) bomb. Danny

Hi superplum

Yes you are correct, I should of said chemicals in certain fuses.
G.

I think that most wartime bombs had chemical fuses, which is why they are becoming more unstable as time goes on.
G.

Not true. Most UK bombs were fuzed by mechanical methods (pistols and detonators) which function like a firing pin hitting a percussion cap. Some delayed action systems would be based on acetone dissolving celluloid washers after impact to release the striker. As for German fuzes, they were generally divided into impact action and delayed – delayed being either electrical (capacitor powered) or clockwork. As for moving fuzed UXBs in this day and age, generally one would expect the main explosive filling to be removed first to reduce any risk.

Is that true?

No!:(

*shudders* at the thought of a grand slam sized bomb lying round ready to blow with the thoughts of the one that was on Scamptons gate all those years still live!

Martin

Is that true?

So what triggers the bomb to go off?
You need electricity in the fuse to set off the gain. Are the fuses still holding a charge?

I think that most wartime bombs had chemical fuses, which is why they are becoming more unstable as time goes on.
G.

Wonder if there are any large bombs like Grand Slams lying around anywhere?

God i hope not.!!:eek:

*shudders* at the thought of a grand slam sized bomb lying round ready to blow with the thoughts of the one that was on Scamptons gate all those years still live!

Martin

Wonder if there are any large bombs like Grand Slams lying around anywhere?

God i hope not.!!:eek:

So what triggers the bomb to go off?
You need electricity in the fuse to set off the gain. Are the fuses still holding a charge?
If the fuse is deteriorating and could trigger the bomb potentially these bombs could just start popping off across the country?
Why don’t they just treepan the explosive out and not worry about the fuse?
Wonder if there are any large bombs like Grand Slams lying around anywhere?

Well, there will be a lot of broken windows in Blackpool-on-South.

The only good point is that the ship is at least in water and it does seem to get into casings and degrade the contents, though muntions that have been recovered from WW1 wrecks have in a number of cases been shown to still be viable.

ZRX61 is right in what he says.

About half of the cargo was recovered in 1944 and according to Wikipedia, there could be 286 2000lb bombs, 4,439 1000lb bombs, 1,925 500lb bombs and the real danger is the 2,815 fragmentation and bomb clusters that are still fuzed. I know that surveys are carried out on a regular basis checking the ships structure. If the structure does collapse and causes the rest of the cargo to go off, I dread to think what damage will be done.

G.

Just thinking about Wellington285’s comment about slowly deteriorating bombs and I am wondering about if this is relevant to the case of the munitions ship Richard Montgomery which is sunk in the mud near Sheerness? It still has a very large cargo of aerial bombs on board. I guess they don’t have fuzes fitted but could old age eventually detonate the explosive?

It’s pretty much a case of *when* not *if* that lot goes bang…

Just thinking about Wellington285’s comment about slowly deteriorating bombs and I am wondering about if this is relevant to the case of the munitions ship Richard Montgomery which is sunk in the mud near Sheerness? It still has a very large cargo of aerial bombs on board. I guess they don’t have fuzes fitted but could old age eventually detonate the explosive?

One German Bomb Disposal Expert said in one of the newspapers;

“In the last few years we’ve found that the detonators we take out of such bombs are increasingly brittle,” Weise said. “Recently we’ve had three extracted detonators go off with a pissssh sound while they were being transported away, all it took was a bit of vibration. One day such bombs will be so sensitive that no one will be able to handle them. We may have to stop defusing them as soon as next year.”

Now that is such a horrible thought, as time goes on their jobs are going to be harder and much more dangerous. This means that there is a chance of undiscovered bombs going off due to brittle detonators, fuses and decaying explosives causing death and injuries.

These guys deserve more than medals.
G.

When these bombs are discovered and moved by the jcb are they likely to explode?

Yes! Also when dredgers out at sea dredge them up.

Have bombs that have been dropped exploded under ground that have been buried for a number of years?

No! Unless struck by lightning. Lack of witnesses and a lack of major surface disruption means that it goes unrecorded.

How long does it take to defuse a bomb of this type?

The 500 SC at Beckton Gasworks in 1986 began at 1pm and was finished by 6am the next morning. Though there was a lot of hauling it out. “Immunisation” of the fuse took over an hour. I think they “burnt” the explosives! Steaming of explosives is done on site and that is how they dealt with the Billingsgate 250kg in 1988, that took 30 hours.

Yes, the weight issue definitely doesn’t mean much – after all, if they were describing a 1000lbs allied bomb in Germany, I’m sure they’d say “approximately 500kg”, which might get re-converted as 1100lbs.

As far as I can imagine, nobody in Germany would refer to an allied bomb as a 1000 lbs bomb. All British or American bombs are referred to as for example 500 kg bomb, or 250 kg bomb, never as 450 + – something kg or 225 + – something kg bomb. Lbs would not be used at all, except maybe when a defusing experts is talking with one of his colleagues.
I am not saying it could not be a German bomb, but the weight differences are simply neglected, so I am quite convinced they would not even say “approximately 500 kg”.

Michael

P.S.: “Zehn Zentner Bombe” as mentioned in the video clip means 500 kg bomb, one “Zentner” being an (old) weight unit mainly used in agriculture related context, (like grain or potatoes) for 50 kg. Using the “Zentner” sounds very old fashioned to me, but might still be used in agricultue and farming, I simply do not know.

For anyone researching this further, you might find this interesting and the TV report in German:

http://countusout.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/video-gottingen-germany-world-war-ii-bomb-kills-3-disposal-experts-video/

Yes, the weight issue definitely doesn’t mean much – after all, if they were describing a 1000lbs allied bomb in Germany, I’m sure they’d say “approximately 500kg”, which might get re-converted as 1100lbs.

When these bombs are discovered and moved by the jcb are they likely to explode?

Have bombs that have been dropped exploded under ground that have been buried for a number of years?

How long does it take to defuse a bomb of this type?

Its a sad reminder that time doesn’t make these things any safer. It also reminds me of the time when I was watching German workmen digging the foundations for an office block extension at Airbus’s Bremen factory, before each scrape of the digger’s bucket one man would sweep the area with a metal detector. In my innocence I asked my hosts if the company didn’t know where all the building services ran, and had to look for them carefully (hence the metal detector). The (diplomatic) reply was “No, American Bombs”. After that I noticed the metal detector man on most building sites around the town. This tragedy shows that such efforts are, unfortunately, necessary.