Of the 4 I’ve flown in the DC-9 and the Fellowship.

The DC-9 flights were to some extent rather white-knuckle given the airstrip they were operating out of – but I survived so they must be OK.

While the flights on the Fellowship were largely remembered for the rather cramped seating – but that comes of regular flights with underground miners and rugby players. All of whom tend to be on the larger side.

So I am an expert on two but those are rather exceptional circumstances.

Believe me their Russian equivalent was far far more bizarre. Picture a flight where none of the seat upholstery matched and, on take-off, all seats went into full recline and couldn’t be induced to return to the landing position, and the moment the aircraft got clear of the ground the passenger compartment filled with a dense fog. Again I survived.

😀

Didn’t 20%-30% of RAF bombs (excluding HC types) that were dropped fail to explode anyway. If that is the case there must be thousands buried beneath cities all over Europe.

How many of these have suddenly exploded since the war?

I know explosives tend to deteriorate with time but the evidence would suggest that the risk is low (at the current time) if left undisturbed.

Not much comfort if they are 25 metres from your house but it may explain the attitude of the local government.

If they do move them or try to disarm them in situ there would be considerably more risk. On examination they may decide there is no option but to detonate them in situ.

Obviously the Air Force Salvage Unit or EOCKL think the risks are worth while.

Just my two cents.

The problem is that just because they haven’t yet doesn’t mean that they won’t. There is no certainty unless they have been completely rendered inert.

Personally I would not like to be knowingly living on top of one of these.

In contrary to advise by the Airforce Salvage Unit, the citycouncil of a nearby village has decided not to raise a Mosquito wreck. The machine crashed here in 1944, and is still loaded with 2 500 punders. The wreck is located between a debt of 05 and 4 meters, and is upside down. It crashed, burned for hours and has since been in the ground. The citycouncil stated that the bombs ( after crashing, burning and coroding for 63 years) are stable and no danger for the houses, builded after the war, at around 25 meters from the wreck.

I believe the situation is a risky one, as I don’t believe is stable bombs ( especially after what they have gone through). So, how dangerous or safe is the situation?And are the politicians taken a serious risk with those living around the site?

BW Roger

Presumably this same council has a squadron of flying pigs. Reminds me of the story of a collector, in America, who for many years used a pair of Civil War black powder loaded shells as andirons in his fireplace. Never bothered to check whether they were still loaded or not. Anyway after about 20 years of standing in the fireplace they suddenly decided that a joke was a joke and exploded. Took the house and owner with them.

The story is an utter and total fabrication. No doubt the author met Douglas Bader in a hotel in 1944 too.

The Stork Hotel does not allow guests to bring any type of pet – which includes gannets.

This policy resulted from an unfortunate incident involving an overfed gannet perched on a chandelier in the lobby and one of our guests in 1942 – a Wing Commander D. Bader.

The incident resulted in the hotel management being forced to compensate the guest for dry cleaner’s expences for his uniform.

Talk about coincidence – I’m just building the old Airfix kit of that right now.

Aaaaaahhhh the Cosmic Kharma 😀

I suspect that this thread will now have it’s own cult following – perhaps it should be named “The Thread That Would Not Die”.

There I’ve satisfied my craving for a feeling of importance.

One question does arise and that is – do we have any evidence whatsoever that Mr Williams actually exists other than his web site? After all he could be a product of someone’s craving for a feeling of importance.

As a matter of interest this debate has actually been set by Mr Williams’ contention that he met a pilot “Douglas Bader” with prosthetic legs at the Stork Hotel in 1942.

However if it is not the other famous “tin legged” pilot perhaps he simply helped some other incapacited person with prosethetic legs who unwittingly become part of a joke started by someone at the Hotel to tease young Ken into believing he had met the legendary ace.

We must rember that this was some idealistic kid awaiting his call up and probably an easy target for such a joke.

Although not common, people in that condition are not rare – especially in wartime.

Has this been explored.