A 10 foot long bomb that weighs 1.8 tons found in the Rhine

45,000 people evacuated..

Half Of German City To Be Evacuated As Massive WWII Bomb Defused | Fox News


FT

 

One bomb and 45,000 evacuated...?

Bomber Command, god bless'em every one!

 

Is it a UXB or Insect Aliens out to take over the world!

 

1800kg is equal to 4,000lb therefore this must be an unexploded 'Blockbuster' or 'Cookie'. Probably an MC ( medium capacity ) as the thin casing of the HC ones would most likely have corroded away by now.

Does seem rather an over-reaction ( seeing the headline I'd wondered if it were a Grand Slam at 10 tons....)

 

"Cookie" seems to fit the size, these were caried aboard Lancasters and Halifaxes

 

While pondering the fuss being made about this one 'Cookie', it's worth reflecting that Bomber Command dropped 89,000 of these during WWII...............

 

... to all but the 45,000; there's still the SS Richard Montgomery off The Nore, La Petite Douve Farm in Flanders ... and that darned nuke off Tybee Island! SAC, god bless'em.

 

Construction workers will continue to find UXE's all over Europe for many many years to come, I'm afraid. But, just think what they're finding in Cambodia, after the Vietnam War and Pol Pot's regime....

 

I hear that in France and Belgium they have stockpiles of poison gas shells from W W 1 ,they are turned up in farmers fields and from construction sites etc. I guess there are hundreds of them stored in bunkers that they don't know what to do with ...

 

Here's a story from the BBC. They've also posted a picture of the bomb.

BBC News - Koblenz evacuated for WWII bomb removal from Rhine

 

I copied the link and sent my uncle (who flew in the Lanc's) an email asking him if he had lost any thing.

Here is his reply, maybe he did drop it.

Hi Ken;

Could be, we went there Dec 22/1944 on a night raid, carried 14,000 lbs. of HE (High Explosives) from
1000 lbs. to Cookies (4000 lbs.) Light flak. Because of heavy fog were diverted to Winfield, Scotland
which had FIDO (Barrels of oil blazing on either side of runway)

Hope you enjoyed the wedding

Uncle Gus

 

Ah - ha ! I was right - it was an MC. As can be seen here, peeking out from beneath another heavy bomber which used to regularly deliver these bombs......



.....to Berlin - twice a night !