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So long and thanks for all the bomb ...

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Lt_Kettch

Lt_Kettch

Grizzled Veteran
Sep 8, 2006
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Berlin-Lichterfelde
www.ironeuropegame.com
#1
Construction workers stumble on 1000kg bomb
August 1, 2007 - 8:10AM

BERLIN - Construction workers unearthed a 1000kg Soviet bomb from World War II in a Berlin suburb today, forcing authorities to evacuate more than 4000 people before defusing it, police said.

The bomb, which was buried about four metres underground, was found this morning in the Lichterfelde district, on the capital's southern edge.

About eight hours later, specialists defused it, removing two detonators.

People in the area were evacuated from their homes as a precaution, police spokeswoman Miriam Tauchmann said.

Services on a nearby commuter train line also were disrupted for several hours.

Unexploded bombs, relics of Allied bombardments before Nazi Germany's surrender in May 1945, are still found regularly in the country.

AP
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157432_1_lichterfelde_bomb_1600.jpg



source
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world/construction-workers-stumble-on-1000kg-bomb/2007/08/01/1185647936934.html

Guess what ... I was evacuated and the worst of all I had to spend time with my family :eek:

I often walked by this construction site and I am already planning to do it again :p
 
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#6
Note this thing had two detonators and defusing is probably the most dangerous part after finding it with a digger. About ten years ago three ppl were killed when a digger found a smaller bomb hidden under the surface (here in Berlin too). So there is a danger and a risk and the officals played it cool. They had to evacuate so many peoples because it is a residential quarter without any industry.

A year ago or so there was standing an laundry on that parcel were they found that bomb how weird must the people feel who worked there :). I am living here my whole live (20 years) and that bomb is huge :)eek: 1k) they don't find these big bombs often. After they defused it they brought it to safe place in the Berlin woods and they will cut it into pieces because not even the Bundeswehr wants to blow up something that big.

The police rang the door bells at every house (ding dong ;)) and asked the pepole to leave, some stayed. I think they got a yellow question mark on their door steps instead of an yellow cross. Nobody was forced to be evacuated but stores and restaurants of course closed. I stayed at my buddies house who lives down the street but about 100 meteres behind the evacuated area.

Some contemporary witnesses told the local newspaper that the Russian bombers bomarded the barracks (today it is a home of the German intelligence) in the Gardesch
 
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#8
Ranari said:
They evacuate the area and make a big stink about it, but what are the chances of these things REALLY going off? I mean, they've been sitting there for the past 60 years. What makes officials think they'll go up in smoke all the sudden?
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Because mostly all of these are in working order. Also a problem here in Poland, where it's literally swarming with mines, bombs, munitions, whatnot. I've read an article not a long while ago and they've quoted a Polish sapper who claimed people are going to be finding WWII unexploded munitions even up to 20 years into the future.

Heck, I remember finding some rifle ammunition when I was a boy. One of the fellows decided to put it on a stone and start throwing big rocks at it from a distance of maybe four-five meters. Luckily enough, we kept missing until some passing-by adult saw us and gave us a good preaching. I really didn't understand what we were dealing with, and good enough it was only rifle ammo.
 
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#9
http://www.firstworldwar.com/today/messinesmine1955.htm

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ranari
"They evacuate the area and make a big stink about it, but what are the chances of these things REALLY going off? I mean, they've been sitting there for the past 60 years. What makes officials think they'll go up in smoke all the sudden?"


Some times they don't know its even there.And mother nature takes care of the rest.


 
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#10
Ranari said:
They evacuate the area and make a big stink about it, but what are the chances of these things REALLY going off? I mean, they've been sitting there for the past 60 years. What makes officials think they'll go up in smoke all the sudden?
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Because most of the explosive compounds used in the fusing are unstable, and they degrade over time, which in many cases causes them to become more sensitive and extremely unpredictable. Sometimes, a thing like that bomb will survive its initial impact undamaged, and even survive all sorts of other stresses, and then go off at just the lightest feather of a touch.

So, to answer your questions:

1. Chance of it going off is greater than zero. Exactly how much greater, nobody really knows.

2. Experience is what makes them think it could go off all of a sudden. Experience is a very, very strict teacher, and her class has a ***** of a learning curve.
 
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#12
myself i dug up a unexploded ww2 british artillery shell, 4 years ago with a tractor while plowing a field in belgium.
the army came to pick it up, and their little truck was filled in the back with all sorts of bombs they had collected that day. i did not recognise any unfortunately.
i couldnt beleive how they just threw the bombs in the back without securing them, but they said there was no danger. even if the mechanism still works, it would take a pressure of several tons on the tip to set off the detonator.
 
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#13
SchutzeSepp said:
myself i dug up a unexploded ww2 british artillery shell, 4 years ago with a tractor while plowing a field in belgium.
the army came to pick it up, and their little truck was filled in the back with all sorts of bombs they had collected that day. i did not recognise any unfortunately.
i couldnt beleive how they just threw the bombs in the back without securing them, but they said there was no danger. even if the mechanism still works, it would take a pressure of several tons on the tip to set off the detonator.
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Please dont forget that you live in belgium :p
 
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#18
LukeFF said:
Certainly not a Pe-2 - it couldn't carry a bomb of that size. Most likely it was a Pe-8.
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Pe-2 could carry at -least- a 1.5 metric tons ... I've seen references to them carrying 940 kilo bombs, which is what this (probably) was.

But I think that of the three planes listed above, the Pe-2 was certainly the -least- likely.
 
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#19
Peter.Steele said:
Pe-2 could carry at -least- a 1.5 metric tons ... I've seen references to them carrying 940 kilo bombs, which is what this (probably) was.
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Bwahahaha! Good one! 1.5 metric tons equals 1500 kilograms. NO Pe-2 could carry that much weight.

One bomb up to a maximum weight of 100kg could be carried on each of the internal suspension points. In addition, four FAB-250 or two FAB-500 bombs could be carried externally on four DZ-40s. The maximum bomb load was 1000kg and the normal load was 600kg.
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Source: Soviet Combat Aircraft of the Second World War, Volume Two, by Gordon and Khazanov.

The Pe-2 was certainly not the carrier of the bomb in this story.
 
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#20
LukeFF said:
Bwahahaha! Good one! 1.5 metric tons equals 1500 kilograms. NO Pe-2 could carry that much weight.



Source: Soviet Combat Aircraft of the Second World War, Volume Two, by Gordon and Khazanov.

The Pe-2 was certainly not the carrier of the bomb in this story.
Click to expand...


Hm. For some reason I thought the Pe-2 had an internal bomb bay where this could have been carried. Guess not ....


Pe-8 then, most likely.
 
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