Any ex Army/bomb disposal types here?
Discussion
McVities said:
Fortunately I have never come anywhere near abandoned high explosives!
I found a live hand grenade in a flower bed 6 inches from the back door last year. We'd moved in about a year and a half before. Haven't found anything else since, but it does change your attitude to gardening a little.mrtwisty said:
Ayahuasca said:
....when I found an old claymore mine in the woods a while back.
U wot m8?
Much like the OP I had a bit of brain fade when I found this. Picked it up and put it in my backpack. Then I thought, 'that was stupid'. Left it beside a tree. Went back for it (after BruceV8 confirmed it was probably a training one, not a live one) but couldn't find it. Probably still there.
BruceV8 said:
The good news is that it doesn't appear to be a chemical (ie gas) shell.
The bad news is that it does appear to be a High Explosive shell.
The other good news is that it doesn't appear to have been fired, which means that the fuze isn't armed.
More bad news is that the fuze appears to have corroded away to such an extent that any safety restraints in it may no longer be effective. It could be worse than armed.
More good news is that French and Belgian EOD handle hundreds, if not thousands, of these every year without incident.
Less good is that every few years or so one of these functions while being handled and everyone is horribly killed to death.
If I came across that in a professional capacity I would destroy it in situ. Its the quickest, easiest and safest thing to do.
Plus, blowing things up is a bit of a laugh.
I picked it up more than once moving it. I actually think I'm intelligent at times. This time not. I don't think I'd have survived in the army, stupidity would have killed me.The bad news is that it does appear to be a High Explosive shell.
The other good news is that it doesn't appear to have been fired, which means that the fuze isn't armed.
More bad news is that the fuze appears to have corroded away to such an extent that any safety restraints in it may no longer be effective. It could be worse than armed.
More good news is that French and Belgian EOD handle hundreds, if not thousands, of these every year without incident.
Less good is that every few years or so one of these functions while being handled and everyone is horribly killed to death.
If I came across that in a professional capacity I would destroy it in situ. Its the quickest, easiest and safest thing to do.
Plus, blowing things up is a bit of a laugh.
Many many years ago I was working at a petrol station on an army camp and one morning we had a car abandoned on the forecourt, after a few phone calls bearing in mind this was the early eighties the bomb disposal mob turned up. And they persuaded me to break into it as they where fairly sure it didn't have a bomb in it! And as I was very reluctantly about to pop the door the expert said look at it this way if it blows up you won't live long enough to know about it! I wasn't reassured
Ayahuasca said:
Much like the OP I had a bit of brain fade when I found this. Picked it up and put it in my backpack. Then I thought, 'that was stupid'. Left it beside a tree. Went back for it (after BruceV8 confirmed it was probably a training one, not a live one) but couldn't find it. Probably still there.
Sa Calobra said:
That is madness, both to him and others. My rationale was farmers find and pile them at the end of the field regularly so the risk (known locally to them) can't be that high as long as you don't clatter or tamper.
I'm involved in agricultural contracting in West Flanders and we pull loads of these out of the ground every year. Most farmers have a small pile of them awaiting collection and disposal. In over 20 years I've not had one go off under our machines. Although there are stories of farmers experiencing it, I've never met one. 
sunbeam alpine said:
I'm involved in agricultural contracting in West Flanders and we pull loads of these out of the ground every year. Most farmers have a small pile of them awaiting collection and disposal. In over 20 years I've not had one go off under our machines. Although there are stories of farmers experiencing it, I've never met one.
There’s a reason you’ve not met one....sunbeam alpine said:
I'm involved in agricultural contracting in West Flanders and we pull loads of these out of the ground every year. Most farmers have a small pile of them awaiting collection and disposal. In over 20 years I've not had one go off under our machines. Although there are stories of farmers experiencing it, I've never met one.
According to this news story, https://www.thevintagenews.com/2015/12/22/42369/ 630 French and 20 Belgians working on munitions clearance have been killed since the end of WW1. In addition, 260 civilian have been killed and 535 injured by exploding munitions.BruceV8 said:
sunbeam alpine said:
I'm involved in agricultural contracting in West Flanders and we pull loads of these out of the ground every year. Most farmers have a small pile of them awaiting collection and disposal. In over 20 years I've not had one go off under our machines. Although there are stories of farmers experiencing it, I've never met one.
According to this news story, https://www.thevintagenews.com/2015/12/22/42369/ 630 French and 20 Belgians working on munitions clearance have been killed since the end of WW1. In addition, 260 civilian have been killed and 535 injured by exploding munitions.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWD3GqLOTgk
sunbeam alpine said:
I'm involved in agricultural contracting in West Flanders and we pull loads of these out of the ground every year. Most farmers have a small pile of them awaiting collection and disposal. In over 20 years I've not had one go off under our machines. Although there are stories of farmers experiencing it, I've never met one.
I suppose if they had been blown to microns,you never would....or am i reading that wrong?ATG said:
McVities said:
Fortunately I have never come anywhere near abandoned high explosives!
I found a live hand grenade in a flower bed 6 inches from the back door last year. We'd moved in about a year and a half before. Haven't found anything else since, but it does change your attitude to gardening a little.A builder was down about 15 feet squaring off a machine dug foundation hole when he simply "disappeared". He had fallen down a large, smooth sided circular hole. After dragging him out with ropes, the surveyor was called. After some "skilled analysis" decided it wasn't an old well as it had no bricks around it, and was too big for mice. So dad was advised to call bomb disposal.
After about 6 weeks on site, lots of sounding and digging they found the tail fin of a 1000lb ww2 bomb. The soundings suggested it had wiggle off under local houses as it apparently can if the tail breaks off. So the decision was taken to announce in the South London Press that they had found a bucket (!!) to put the householders minds at rest, and a big X on a map so that when they pull the houses down they can dig it out - given it doesn't go off first.
So going forward, the working bay where the hole appeared was named "Bomb Bay". If anyone started hammering there, all the other staff left the building and sat at a distance with their fingers in their ears.
Just to add, the bomb squad guys clearly knew their stuff, were a right laugh, but we're also clearly seriously deranged given their antics among themselves over the weeks on site.
SeeFive said:
ATG said:
McVities said:
Fortunately I have never come anywhere near abandoned high explosives!
I found a live hand grenade in a flower bed 6 inches from the back door last year. We'd moved in about a year and a half before. Haven't found anything else since, but it does change your attitude to gardening a little.A builder was down about 15 feet squaring off a machine dug foundation hole when he simply "disappeared". He had fallen down a large, smooth sided circular hole. After dragging him out with ropes, the surveyor was called. After some "skilled analysis" decided it wasn't an old well as it had no bricks around it, and was too big for mice. So dad was advised to call bomb disposal.
After about 6 weeks on site, lots of sounding and digging they found the tail fin of a 1000lb ww2 bomb. The soundings suggested it had wiggle off under local houses as it apparently can if the tail breaks off. So the decision was taken to announce in the South London Press that they had found a bucket (!!) to put the householders minds at rest, and a big X on a map so that when they pull the houses down they can dig it out - given it doesn't go off first.
So going forward, the working bay where the hole appeared was named "Bomb Bay". If anyone started hammering there, all the other staff left the building and sat at a distance with their fingers in their ears.
Just to add, the bomb squad guys clearly knew their stuff, were a right laugh, but we're also clearly seriously deranged given their antics among themselves over the weeks on site.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Braver-Walk-Away-Peter-Gu...
One jolly jape he recounts was to send someone off to defuse a bomb, while surreptitiously taping an alarm clock to the back of the guy's suit.
"I can hear it ticking from here!", says he, walking towards the bomb.
These are the closest I have ever been to unexploded ordinance. They were dumped at sea on the wreck of the RFA Darkdale over the course of many years. Eventually, when it became apparent that the hull was decaying and likely to spew bunker oil into the sea, the Royal Navy sent a team of divers out who removed the ordinance and recovered the fuel.
I am led to believe that the rods in the 3rd pic are corroded cordite charges.
One of my favourite dives.
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