50,000 evacuated due to RAF cookie
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50,000 evacuated due to RAF cookie
German evacuation for WW2 bomb disposal in Augsburg - BBC News
Not the type of cookie one wants for Christmas.
Not the type of cookie one wants for Christmas.
I hope all goes safely and quickly. Augsburg is a gorgeous city, and I thoroughly enjoyed two tours there in the 70s and 80s.
It looks like they're taking no chances of undersizing the evacuation zone:
http://arkhive.de/schutzzone-25-12-2016.pdf
It looks like they're taking no chances of undersizing the evacuation zone:
http://arkhive.de/schutzzone-25-12-2016.pdf
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Kudos to those highly skilled and brave engineers, who took the gravest risks in dismantling the three detonators of a 1944, 4000lb "cookie-cutter" or "blockbuster" bomb.
The corrosion over 72 years of lying buried deeply underground would be substantial, and despite being a former military field engineer, it's not a job I'd like to be handed.
Here's U.S. military test film from 1942, showing the testing of the blockbuster bomb. They were so-called due to their ability to flatten a city block if exploded at ground level.
Here's video of an actual blockbuster in a museum, and the DH.98 Mosquito that carried it.
There's nothing sophisticated about the later 1944 models - they were just a cylinder packed with 3000lbs of Amatol and 3 detonators to ensure detonation.
The corrosion over 72 years of lying buried deeply underground would be substantial, and despite being a former military field engineer, it's not a job I'd like to be handed.
Here's U.S. military test film from 1942, showing the testing of the blockbuster bomb. They were so-called due to their ability to flatten a city block if exploded at ground level.
Here's video of an actual blockbuster in a museum, and the DH.98 Mosquito that carried it.
There's nothing sophisticated about the later 1944 models - they were just a cylinder packed with 3000lbs of Amatol and 3 detonators to ensure detonation.
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Nasty stuff. It's a good job the Germans concentrated on 'tactical bombers' to support their Army, rather than following the rest of us with our 'heavies'. And it's good to recall that our philosophy started with the HP 0/400 ... "Sueter requested "a bloody paralyser of an aircraft" for long-range bombing".
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Don't forget MPN the German war plan didn't involve following, or fighting "us", rather their capabilities were directed firmly at their "red" enemy. That said it's one of the war's mysteries why their Heinkel 177 heavy bomber project was such a fiasco. Even a modest fleet of nazi heavies and the threat or actuality of London being flattened may have led to a de facto truce in bombing cities. Top marks to whoever got the job of defusing this bomb!!
SO:-
Well they certainly missed a trick in not being able to reach all the relocated T34 factories in Siberia, I'll agree. Not clear though what difference it would have made to London with the Luftwaffe being short of heavies. The problem was that they were mercifully short of everything, especially with the launch of Barbarossa. A strong force of Heinkel 1-11s retained in France would have given us even more sleepless nights than pertained pre D-Day. Thankfully they were needed elsewhere, and as ever in far greater numbers than there actually were. Goering was second only to Hitler himself in ensuring ultimate Allied victory. 
In the meantime, much sympathy to the good people of Augsburg for their spoiled Christmas. As has been pointed out it could have been a disastrous one instead had it not been for the skill and courage of those who made this cookie safe.
Even a modest fleet of nazi heavies and the threat or actuality of London being flattened may have led to a de facto truce in bombing cities.
In the meantime, much sympathy to the good people of Augsburg for their spoiled Christmas. As has been pointed out it could have been a disastrous one instead had it not been for the skill and courage of those who made this cookie safe.
Looks like they earned a special Holiday nightcap!
(Roger Flakowski, Christian Scheibinger und Martin Radons)
(Roger Flakowski, Christian Scheibinger und Martin Radons)
Last edited by Vzlet; 26th Dec 2016 at 13:22. Reason: Add names
Amazing work! Great pic. looks like the 3 guys are each holding one of the remains of the the 3 fuzes. Having done quite a lot of dismantling of buried machinery, I am surprised that they can remove the fuzes, it must require some fairly aggressive use of force, not the stethoscope and plastic tweezers we imagine? How about all the talk of explosive decomposition and sensitivity? Or is that all rubbish when you are dealing with explosives that have lain for 70yrs at around 10 degrees centigrade?
Good job done!
OAP
Good job done!
OAP
These threads look to be in at least fair shape. (Nonetheless, I suppose one takes a deep breath before tugging on the wrench!)
(As a note, the images I've posted are from the augsburger-allgemeine.de site.)
(As a note, the images I've posted are from the augsburger-allgemeine.de site.)
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Well done you three! Now go have your Christmas diner and a good stiff drink! Its a strange world when one of my kin may have dropped that beast, and now we are congratulating you, maybe there is hope for us yet!
Another good pic Vzlet. Yes, it does look in good shape! But hey, that is an explosive detonator that contains unstable picric crystals and would kill you if it went off! Crazy guys.
OAP
OAP