He was right. Those Blockbuster bombs are hard to explode.
Posted on 10/30/2012 4:36:45 PM PDT by Libloather
Japanese airport closed after WWII bomb found
AP/ October 30, 2012, 10:20 AM
TOKYO — A major airport in northern Japan was closed Tuesday after construction workers found an unexploded bomb believed to be from World War II.
All 92 flights in and out of Sendai airport were cancelled after the 250-kilogram (550-pound) bomb was uncovered during construction near a runway, local police official Hiroshi Ouchi said. The bomb was identified as American-made and is believed to be a dud from World War II.
It appeared to have a working detonator, and a military bomb squad was considering whether to move the bomb or explode it on the spot. Sandbags were piled up around the bomb, and local officials said evacuations of nearby homes were being considered. They added that the area had been sealed off and there was no immediate concern the bomb would explode.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
One just like it, a 550lb, was found and detonated in Germany a few months ago. It made a bigger boon than they expected, by the looks of the videos that went around the net at the time.
He was right. Those Blockbuster bombs are hard to explode.
Truman, and FDR’s, fault! /sarc
No mention of **why** we had to drop all those bombs [cough! Pearl Harbor! cough!] on them...
Reports of such bombs found in europe/germany surface every so often. This is the first I recall of a ‘dud’ found in Japan. I wonder why.
Less tonnage dropped due to logistical issues. Despite the A-bombs, we killed more Germans via aerial bombing because occupied Europe was just across the channel. Bomb attacks on Japan were a major undertaking because of the Pacific Ocean. The A-bomb attacks on Japan took off from 1500+ miles away on Tinian. The distance between London and Hamburg is 400+ miles away, and closer for much of occupied Europe. 10% of the German population died during WWII, as compared to less than 5% of the Japanese population.
I hope they are wise enough to blow it in place and then fill in the hole. A few layers of blast mats over it should do the trick.
65 yrs later, and done run over by a dozer, whats to worry about ??? hehehhe...
Could the change to the firebombing campaign (where incendiaries were much lighter and used airbursts) be a reason as well?
Oh, they turn up every now and then. Several times since I have been here. One time on the Yokosuka Base itself while I was stationed there.
That one was really unusual because Yokosuka and Atsugi were two bases that were purposely exempted from bombing during the war because the US had plans to occupy and use them after we won.
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