Runway explosion in Japan

[Nick]

There was an explosion under a runway at Miyazaki Airport in Japan, just one minute after a loaded passenger jet rolled over that spot. It is believed to be a previously unknown bomb dropped during WW2 by the USAAF.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/cy430j48kjyo

[Mossie]

Lucky no-one was hurt.  We had a bomb that was found near the M62 a few years back, the motorway was closed while a controlled explosion was performed for the above reason.  80 years later these bombs can still be deadly.

[kerick]

Some ground penetrating radar might be a good idea. Who knows how many others are in the ground.

[Weaver]

Lucky no-one was hurt.  We had a bomb that was found near the M62 a few years back, the motorway was closed while a controlled explosion was performed for the above reason.  80 years later these bombs can still be deadly.

80 years later, these bombs can get MORE deadly. A lot of explosive compounds get more unstable when they have water seeping though them for decades and undergo various chemical reactions. Some of the huge mines dug under opposing trenches in WWI spontaneous went off went off decades later for this reason. That's why you NEVER mess with ordnance that's come out of the ground, no matter how "obviously" dysfunctional it looks. Yes, the fuse might be a solid blob of rust that'll never move again, but the actual explosive might have gone from being as stable as plastique to being as twitchy as nitro-glycerine.

[Rheged]

There's still a great deal of unexploded ordnance lying around most of the cities of Western Europe. 

[Rick Lowe]

France is still finding and disposing of old ordnance on an almost daily basis. From anywhere and everywhere.
I recall a Readers' Digest story about the unit that disposed of a couple of 75mm Sherman rounds that were found in a niche in a stone wall separating two fields.
Put them down and then get distracted...

They were the battlefields of choice during most of the European Wars, so not surprising.

[Captain Canada]

That's wild ! Looked like a small bomb, or maybe a big one that was quite deep ?

[kerick]

Depends if it was a full power explosion as it was designed or a low grade partial. Either way, not fun if you're standing there.

[rickshaw]

Being an ex-Disposal man my advice is not to touch anything, no matter inviting it might look.  Bombs in particular can often still function decades after being dropped and are often equipped with boobytraps to catch the unwary.  Shells are also dangerous due to decay of explosives.  Just DO NOT TOUCH things and tell the local police upon discovery, they alert the army and they'll deal with it.  I occasionally read of kids finding something and playing with it to their destruction.  Just do not touch anything you don't understand.      

[zenrat]

Being an ex-Disposal man my advice is not to touch anything, no matter inviting it might look.  Bombs in particular can often still function decades after being dropped and are often equipped with boobytraps to catch the unwary.  Shells are also dangerous due to decay of explosives.  Just DO NOT TOUCH things and tell the local police upon discovery, they alert the army and they'll deal with it.  I occasionally read of kids finding something and playing with it to their destruction.  Just do not touch anything you don't understand.      

So don't pick it up and take it down the cop shop then?
"Look what I found..."
 

[rickshaw]

Being an ex-Disposal man my advice is not to touch anything, no matter inviting it might look.  Bombs in particular can often still function decades after being dropped and are often equipped with boobytraps to catch the unwary.  Shells are also dangerous due to decay of explosives.  Just DO NOT TOUCH things and tell the local police upon discovery, they alert the army and they'll deal with it.  I occasionally read of kids finding something and playing with it to their destruction.  Just do not touch anything you don't understand.      

So don't pick it up and take it down the cop shop then?
"Look what I found..."
 

No, no!  As the kids discovered when they found a mortar shell in a creek.  You;ll give conniptions to the Coppers who won't know what to do with.  Much easier to leave it undisturbed where you found it.  Let the Coppers alert the Army and let them to deal with it.

[Rheged]

A sudden and rather worrying thought.  Can the RAF give assurances that every Tallboy and Grand Slam that they dropped actually detonated.....................otherwise, someone somewhere might  one day find that their afternoon has been ruined.

[PR19_Kit]

Reminds me of the tale of the Grand Slam that the 21st century 617 Sqdn, then flying Tornado GR4s,  wanted to display outside their hangars at Lossie, to go alongside the Tallboy and Upkeep bombs they already had.

Apparently a Grand Slam was found stored away somewhere in the RAF's vast number of maintenance and storage areas and was duly trucked all the way up to Scotland and then stood on its nose alongside the other two. Sometime later the Squadron Armaments Officer came by and thought he'd just give the 'unarmed' bomb a cursory look over. To his horror he found it was not only still full of Torpex but it still had all three fuses in place!

A team were rounded up to 'de-arn' it rather quickly while activities at Lossie came to a rather abrupt halt for a while................

[NARSES2]

Lots of unexploded bombs discovered when I was a kid, indeed we used to play on a couple of old bomb sites. They still find the odd one around my neck of the woods nowadays.

[scooter]

Being an ex-Disposal man my advice is not to touch anything, no matter inviting it might look.  Bombs in particular can often still function decades after being dropped and are often equipped with boobytraps to catch the unwary.  Shells are also dangerous due to decay of explosives.  Just DO NOT TOUCH things and tell the local police upon discovery, they alert the army and they'll deal with it.  I occasionally read of kids finding something and playing with it to their destruction.  Just do not touch anything you don't understand.      

So very true.  During Range Orientation at Warren Grove bombing range, we were advised that as well as being reminded to not drive over the tail assemblies of BDU-25s.  They also reminded us that 177EOD usually makes a day out of disposing any ordinance still live...and that there were at least a couple of undetonated Mk13 torpedoes somewhere within the impact area the Navy dropped to see if they could also be used as bombs.