WWII Bomb disposal

[RTHolmes]

  That could take out a neighborhood block

yup, its a cannister bomb not a GP/SAP bomb. that means just enough metal to stop it falling apart on the way down, all the rest is torpex


edit: they were known as blockbusters for just that reason, I'm pretty sure thats where the term comes from. the blast overpressure from the cookies would lift floors and roofs so buildings collapsed. the next wave of lancs would drop massive numbers of incendiaries to torch the exposed buildings. nasty but effective.

[M0nkey_Man]

its a 4,000lb cookie:

(Image removed from quote.)

[DMVIAGRA]

ya, just trying to imagine how many mines cover Europe and other areas around the world is pretty hard

Alright chaps, time to get your knives out and prod the dirt for mines.

[F22RaptorDude]

yup, its a cannister bomb not a GP/SAP bomb. that means just enough metal to stop it falling apart on the way down, all the rest is torpex


edit: they were known as blockbusters for just that reason, I'm pretty sure thats where the term comes from. the blast overpressure from the cookies would lift floors and roofs so buildings collapsed. the next wave of lancs would drop massive numbers of incendiaries to torch the exposed buildings. nasty but effective.

I recall reading about those in my book about lancasters, imagine if that was a grand slam bomb  4,000 pounds to that bomb as apposed to 12,000 pounds of ground removing power! 

[2ADoc]

I have spent a lot of time with UXO's, everything from an SA-7 that I uncovered with a motor grader, to untold amount of mortars that we ran over with vibratory rollers.  Mortars were so common it got to the point we would move them out of our way so we didn't have to stop the job for the 4 hours it took for EOD get there, and pick the thing up and throw it in the back of the truck.  A lot of old Russian Anti personel mines again very common.  One of the biggest was an old rather large welcome package left behind from the good old USA left for us lowly subcontractors to find 2 years after the invasion of Iraq.  All that said UXO's don't bother me a bit, but something that big, that old, and that unstable, I can promise that I do believe that I would be somewhere on vacation, in some non extradition country in South America, but that is where I usually go on vacation.

[MiloMorai]

I recall reading about those in my book about lancasters, imagine if that was a grand slam bomb  4,000 pounds to that bomb as apposed to 12,000 pounds of ground removing power! 

Grand Slam bombs were 22,000lb with 9408lb of Torpex.

The 12,000lb Tall Boy had 5348lb of Torpex.

Now if you really want to try the 12000lb High Capacity bomb > 9549lb of Torpex.

http://www.wwiiequipment.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=43:bombs&Itemid=60&layout=default

[F22RaptorDude]

Grand Slam bombs were 22,000lb with 9408lb of Torpex.

The 12,000lb Tall Boy had 5348lb of Torpex.

Now if you really want to try the 12000lb High Capacity bomb > 9549lb of Torpex.

http://www.wwiiequipment.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&id=43:bombs&Itemid=60&layout=default

my bad got those mixed up, but still even more 

[Angus]

This is no joke if it goes up, and the area is densely populated.
A couple of years ago, some 2 x 1000 pounders were discovered in the sea just outside Reykjavik, Iceland. There were anti-sub bombs, loaded with torpex.
A whole street along the sea-side was evacuated, while the coast guard blew them up. It went without harm, but made quite a show!