I never saw it, my parents never allowed me to watch ITV, downmarket. Watched Secret Army though, Clifford Rose as Kessler passed away recently, in his 90s.
Following the death of an aunt in 2018, her children decided to sell the family home in Tower Avenue in Chelmsford. The new owners were carrying out major building work in the process of which they uncovered a small wartime shell underneath the patio. The whole area was cordoned off and the device removed to a nearby park for safe detonation. The irony was that my late uncle had been a pilot with coastal command during the war yet lived for over fifty years with a bomb practically under his feet.
@@jointgib another ironic thing is that my aunt and uncle’s house has an extremely generous back garden and halfway down it is a massive concrete air raid shelter from the war. Very possibly whoever was living at that house at the time the incendiary shell dropped was taking shelter in the bunker.
@@markshrimpton3138 Very likely. I'm not even sure what the actual target was. Were they going for the housing or was it the RHP ball bearing factory they were supposed to be bombing?
I had occasion to talk to an Egyptian Army Engineering officer two years ago. He told me about how one of the Egyptian Army Engineers' enduring mission is removing and disposing of landmines left over from the battles of el Alamein whenever they are found. During the two battles there, millions of German, Italian, and Commonwealth mines were laid in the battlefield. My Egyptian friend told me that the Commonwealth and Italian mines are often found to be degraded - their cases rusted through, the mechanisms rusted, and the explosives exposed to moisture. He said that the German mines, which were made to high tolerances and with high quality materials, were just as dangerous and lethal as when they were buried.
@@Steven-p4j My father gave me a Mercedes 190B to use for college. I ran the hell out of it, for 3 years until the motor blew up. I bought a used Chevy truck after that, and it's still running 407,000 miles later. OK, it is on its third engine, but I can get parts for it and the service and overhaul manuals are not in German.
@@HootOwl513 The 190 series, were still well-built and engineered cars, shortly after that, the bean counters took over at Mercedes, and they turned to crap. You don't mention the mileage or if you did regular oil changes on the Mercedes. They had high tolerance engines, which needed attention and servicing, after which they could reach up to 500,000 miles, or so.
Such unexpected finds are pretty common in Europe. In Hungary they still regularly find every sort and type of ammunitions. Aerial bombs still turn up here and there, but also tons of infantry and artillery rounds. Sometimes they find wartime caches, unused ammo just rusting away in buried boxes. The weirdest find was a live Soviet artillery shell lodged into a tower of St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest. Someone in 1946 was like "meh, not my job" and simply painted it over. It was discovered again and removed in 2000.
@@nematolvajkergetok5104 Imagine living in Vietnam or Laos, the two most bombed places on earth. UXOs come out of the ground there like they are growing them. If one considers an overall average dud rate of 10% (conservative) across all ordnance types dropped, 10% of millions is a lot of UXOs. The dud rate may be in excess of 1/4 of all ordnance dropped. That’s insane.
I saw a documentary some years ago about Belgium. Their engineers simply cannot cope with the number of WWI shells that they were still coming across. Especially dangerous are the ones filled with gas.
Every spring, they find unexploded ww1 munitions in france pushed up by the winter frost. During ww1, 1.5 BILLION artillery rounds were fired and that doesn't include mortar rounds or aerial bombs. The British army alone fired over 170 million, and during the first day of the Battle of Verdun, the Germans fired 1 million rounds. If you figure 1% didn't go off, that means there are/were 15 million unexploded bombs.
@SennethLawrence The red zones in France and Belgium are insane. But the amount of stuff left to rot there is nowhere near to the amount dumped into the oceans. Nobody knows how those ones are doing, or where they are for that matter.
They found one in an old gas holder in west London many years ago. The top of the holder had been repaired as they didn’t realise the hole had been made by a bomb. The bomb was still inside at the bottom in the clay seal under water. A diver went in and had to locate the bomb blindly using his hands in the murk. It was then lifted out and disposed of safely before the gas holder could be demolished for a new development . A braver diver indeed .
When I worked for SW Gas, Plymouth in the 80's, my old foreman told of being on watch atop the gasholders in Coxside gasworks. Issued with a steel helmet & a sturdy broom to sweep off incendiary bombs.
Nowadays they have little robots to go and do it for them. My father was in bomb disposal in WWII and I have seen photographs of him hands on inside the bomb. I had the pictures myself but all stolen years ago.
The Royal Engineers team that dealt with that one were decorated for it. There used to be a painting of it hanging in the Officer’s Mess at Chattenden.
Look at former WW1 battlefields in France and Belgium even till today they find unexploded chemical and explosive shells. Around Yper Belgium there is even a collection timetable for the Belgium bombsquad at farm houses. They have all have boxes to place the found shells during farming in.
@@obelic71 I believe there is a section of land in France that is considered a toxic waste zone because of heavy chemical weapons use there. There are even places in the US where signs warn people to watch out for Civil War ordnance.
Even here in the States there is UXO. Within the last few years a Civil War relic collector recovered an unexplored cannonball and managed to unscrew the fuze. He seemingly had convinced himself that black powder couldn’t still be dangerous after over 150 years and was trying to dig the powder and shrapnel out of the cannonball with a tool. It literally blew the garage off his house and shrapnel went through the walls of the house next door. During and after the war people would pick up or dig up unexploded cannonballs and take them home as souvenirs. While some were solid cast iron most were hollow, fuzed, and packed with powder and shrapnel. They still turn up in antique stores. Picatinny Arsenal has a massive UXO problem. A magazine explosion in the late 1930’s sent thousands of projectiles into the air and they came down and buried themselves everywhere. At least they were stored munitions and not fuzed for detonation. They dig shells up constantly.
If memory serves, was'nt Picatinny Arsenal blown up by German saboteurs in 1917? I know there were explosions, so I may have the wrong arsenal, but "lost" shells must be out there from 1917. /
Nope, the 1917 explosion was called the “Black Tom” explosion and I don’t know much about it. It was (I think) over in what was or became Raritan Arsenal. That one got closed down years ago. The Picatinny situation is real. Every time that they dig a new sewer line or the basement for a new building they find shells. As I said, this was stored ordnance and either had no fuzes or the fuzes were never activated. There was Naval ordnance in the magazine and the powder for the big Navy guns was kept in heavyweight canvas bags so my guess is that the Navy powder bags lit off. They blamed a lightning strike for the explosion and it was in around 1936.
Back in the early 2000’s I was a Marine Corps Recruiter working out of our Recruiting office in Morris County. My family and I lived in base housing on Picatinny Arsenal. When they were doing any kind of construction around the base housing area it was common for them to dig up UXO’s. There were old air raid sirens that were sounded followed by MP’s driving around and announcing on their PA system for everyone to stay in their houses. If they detonated it in place and it was a big blast shortly after base maintenance crews would show up with replacement windows in the back of their trucks to replace any broken when our houses shook. Between that and the testing of new ordinance on base we had to get creative when hanging pictures on the walls or putting nik naks on shelves. They would easily wind up broken on the floor when everything in the house rattled from explosions
During the mid to late ‘60’s my late father was the operations manager for Westminster Dredging’s (now Boskalis-W) Mersey River operation. The Mersey and Dee rivers are quite silty and efforts with both ladder and bucket dredgers were continual in what was at the time, one of the busiest ports in Europe. I can recall staring wide eyed at shelves in an office that were festooned with spent ammunition and shells all of which had been dredged from the river right in front of us yet nobody there made a big deal of it all. It was just another day. Tales of ordinance getting wedged in the buckets or suction dredgers were a feature of dinner conversation. Other vestigial war department artifacts and sites in the area fed the curiosity of ten-year-olds left to freely roam the countryside. What a glorious time!
@@jjeherreraThere is - indeed. In heavily bombed places like the ruhr area or basically any city with a railway station - EOD is still busy (and will be - basically forever). Another headache are various dumpsites. In the Baltic as well as in the North Sea - thousands of tonnes were dumped after WW2. Conventional bombs are now rusting through and poisoning the sea with their toxic explosives. Even worse are B- and C-weapons - biological or chemical. Every fisherman knows how to recognise them - they even have to have gas masks on every fishing vessel.
Rivers are not the only place either, I spoke to a UXB team once who said that many Cemeteries, allotments, reservoirs and sewerage works in large towns and cities in the UK contain UXB's. The reason they are still there is that they pose little threat and are safer left in situ. I was shown a printed list by one of the Officers even detailing major roads and streets in London that are known to contain Bombs but are again safer left in place.
Living in Charleston SC we are still recovering shells from the Civil War. And yes they're still dangerous. During some construction in downtown they uncovered a shell. The construction worker grew tired of waiting on Air Force EOD so he threw it in the back of his little pickup and drove to the Air Force Base. Needless to say he was stopped at the front gate.
In WWII my Mum was a trainee nurse in Brighton. Part of her duties were doing night shifts with a colleague on the flat roof of the hospital, one armed with a bucket of water and a stirrup pump, the other with a bucket of sand and a trowel. Luckily she never had to deal with an incendiary.
Dr Felton an excellent video. I am a Marine (ret) my MOS was Aviation Ordnance, this video strikes close to home. I’ve read that those incendiary bomblets are probably the most dangerous due to the fact that they are stuck in nooks and crannies all over the UK. Fantastic Video Sir!!
I remember diving in Plymouth Sound when I was doing my old part 4 license, all the anti-aircraft shells that had been ditched into the sea during the war, that were pulled up, causing all sorts of problems.
While stationed in Heidelberg, DE, an unexploded US 500lb bomb was discovered when a rail bridge was being dismantled. Half the city was under orders to remain indoors, the rest evacuated. The bomb was disposed of by EOD where it was found. This was sometime in 2007-2010.
I loved watching Danger UXB, i would have only been a child born in 71 when it was on but being around Liverpool seeing the bomb damage for real it fascinated me ☺
I remember 4 years or so ago a Tall Boy bomb was detonated on the bottom of a canal in Świnoujście, Poland. Even several meters underwater the explosion was massive and the sappers claimed that it was only partial detonation :) There are videos of it on YT, worth checking out.
sometimes the foundation of a very small house can be less than 0.5m, which can be insufficient to expose a mortar, and on the contrary a redevelopment is usually bigger, with a deeper foundation which exposes the relics that get deep into soft ground.
I live south of Hull, which was heavenly bombed during WWll. Every time I go over the Humber Bridge I think of the ordnance in the River Humber. Great video Dr Felton.
that the SS Richard Montgomery, semi-submerged WWII American liberty ship, in London estuary ?.- too dangerous to move, ....too dangerous to leave in place !!. ....;( ;(
I imagine the British real estate sales agent community (especially those involved with waterfront properties)... aren't too happy with Dr Felton right now. I love history, and Dr Felton's videos are always an interesting watch... but this one is on a different level. I never thought someone's love of trying to uncover lost history... could be so dangerous.
Dr. Felton videos are like unexploded ordinance until you click on the notification. Then you get a blast of highly concentrated history and knowledge that stays with you.
I live in Virginia and we still uncover artillery shells from the Civil War that are still live and every few years some collector picks them up and extinguishes themself.
The Yarmouth bomb that unexpectedly exploded was heard up to 15 miles away. That was only ONE bomb! I cant even possibly imagine what an air raid during "The Blitz" must have been like to experience. The tremendous amount of noise and shock waves these explosions created must have been incredible. I have unlimited respect for the UK populace that endured this DAILY, and kept on with their established routines while never giving Germany any satisfaction that their bombing had affected their morale or courage. It was quite the opposite. Keep calm and carry on!
Given the equipment used by AA Command I'd suggest its more likely a 40mm Bofors. The Pom poms were pretty much exclusively shipboard weapons weren't they?
It appears not to be fused, looks like a plug in the nose. Would need to look at the driving band to see if it had been fired. Probably about 2 inch/40mm 2 pounder type shell.
@@trooperdgb9722 it looks like a ww1 french 37mm shell. google it. it doesnt have to be related to any AA. some how sometimes shells appear on weird spots
@@Loosechip-ins the ww1 37mm pom poms had these type of fuse according to pictures on google, and indded this one wasnt fired, as you see at the driving band
There was a large UXO discovered in the Rhein River a few years back. An EOD squad had to be dispatched to neutralize it. UXOs are practically still being unearthed in all of the world's battlefields across many continents.
I love the scene in Danger UXB when Lt. Brian Ash is assigned to bomb disposal duties. He says to his new CO “I thought you had to volunteer for this?” and his CO - preoccupied with other paperwork - says “No…no, I don’t believe so.” A very healthy and happy new year, Dr. Felton.
Hello! Big follower of your channel here. Firstly I'd like to give a big digital hug for your effort and spread of knowledge. Your job of keeping the memory alive is top! Secondly, I was reading a book (D Day through German eyes, Book 2 from Holger Eckhertz) and the last chapter contains an interview from a German veteran who was responsible for the Typhoon B secret weapon. I admit that on my extensive bibliography this is the first input for this weapon. I searched online and the results are very few and far between them. I would very much appreciate your view on this weapon. I believe that you are the best person to cover such a topic. I hope to see a video on this topic from your channel as I believe that not many people know about it, especially when one realises how powerful, destructive and fearful it was! All the best for a happy New year!
Hey Doc - when I was stationed in Okinawa in 90’s - we used to find bombs- artillery shells- on the beach - their bulldozers look like tanks with all the armor on them and they say it’s one of the highest paying jobs- operating a dozer - there’s a lot of history left- yet to be found- great video
Dr Felton what about the The Red Zone in France it is now about 40 square miles (100 km2), roughly the size of Paris. It was originally over 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles). The Red Zone was created after World War I to isolate areas that were too damaged for human habitation. The land was left to return to nature instead of being cleaned up immediately. The town of Verdun is a well-known part of the Red Zone, where the French and Germans fought a 300-day battle.
Back in the '60s our grade school had an annual Carnival and us chilrens would go door to door asking for items to sell in a white elephant sale. Someone was given a battered ~2ft long, 6-inch diameter finned bomb emptied of its charge. Painted yellow with a couple large hog rings it had been displayed proudly somewhere. In the days before the white elephant sale at the Carnival lots of folks wanted to see. It's expected sale price grew as more people got a look.
I follow a couple of TH-cam channels of Thames mudlarkers, who search the riverbank for old treasures, and I'm honestly surprised they don't find more UXBs!!! They find them sometimes, but not as often as I would expect! Great vid, Mark!
In Tonbridge in Kent, there’s been dozens of UXBs unearthed in the River Medway in recent years. Mainly due to house construction. I think the luftwaffe must’ve been trying to hit the mainline railway line between London and the Kent coast.
On sea-coasts of Gemany people find also pieces of phosphor and children are taught not to put any thing in their pockets (because once thing are dry...).
I woukd need another photograph, but my first impression that's the back end of the round and that would be what's called a "boat tail". A boat tail ammo helps stabilize a round in flight. Some hunting rifle ammo is made in such way including 5.56mm (.223cal). I could be wrong, as I said I need another photo.
I suppose that it's possible that it's something that was cobbled together due to shortages of materials. The Germans were doing that towards the end. Those variants might make an interesting video, although it's unlikely that there's much information on them.
@@MarkFeltonProductions I agree, it does look like a 2 Pdr, you can clearly see that the Driving Band has not been engaged, indicating that it has not been fired. The "flat end" is what is called a "plug", it is fitted to the round when a fuze is not fitted. The ammunition was not always supplied with fuzes fitted because there are multiple different types of fuze, this allowed the user to fit the required type of fuze at the point of use. I have just retired from the Army after a 36 year career as an Ammunition Technician, and a lot of that time was spent on duty as an EOD Operator. Across the whole of the UK we get called out thousands of times each year to deal with this type of incident (in support of the Police). Blowing stuff up on the streets of the UK and getting paid to do it - there isn't a finer job!
After speaking to a German friend of mine, he mentioned recently having to evacuate his local area due to an RAF UXB being discovered. I think a video covering the same subject but from the other point of view would be nice companion to this.
Well, know I know why a friend's British mother found a WW2 bomb in her backyard shed's loft. I had heard she found it but I never heard the story of it. I would wager it was one of the fire bombs. It was about 20 years ago. Thank you, Mark.
Hi from the US, Mark, you have great sympathy from me for having to deal with this. I've been hearing about this since the early 1980s. Hope nobody ever gets hurt again from one of these! Your government might want to consider insisting the Germans come and get them. Hope tou and all you know have a wonderful new year!
I was biking to work one December morning and saw a man at the end of the cycle path about 100 yards away , I stopped 4 feet away from this man ,he was wearing leather boots ,blue trousers and a black leather flying jacket and over a 10 second period i watched this man fade away in front of me ,the cycle path was part of the WW2 airfield at Pocklington in East Yorkshire .My Dad passed away a couple of years later and when i was making arrangements with the vicar ,i told him what i had seen and he told me that 6 other people had told him they had seen similar things down that path .
Big thank You dr Felton for yet another Memory Lane and Nostalgia Street trip through my beloved Norwich! I grew up in the mid 80s and early 90s living on the UEA campus, and I vividly remember the Earlam Cementary as it was frequently visited by our family for walks, such a beautiful place and wasn't far.
I lived on Guam some years back. They found an average of one piece of unexploded ordnance a week on the Naval Station. I have no idea how many turned up on other parts of the island. One day some of the neighborhood kids were out in the boonies and found a pineapple grenade. They were quite impressed with what they found so they took it home to show their dad. He took one look at the thing and cleared everyone out of the house. He called EOD and they took care of it. Lucky for me we lived a block away so we had nothing to worry about. The kids thought that was the coolest thing they had ever found.
Fascinating video, thanks Mark! I'm happy no one has been hurt! When I was serving in Iraq I tried to stay on well walked paths in case there were cluster munitions still laying about (there were).
My brother was in the Royal Engineers and he was a qualified EOD officer. He was at the Fulham Gas Works disposing of a 2000 KGS Satan Bomb. Which had fallen through one of the gasometers during the war. It had a clockwork fuse and they injected it with a thick liquid sugar solution which solidified to a solid state making the fuse safe. Then they steamed out the explosives for the next 2 or 3 days. The officer in charge received the Goerge Medal from the Queen.
I'm a prior service Unites States Marine. I went on bombing range sweeps with EOD. We recovered 2700 pounds of UXO, in 2 days. A couple 500 pound bombs, and a lot of cluster munitions, 30mm cannon rounds, and other assorted ""small" explosive devices. The "controlled" detonation by professionals, with a combined 25 combat deployments was nothing less, than the entire amount of explosives detonating at the same time. I was able to hear a huge beehive and see a 3 foot section of a 500lb bomb casing fly through the air. This is just one story, from this sweep.
Happy new year Dr felton been following your years now we had a simular situation in ludlow shropshire at the cattle market were a house clearance and while pulling objects out of a box a worker pulled a ww1 Mills bomb still live that resulted in a fast response from the bomb squad shout out to the army engineers.
In the US military, we would say unexploded ordinance or UXO. Have seen these signs many times out on test ranges. The amazing thing is the number of people who ignore these signs even after getting trained before being given access to the range.
Yes sir, I actually have several of these signs -and others- (typically used on or near the live-fire ranges & training areas aboard the US Marine base where i live just outside the gates) decorating the walls of my garage & shop. One of my other favorite signs is a red triangular-shaped one, usually either mounted to a pole or strung/hung from horizontally-run wire or string (often it's "550 cord"), at the edge(s) of said mined area!!
@@christopherT3141 I have some of my father's WW2 manuals from when he did battlefield clearance of anything left lying around and on the front page in large print is the wording, "Remember that the purpose of an explosive is to explode" One thing that I learned from him was "do not touch" call the people who know what they are doing. He would have liked the understatement use of the word "iffy" 🙂
There are lots yet to discover. As an aside, visiting Belgium or France you will often see WW1 and WW2 ordnance piled up in fields. Farmers turn the land over and the stuff finds its way to the surface. They have a very relaxed attitude about it, compared to the UK. There must be millions of tons of old UXB's and artillery munitions still to deal with.
Looks unfired, and has a screw plug where the nose fuse would go. Likely an inert shell someone had for display in his home, and the owner dumped it off the bridge when there was a moratorium enforced so the owner would not have to explain how he filched the shell from the depot he was stationed at.
Dad was in EOD (ex military but working for the Met). During the 60's, 70's & 80's there were regular finds of old ordnance including an incendiary in roof of one of the neighbour's. One of the things that regularly came up was a call to the local police where husband had passed away and there were some items (grenades, gelignite, detonators) in the airing cupboard or garden shed (which were very unstable). The men were part of the anti invasion force and had been sworn to complete secrecy.
A US Navy EOD expert gave a presentation to a law enforcement conference I attended around fifteen years ago. One of their duties was to respond to homes of recently departed WW2 veterans. As family were sorting through the belongings, they would occasionally find a souvenir. He said a sailor brought home a powder bag for a ship’s guns. Used it as a footstool beside his fireplace for 60 years. Then there was a local man who collected his separation papers, hopped in a Jeep and drive it from Michigan to his southern Indiana farm. To my knowledge it remains there today.
Legend had it that there was a large unexploded bomb beneath the old Boulton & paul works on Riverside in Norwich. Attempts were made to retrieve it but it sank deeper and deeper in the sandy soil and so it was left in situ.
Let’s not forget the iron harvest every year in Belgium & Northern France, but that is another war you never cover. It is estimated there are still millions of items of ordinance still unexploded, including ridge mines, and chemicals. Less than half the bombs fired exploded landing in soft mud or not correctly fused.
As a Dutchman I am not impressed. Over here, the calling cards of both the Luftwaffe AND the RAF & USAAF are discovered today still in huge numbers all over the place all year round
@@buggs9950 He is just pointing to the fact that the number of unexploded bombs in the UK is small, compared to various other countries in Europe. In fact, the UK might be one of the countries with the least amount of unexploded bombs in Europe.
Recently in Rotterdam a several houses had to be demolished after it was confirmed that there was a big bomb stuck in the ground beneath it. In the war it had gone straight through the roof and was just left there. Now they had to demolish the house to defuse it (the foundations of the houses needed to be reinforced to prevent collapse, so leaving it there was no longer an option).
Can you imagine the millions of people that could be walking over an unexploded landmine every singing day without even realising the potentially danger they are in there's something chilling about that fact
France and Belgium have dedicated EOD teams just to deal with this problem. There, lies 2 World Wars worth of unexploded ordnance. Perhaps some of the most dangerous places in the world are in Southeast Asia. Several times more tonnage of bombs were dropped in Laos and Vietnam than all of the fronts in WWII combined! Laos has an especially bad problem with unexploded bomblets from US cluster bombs. Also, when the US did not release their bombs over targeted areas in Vietnam, they would drop these bombs in the Laotion jungles.
@@darkjudge8786 For all practical purposes, a little unexploded bomb that has been covered by earth or foliage and goes off when you walk or drive over it IS a mine, whether that was its original purpose or not. That same goes for American bomblets made of coloured plastic designed to be attractive to children.
South Korea has an entire industry to remove and dispose of uxos ranging from decrypt artillery shells to land mines in and around the DMZ. There are stories of wild animals setting off these old land mines by stepping on them.
@@darkjudge8786 Please, just come to Hürtgenwald one day. There are still eras of these woods where you shouldn't leave the marked paths, because there could be mines. There are still missing soldiers that get found there to this day. And there are these places where the debris from the bombed out city of Düren ended up, still a no-go era today, because within this debris there were tons of bombs. The city was bombed so hard in November of 1944 that only 13 buildings (of around 6,500) remained standing only slightly damaged. During one bombing the RAF dropped over 2,750 metric tonnes of bombs on the city that day and nobody knows how many of these bombs ended up in the debris as duds.
Mark, it isn’t just Europe that unexploded munitions continue to be found. Using Canada as an example, there were temporary live ammunition artillery ranges set up during WWII in many locations. One particular location I am familiar with had a golf course built on top of an undemined artillery range. I have had the privilege to play 18 holes on this course. Months later, the course management decided to upgrade the course layout for a more challenging layout for golfers. In the course of preliminary earth moving multiple live artillery shells were uncovered, resulting in the complete shutdown of the course redesign. Known live shells were removed, but as an absolute guarantee that all live shells had been removed could not be given, this once promising golf course was turned into a restricted area where only local wildlife tread. One only has to look at Ukraine and other global locales to see the problem of unexploded munitions will continue to be an ongoing issue.
There's a park with hiking trails a few towns over, with an air force (now Space Force) base next to it. There are signs out in the woods past the trails warning you to stay away from the base, but in one area they specifically say "DANGER UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE" which makes me think that at some point they must have used it as a bombing range.
@@PatNorris-uq4uv Au contraire! I know what you mean, but UXOs pop up in surprising numbers in the states, sometimes in very interesting areas. Aside from Civil War shells, none were fired in anger; they were fired/dropped in training or testing. Unfortunately, that makes little difference to the UXO and its unlucky victim. But no, the U.S. doesn’t have to worry about finding 1000kg bombs during every construction event. Phew!
Danger UXB! One of the greatest BBC miniseries ever!
It was a really good series. I was enthralled by it when I was a child and I appreciate it now as an adult but the network was ITV and not BBC.
Yes, remember it well, now again since it’s on You Tube last I checked.
I never saw it, my parents never allowed me to watch ITV, downmarket. Watched Secret Army though, Clifford Rose as Kessler passed away recently, in his 90s.
Oh I watched it too! Great show.
Still stands up today as an excellent series.
Following the death of an aunt in 2018, her children decided to sell the family home in Tower Avenue in Chelmsford. The new owners were carrying out major building work in the process of which they uncovered a small wartime shell underneath the patio. The whole area was cordoned off and the device removed to a nearby park for safe detonation. The irony was that my late uncle had been a pilot with coastal command during the war yet lived for over fifty years with a bomb practically under his feet.
I live just round the corner and remember this, the park was Admiral's Park.
@@jointgib another ironic thing is that my aunt and uncle’s house has an extremely generous back garden and halfway down it is a massive concrete air raid shelter from the war. Very possibly whoever was living at that house at the time the incendiary shell dropped was taking shelter in the bunker.
Imagine the chance of winning the lottery was mathematical 10x higher .....
@@markshrimpton3138 Very likely. I'm not even sure what the actual target was. Were they going for the housing or was it the RHP ball bearing factory they were supposed to be bombing?
I had occasion to talk to an Egyptian Army Engineering officer two years ago. He told me about how one of the Egyptian Army Engineers' enduring mission is removing and disposing of landmines left over from the battles of el Alamein whenever they are found. During the two battles there, millions of German, Italian, and Commonwealth mines were laid in the battlefield. My Egyptian friend told me that the Commonwealth and Italian mines are often found to be degraded - their cases rusted through, the mechanisms rusted, and the explosives exposed to moisture. He said that the German mines, which were made to high tolerances and with high quality materials, were just as dangerous and lethal as when they were buried.
Those German hey? Why does Mercedes-Benz build such awful engines now, with so many critical components constructed of plastic?
People sneak into the mine feilds to steal the explosives
@@Steven-p4jcause they found out, if they built them too sturdy, they'd might last forever and then no one will buy new Cermedes cars anymore.....
@@Steven-p4j My father gave me a Mercedes 190B to use for college. I ran the hell out of it, for 3 years until the motor blew up. I bought a used Chevy truck after that, and it's still running 407,000 miles later. OK, it is on its third engine, but I can get parts for it and the service and overhaul manuals are not in German.
@@HootOwl513 The 190 series, were still well-built and engineered cars, shortly after that, the bean counters took over at Mercedes, and they turned to crap. You don't mention the mileage or if you did regular oil changes on the Mercedes. They had high tolerance engines, which needed attention and servicing, after which they could reach up to 500,000 miles, or so.
Such unexpected finds are pretty common in Europe. In Hungary they still regularly find every sort and type of ammunitions. Aerial bombs still turn up here and there, but also tons of infantry and artillery rounds. Sometimes they find wartime caches, unused ammo just rusting away in buried boxes. The weirdest find was a live Soviet artillery shell lodged into a tower of St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest. Someone in 1946 was like "meh, not my job" and simply painted it over. It was discovered again and removed in 2000.
@@nematolvajkergetok5104 Imagine living in Vietnam or Laos, the two most bombed places on earth. UXOs come out of the ground there like they are growing them. If one considers an overall average dud rate of 10% (conservative) across all ordnance types dropped, 10% of millions is a lot of UXOs. The dud rate may be in excess of 1/4 of all ordnance dropped. That’s insane.
I saw a documentary some years ago about Belgium. Their engineers simply cannot cope with the number of WWI shells that they were still coming across. Especially dangerous are the ones filled with gas.
As part of expansions at airports in the Philippines and in Japan, American bombs have been found.
Every spring, they find unexploded ww1 munitions in france pushed up by the winter frost. During ww1, 1.5 BILLION artillery rounds were fired and that doesn't include mortar rounds or aerial bombs.
The British army alone fired over 170 million, and during the first day of the Battle of Verdun, the Germans fired 1 million rounds.
If you figure 1% didn't go off, that means there are/were 15 million unexploded bombs.
@SennethLawrence The red zones in France and Belgium are insane. But the amount of stuff left to rot there is nowhere near to the amount dumped into the oceans. Nobody knows how those ones are doing, or where they are for that matter.
One of my all time favorite BBC productions: Danger UXB, with Anthony Andrew’s playing the unfortunately named Brian Ash.
As long as the show was on TV, you'd have thought that they would have found all the unexploded bombs...😅
You must be in your late 60's+. I remember that show as well. It first aired in 1980 or 1981.
@rickm5654 Danger UXB was an ITV show - I have the DVD and it includes the ad caps. Great show, accurate even down to the troops haircuts.
"Danger UXB" aired here in the US in the early 1980s on Public Broadcasting, I remember it well, great series!
Danger UXB was a great show maybe Mark could do an episode about those guys?
They found one in an old gas holder in west London many years ago. The top of the holder had been repaired as they didn’t realise the hole had been made by a bomb. The bomb was still inside at the bottom in the clay seal under water. A diver went in and had to locate the bomb blindly using his hands in the murk. It was then lifted out and disposed of safely before the gas holder could be demolished for a new development . A braver diver indeed .
When I worked for SW Gas, Plymouth in the 80's, my old foreman told of being on watch atop the gasholders in Coxside gasworks. Issued with a steel helmet & a sturdy broom to sweep off incendiary bombs.
Nowadays they have little robots to go and do it for them. My father was in bomb disposal in WWII and I have seen photographs of him hands on inside the bomb. I had the pictures myself but all stolen years ago.
I remember a program that at least partially covered that back in the 90s.
@@juliansadler6263 That sucks :(
The Royal Engineers team that dealt with that one were decorated for it. There used to be a painting of it hanging in the Officer’s Mess at Chattenden.
Mark, i’ve visited my family in Vietnam long ago. My aunt always told me that while hiking, STAY ON THE TRAIL. U impress me with this video
I've been having an awful day, then Mark Felton uploads!
Mood lifted! Thanks 😊
He's an awesome historian
Pugsley Addams, is that you?
I love that photo with Mark and the SC50; there is a sign saying "Do not touch". You're a rebel, Dr. Felton. 🙂
In my defence I didn't notice the sign until afterwards!
Those crazy historians - they live life on the edge!
😂😂😂😂😂
@@MarkFeltonProductionsI believe you, many wouldn't!...😉
we’ve all had those moments right?
War: A gift that keeps on giving.
Look at former WW1 battlefields in France and Belgium even till today they find unexploded chemical and explosive shells.
Around Yper Belgium there is even a collection timetable for the Belgium bombsquad at farm houses.
They have all have boxes to place the found shells during farming in.
@@obelic71 I believe there is a section of land in France that is considered a toxic waste zone because of heavy chemical weapons use there. There are even places in the US where signs warn people to watch out for Civil War ordnance.
@@RCAvhstape yes that is called the zone rouge (red zone) a region so contaminated you are not allowed to enter.
@@obelic71 I found a good video several years ago entitled "The Bomb Collector of Ypres".
Even here in the States there is UXO. Within the last few years a Civil War relic collector recovered an unexplored cannonball and managed to unscrew the fuze. He seemingly had convinced himself that black powder couldn’t still be dangerous after over 150 years and was trying to dig the powder and shrapnel out of the cannonball with a tool. It literally blew the garage off his house and shrapnel went through the walls of the house next door.
During and after the war people would pick up or dig up unexploded cannonballs and take them home as souvenirs. While some were solid cast iron most were hollow, fuzed, and packed with powder and shrapnel. They still turn up in antique stores.
Picatinny Arsenal has a massive UXO problem. A magazine explosion in the late 1930’s sent thousands of projectiles into the air and they came down and buried themselves everywhere. At least they were stored munitions and not fuzed for detonation. They dig shells up constantly.
If memory serves,
was'nt Picatinny Arsenal blown up by German saboteurs
in 1917?
I know there were explosions,
so I may have the wrong arsenal,
but "lost" shells must be out there from 1917.
/
Nope, the 1917 explosion was called the “Black Tom” explosion and I don’t know much about it. It was (I think) over in what was or became Raritan Arsenal. That one got closed down years ago.
The Picatinny situation is real. Every time that they dig a new sewer line or the basement for a new building they find shells. As I said, this was stored ordnance and either had no fuzes or the fuzes were never activated. There was Naval ordnance in the magazine and the powder for the big Navy guns was kept in heavyweight canvas bags so my guess is that the Navy powder bags lit off. They blamed a lightning strike for the explosion and it was in around 1936.
@@bobjohnston8316 The bags were silk so they would burn completely.
Occasionally they will find mortar shells when they dredge the NJ coast for beach replenishment.
Back in the early 2000’s I was a Marine Corps Recruiter working out of our Recruiting office in Morris County. My family and I lived in base housing on Picatinny Arsenal. When they were doing any kind of construction around the base housing area it was common for them to dig up UXO’s. There were old air raid sirens that were sounded followed by MP’s driving around and announcing on their PA system for everyone to stay in their houses.
If they detonated it in place and it was a big blast shortly after base maintenance crews would show up with replacement windows in the back of their trucks to replace any broken when our houses shook.
Between that and the testing of new ordinance on base we had to get creative when hanging pictures on the walls or putting nik naks on shelves. They would easily wind up broken on the floor when everything in the house rattled from explosions
During the mid to late ‘60’s my late father was the operations manager for Westminster Dredging’s (now Boskalis-W) Mersey River operation. The Mersey and Dee rivers are quite silty and efforts with both ladder and bucket dredgers were continual in what was at the time, one of the busiest ports in Europe. I can recall staring wide eyed at shelves in an office that were festooned with spent ammunition and shells all of which had been dredged from the river right in front of us yet nobody there made a big deal of it all. It was just another day. Tales of ordinance getting wedged in the buckets or suction dredgers were a feature of dinner conversation. Other vestigial war department artifacts and sites in the area fed the curiosity of ten-year-olds left to freely roam the countryside. What a glorious time!
When I was stationed in Heilbronn Germany in the late 1970s, there were 3 unexploded bombs uncovered by construction in a 3 year period.
Still and issue even now in Germany.
At least they weren't evil NAZI bombs!
@@cyberleaderandy1 Still an issue …..
Exactly what I was wondering, There must be a lot of unexploded ordinance in Germany and other European countries as well.
@@jjeherreraThere is - indeed. In heavily bombed places like the ruhr area or basically any city with a railway station - EOD is still busy (and will be - basically forever).
Another headache are various dumpsites. In the Baltic as well as in the North Sea - thousands of tonnes were dumped after WW2. Conventional bombs are now rusting through and poisoning the sea with their toxic explosives.
Even worse are B- and C-weapons - biological or chemical. Every fisherman knows how to recognise them - they even have to have gas masks on every fishing vessel.
Thanks!
Rivers are not the only place either, I spoke to a UXB team once who said that many Cemeteries, allotments, reservoirs and sewerage works in large towns and cities in the UK contain UXB's. The reason they are still there is that they pose little threat and are safer left in situ. I was shown a printed list by one of the Officers even detailing major roads and streets in London that are known to contain Bombs but are again safer left in place.
GREAT explanation, I even found a suspected WWII aerial mortar very recently, and thankfully it is very far away from residential estates.
Living in Charleston SC we are still recovering shells from the Civil War. And yes they're still dangerous. During some construction in downtown they uncovered a shell. The construction worker grew tired of waiting on Air Force EOD so he threw it in the back of his little pickup and drove to the Air Force Base. Needless to say he was stopped at the front gate.
Couple of years ago they found a Howitzer shell on the Waterloo Battlefield
In WWII my Mum was a trainee nurse in Brighton. Part of her duties were doing night shifts with a colleague on the flat roof of the hospital, one armed with a bucket of water and a stirrup pump, the other with a bucket of sand and a trowel. Luckily she never had to deal with an incendiary.
Dr Felton an excellent video. I am a Marine (ret) my MOS was Aviation Ordnance, this video strikes close to home. I’ve read that those incendiary bomblets are probably the most dangerous due to the fact that they are stuck in nooks and crannies all over the UK. Fantastic Video Sir!!
I remember diving in Plymouth Sound when I was doing my old part 4 license, all the anti-aircraft shells that had been ditched into the sea during the war, that were pulled up, causing all sorts of problems.
Happy New Year Mark! Thanks for the video!
While stationed in Heidelberg, DE, an unexploded US 500lb bomb was discovered when a rail bridge was being dismantled. Half the city was under orders to remain indoors, the rest evacuated. The bomb was disposed of by EOD where it was found. This was sometime in 2007-2010.
Had it gone off and killed you, would that have been a case of 'friendly fire/collateral damage', I wonder?😮
Heidelberg...Wonder if Hogan and his gang of saboteurs had anything to do with the planting of that one....
4:20, „ please do not touch“ 😉
Magnet fishing in a former war zone sounds like a great family activity.
Can be an explosive experience.
It's bangin
@@johnritter6864 let me guess some of the finds can be mind blowing
@@CoolHand273 You got it
Coolhand273, the Brits aren't too bright.
I loved watching Danger UXB, i would have only been a child born in 71 when it was on but being around Liverpool seeing the bomb damage for real it fascinated me ☺
I remember 4 years or so ago a Tall Boy bomb was detonated on the bottom of a canal in Świnoujście, Poland. Even several meters underwater the explosion was massive and the sappers claimed that it was only partial detonation :) There are videos of it on YT, worth checking out.
A TALL BOY BOMB!?? Holy hell... now that's one UXB to which I would NOT want to be the unfortunate finder
Thats the story I only half remembered I just posted about ! . The B&W War footage almost shows it hitting the water
Unexploded Ordinance is everywhere in Europe. When the house of my husbands parents was demolished the found a 500 pound bomb underneath it.
sometimes the foundation of a very small house can be less than 0.5m, which can be insufficient to expose a mortar, and on the contrary a redevelopment is usually bigger, with a deeper foundation which exposes the relics that get deep into soft ground.
@ they had a swimming pool, party bar and sauna in the basement
I live south of Hull, which was heavenly bombed during WWll. Every time I go over the Humber Bridge I think of the ordnance in the River Humber. Great video Dr Felton.
There is a shipload of explosives sitting on the bottom of the river near Sheerness.
If that goes up, it will be really messy.
And Mustard Gas
is also possibly there,
I read this week.
/
that the SS Richard Montgomery, semi-submerged WWII American liberty ship, in London estuary ?.- too dangerous to move, ....too dangerous to leave in place !!.
....;( ;(
HAPPY XMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FELTON! THANK YOU FOR YOUR EXCELLENCE!
I imagine the British real estate sales agent community (especially those involved with waterfront properties)... aren't too happy with Dr Felton right now.
I love history, and Dr Felton's videos are always an interesting watch... but this one is on a different level.
I never thought someone's love of trying to uncover lost history... could be so dangerous.
When we moved into a house back in the late 40s, a mackintosh, bucket, stirrup pump and ARP helmet were in the coal shed.
Dr. Felton videos are like unexploded ordinance until you click on the notification. Then you get a blast of highly concentrated history and knowledge that stays with you.
Dr. Felton ....we are patiently waiting for Ep. 2 of the Hess Series sir ...thank you
Yes me also 😅
Yeah, it's been weeks and I've been waiting for it myself.
Sometime in January
I live in Virginia and we still uncover artillery shells from the Civil War that are still live and every few years some collector picks them up and extinguishes themself.
The Yarmouth bomb that unexpectedly exploded was heard up to 15 miles away. That was only ONE bomb! I cant even possibly imagine what an air raid during "The Blitz" must have been like to experience. The tremendous amount of noise and shock waves these explosions created must have been incredible. I have unlimited respect for the UK populace that endured this DAILY, and kept on with their established routines while never giving Germany any satisfaction that their bombing had affected their morale or courage. It was quite the opposite. Keep calm and carry on!
I try to explain to my work colleagues. Until you have actually experienced an explosion you cant appreciate what "loud" really is.
Though one of my goals in life is to live an adventure worthy of a Mark Felton video, finding one of these bombs isn't it!
Excellent reporting...
Happy Holidays from Canada
Dr. Felton uploads. I watch. I learn.
Appreciate you helping us metric challenged explain both units of measurement
👍🇺🇸
Thanks Dr. Felton!
1:05 That's a 37mm Pom Pom Shell
Given the equipment used by AA Command I'd suggest its more likely a 40mm Bofors. The Pom poms were pretty much exclusively shipboard weapons weren't they?
that was my guess
It appears not to be fused, looks like a plug in the nose. Would need to look at the driving band to see if it had been fired. Probably about 2 inch/40mm 2 pounder type shell.
@@trooperdgb9722 it looks like a ww1 french 37mm shell. google it. it doesnt have to be related to any AA. some how sometimes shells appear on weird spots
@@Loosechip-ins the ww1 37mm pom poms had these type of fuse according to pictures on google, and indded this one wasnt fired, as you see at the driving band
There was a large UXO discovered in the Rhein River a few years back. An EOD squad had to be dispatched to neutralize it. UXOs are practically still being unearthed in all of the world's battlefields across many continents.
This is my go to military History channel
Superb as always 👍
I love the scene in Danger UXB when Lt. Brian Ash is assigned to bomb disposal duties. He says to his new CO “I thought you had to volunteer for this?” and his CO - preoccupied with other paperwork - says “No…no, I don’t believe so.”
A very healthy and happy new year, Dr. Felton.
Hello! Big follower of your channel here. Firstly I'd like to give a big digital hug for your effort and spread of knowledge. Your job of keeping the memory alive is top!
Secondly, I was reading a book (D Day through German eyes, Book 2 from Holger Eckhertz) and the last chapter contains an interview from a German veteran who was responsible for the Typhoon B secret weapon. I admit that on my extensive bibliography this is the first input for this weapon. I searched online and the results are very few and far between them.
I would very much appreciate your view on this weapon. I believe that you are the best person to cover such a topic. I hope to see a video on this topic from your channel as I believe that not many people know about it, especially when one realises how powerful, destructive and fearful it was!
All the best for a happy New year!
Ah, it brings back memories of that great television series from the 1980s with Anthony Andrews. Cheers, Mark!
Hey Doc - when I was stationed in Okinawa in 90’s - we used to find bombs- artillery shells- on the beach - their bulldozers look like tanks with all the armor on them and they say it’s one of the highest paying jobs- operating a dozer - there’s a lot of history left- yet to be found- great video
Dr Felton what about the The Red Zone in France
it is now about 40 square miles (100 km2), roughly the size of Paris. It was originally over 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles).
The Red Zone was created after World War I to isolate areas that were too damaged for human habitation. The land was left to return to nature instead of being cleaned up immediately. The town of Verdun is a well-known part of the Red Zone, where the French and Germans fought a 300-day battle.
‘The Red Zone is for the immediate loading and unloading of passengers only, there is no parking in the white zone’
He's covered Zone Rouge a few years ago when covering the " permanently destroyed" villages in France and elsewhere
In the photo of you with the sc50 - I love the 'do not touch' on the pedestal of the bomb you're leaning on!
Your videos, though short in time, are always packed with facts, data and knowledge! Well done sir!!
Yeah cable tv shows would have taken this and milked it to 49 minutes.
Back in the '60s our grade school had an annual Carnival and us chilrens would go door to door asking for items to sell in a white elephant sale. Someone was given a battered ~2ft long, 6-inch diameter finned bomb emptied of its charge. Painted yellow with a couple large hog rings it had been displayed proudly somewhere. In the days before the white elephant sale at the Carnival lots of folks wanted to see. It's expected sale price grew as more people got a look.
Happy new year, Mark
Merry belated Christmas to the team! Here’s to another year of stupendous footage and story telling 🎉🥳🍾🎁🎈
I follow a couple of TH-cam channels of Thames mudlarkers, who search the riverbank for old treasures, and I'm honestly surprised they don't find more UXBs!!! They find them sometimes, but not as often as I would expect! Great vid, Mark!
In Tonbridge in Kent, there’s been dozens of UXBs unearthed in the River Medway in recent years. Mainly due to house construction. I think the luftwaffe must’ve been trying to hit the mainline railway line between London and the Kent coast.
Tonbridge was home to a major military installation during WW2 and hit by almost 6,000 bombs of all sizes.
@@allangibson8494I lived there for many years, fishing in the river would be like playing Russian roulette.
On sea-coasts of Gemany people find also pieces of phosphor and children are taught not to put any thing in their pockets (because once thing are dry...).
In fact these lumps somtimes look like amber and unaware people picked them up and had a very unpleasant surprise later.
1:11 - With the fingers for rough scale, this *might* be a 40 mm Bofors shell, although the flat tip looks strange.
That's what I thought, except the end. Or perhaps a WW1 2-pounder Pom-Pom shell?
I woukd need another photograph, but my first impression that's the back end of the round and that would be what's called a "boat tail". A boat tail ammo helps stabilize a round in flight. Some hunting rifle ammo is made in such way including 5.56mm (.223cal). I could be wrong, as I said I need another photo.
I suppose that it's possible that it's something that was cobbled together due to shortages of materials.
The Germans were doing that towards the end.
Those variants might make an interesting video, although it's unlikely that there's much information on them.
@@MarkFeltonProductions I agree, it does look like a 2 Pdr, you can clearly see that the Driving Band has not been engaged, indicating that it has not been fired. The "flat end" is what is called a "plug", it is fitted to the round when a fuze is not fitted. The ammunition was not always supplied with fuzes fitted because there are multiple different types of fuze, this allowed the user to fit the required type of fuze at the point of use. I have just retired from the Army after a 36 year career as an Ammunition Technician, and a lot of that time was spent on duty as an EOD Operator. Across the whole of the UK we get called out thousands of times each year to deal with this type of incident (in support of the Police). Blowing stuff up on the streets of the UK and getting paid to do it - there isn't a finer job!
After speaking to a German friend of mine, he mentioned recently having to evacuate his local area due to an RAF UXB being discovered. I think a video covering the same subject but from the other point of view would be nice companion to this.
Happy healthy new year to you and family. Thank you for your hard work Mark.
Happy new year to you Dr Felton
Happy New Year, Mark😊
a great very interesting video Mr. Felton. have a good one Mr.
Well, know I know why a friend's British mother found a WW2 bomb in her backyard shed's loft. I had heard she found it but I never heard the story of it. I would wager it was one of the fire bombs. It was about 20 years ago.
Thank you, Mark.
Awesome production, thank you once again mark! Have a good new year and hopefully many more videos to come!
Great video and presentation
I enjoy your videos, thank you. Happy New Year to you and yours!
Hi from the US, Mark, you have great sympathy from me for having to deal with this. I've been hearing about this since the early 1980s. Hope nobody ever gets hurt again from one of these! Your government might want to consider insisting the Germans come and get them. Hope tou and all you know have a wonderful new year!
Thank you for the lesson.
Its rather frightening how much that war still haunts us.
I was biking to work one December morning and saw a man at the end of the cycle path about 100 yards away , I stopped 4 feet away from this man ,he was wearing leather boots ,blue trousers and a black leather flying jacket and over a 10 second period i watched this man fade away in front of me ,the cycle path was part of the WW2 airfield at Pocklington in East Yorkshire .My Dad passed away a couple of years later and when i was making arrangements with the vicar ,i told him what i had seen and he told me that 6 other people had told him they had seen similar things down that path .
Big thank You dr Felton for yet another Memory Lane and Nostalgia Street trip through my beloved Norwich! I grew up in the mid 80s and early 90s living on the UEA campus, and I vividly remember the Earlam Cementary as it was frequently visited by our family for walks, such a beautiful place and wasn't far.
Good Work
I lived on Guam some years back. They found an average of one piece of unexploded ordnance a week on the Naval Station. I have no idea how many turned up on other parts of the island. One day some of the neighborhood kids were out in the boonies and found a pineapple grenade. They were quite impressed with what they found so they took it home to show their dad. He took one look at the thing and cleared everyone out of the house. He called EOD and they took care of it. Lucky for me we lived a block away so we had nothing to worry about. The kids thought that was the coolest thing they had ever found.
Fascinating video, thanks Mark! I'm happy no one has been hurt! When I was serving in Iraq I tried to stay on well walked paths in case there were cluster munitions still laying about (there were).
My brother was in the Royal Engineers and he was a qualified EOD officer. He was at the Fulham Gas Works disposing of a 2000 KGS Satan Bomb. Which had fallen through one of the gasometers during the war. It had a clockwork fuse and they injected it with a thick liquid sugar solution which solidified to a solid state making the fuse safe. Then they steamed out the explosives for the next 2 or 3 days.
The officer in charge received the Goerge Medal from the Queen.
I'm a prior service Unites States Marine. I went on bombing range sweeps with EOD. We recovered 2700 pounds of UXO, in 2 days. A couple 500 pound bombs, and a lot of cluster munitions, 30mm cannon rounds, and other assorted ""small" explosive devices. The "controlled" detonation by professionals, with a combined 25 combat deployments was nothing less, than the entire amount of explosives detonating at the same time. I was able to hear a huge beehive and see a 3 foot section of a 500lb bomb casing fly through the air. This is just one story, from this sweep.
Happy new year Dr felton been following your years now we had a simular situation in ludlow shropshire at the cattle market were a house clearance and while pulling objects out of a box a worker pulled a ww1 Mills bomb still live that resulted in a fast response from the bomb squad shout out to the army engineers.
I agree Mark, I've got the head of an AP German bomb dropped on Hornchurch Airfield it was a bit daft as Hornchurch was a grass strip.
You have among the finest audio production values on the internet. 😊
In the US military, we would say unexploded ordinance or UXO. Have seen these signs many times out on test ranges. The amazing thing is the number of people who ignore these signs even after getting trained before being given access to the range.
Actually, we would say unexploded ordnance (no “i”).
As a master EOD technician, I can confirm that unexploded things are iffy.
Well, I'm swiping on a small cell phone keyboard and taking whatever spell guessing is giving me.
Maybe that's why the UK says bomb instead of ordnance.
Yes sir, I actually have several of these signs -and others- (typically used on or near the live-fire ranges & training areas aboard the US Marine base where i live just outside the gates) decorating the walls of my garage & shop. One of my other favorite signs is a red triangular-shaped one, usually either mounted to a pole or strung/hung from horizontally-run wire or string (often it's "550 cord"), at the edge(s) of said mined area!!
@@christopherT3141 I have some of my father's WW2 manuals from when he did battlefield clearance of anything left lying around and on the front page in large print is the wording, "Remember that the purpose of an explosive is to explode" One thing that I learned from him was "do not touch" call the people who know what they are doing. He would have liked the understatement use of the word "iffy" 🙂
There are lots yet to discover. As an aside, visiting Belgium or France you will often see WW1 and WW2 ordnance piled up in fields. Farmers turn the land over and the stuff finds its way to the surface. They have a very relaxed attitude about it, compared to the UK. There must be millions of tons of old UXB's and artillery munitions still to deal with.
Anthony Andrews! Wow, we watched every episode of Danger UXB back in the early 80s. What a fantastic series.
Looks unfired, and has a screw plug where the nose fuse would go. Likely an inert shell someone had for display in his home, and the owner dumped it off the bridge when there was a moratorium enforced so the owner would not have to explain how he filched the shell from the depot he was stationed at.
Yes, I was thinking in that good condition and next to a bridge, somebody found themselves in possesion of that and decided to get rid.
Ending the year with a bang video
Dad was in EOD (ex military but working for the Met). During the 60's, 70's & 80's there were regular finds of old ordnance including an incendiary in roof of one of the neighbour's.
One of the things that regularly came up was a call to the local police where husband had passed away and there were some items (grenades, gelignite, detonators) in the airing cupboard or garden shed (which were very unstable). The men were part of the anti invasion force and had been sworn to complete secrecy.
A US Navy EOD expert gave a presentation to a law enforcement conference I attended around fifteen years ago.
One of their duties was to respond to homes of recently departed WW2 veterans. As family were sorting through the belongings, they would occasionally find a souvenir.
He said a sailor brought home a powder bag for a ship’s guns. Used it as a footstool beside his fireplace for 60 years.
Then there was a local man who collected his separation papers, hopped in a Jeep and drive it from Michigan to his southern Indiana farm. To my knowledge it remains there today.
Unbelievable but fascinating
That's a pretty sweet bridge
Legend had it that there was a large unexploded bomb beneath the old Boulton & paul works on Riverside in Norwich. Attempts were made to retrieve it but it sank deeper and deeper in the sandy soil and so it was left in situ.
Great vid. So interesting.
The narrator has a great voice.
Let’s not forget the iron harvest every year in Belgium & Northern France, but that is another war you never cover. It is estimated there are still millions of items of ordinance still unexploded, including ridge mines, and chemicals. Less than half the bombs fired exploded landing in soft mud or not correctly fused.
Then start your own channel and tell us all about it. Get over yourself. Troll
Museum: "Please do not touch"
Mark Felton: *touches*
Badass move.
I remember watching tarmac work at frankfurt airport once & yes they still check for explosives left over
As a Dutchman I am not impressed. Over here, the calling cards of both the Luftwaffe AND the RAF & USAAF are discovered today still in huge numbers all over the place all year round
There's no need to brag.
@@buggs9950 He is just pointing to the fact that the number of unexploded bombs in the UK is small, compared to various other countries in Europe. In fact, the UK might be one of the countries with the least amount of unexploded bombs in Europe.
Recently in Rotterdam a several houses had to be demolished after it was confirmed that there was a big bomb stuck in the ground beneath it. In the war it had gone straight through the roof and was just left there. Now they had to demolish the house to defuse it (the foundations of the houses needed to be reinforced to prevent collapse, so leaving it there was no longer an option).
@@redsimonyt That is exactly what I meant to say, thank you.
Can you imagine the millions of people that could be walking over an unexploded landmine every singing day without even realising the potentially danger they are in there's something chilling about that fact
France and Belgium have dedicated EOD teams just to deal with this problem. There, lies 2 World Wars worth of unexploded ordnance. Perhaps some of the most dangerous places in the world are in Southeast Asia. Several times more tonnage of bombs were dropped in Laos and Vietnam than all of the fronts in WWII combined! Laos has an especially bad problem with unexploded bomblets from US cluster bombs. Also, when the US did not release their bombs over targeted areas in Vietnam, they would drop these bombs in the Laotion jungles.
Wouldn't be landmines. They are designed to blow up when stepped on chief. And most minefields were marked and then cleared. Try again.
@@darkjudge8786 For all practical purposes, a little unexploded bomb that has been covered by earth or foliage and goes off when you walk or drive over it IS a mine, whether that was its original purpose or not. That same goes for American bomblets made of coloured plastic designed to be attractive to children.
South Korea has an entire industry to remove and dispose of uxos ranging from decrypt artillery shells to land mines in and around the DMZ. There are stories of wild animals setting off these old land mines by stepping on them.
@@darkjudge8786 Please, just come to Hürtgenwald one day. There are still eras of these woods where you shouldn't leave the marked paths, because there could be mines. There are still missing soldiers that get found there to this day. And there are these places where the debris from the bombed out city of Düren ended up, still a no-go era today, because within this debris there were tons of bombs. The city was bombed so hard in November of 1944 that only 13 buildings (of around 6,500) remained standing only slightly damaged. During one bombing the RAF dropped over 2,750 metric tonnes of bombs on the city that day and nobody knows how many of these bombs ended up in the debris as duds.
When I was in the US Army, I was told by a fellow EOD Tech that when he was stationed in Germany they were constantly getting UXO calls.
Mark, it isn’t just Europe that unexploded munitions continue to be found.
Using Canada as an example, there were temporary live ammunition artillery ranges set up during WWII in many locations. One particular location I am familiar with had a golf course built on top of an undemined artillery range. I have had the privilege to play 18 holes on this course. Months later, the course management decided to upgrade the course layout for a more challenging layout for golfers. In the course of preliminary earth moving multiple live artillery shells were uncovered, resulting in the complete shutdown of the course redesign. Known live shells were removed, but as an absolute guarantee that all live shells had been removed could not be given, this once promising golf course was turned into a restricted area where only local wildlife tread.
One only has to look at Ukraine and other global locales to see the problem of unexploded munitions will continue to be an ongoing issue.
Interesting. Never heard of this. Which province is this former golf course in?
There's a park with hiking trails a few towns over, with an air force (now Space Force) base next to it. There are signs out in the woods past the trails warning you to stay away from the base, but in one area they specifically say "DANGER UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE" which makes me think that at some point they must have used it as a bombing range.
@ Alberta
My Grandfather used to pick up the thermite bombs and put them in a bucket of sand. That was back in the war, and there were loads of them.
When taking a cab to Frankfurt airport, there was an incident with an allied bomb in the Main river. So many unexploded bombs left over.
Another great video, Mark. This is something Americans don't have to worry about. We can be thankful. Stay safe, Brits!!
@@PatNorris-uq4uv Au contraire! I know what you mean, but UXOs pop up in surprising numbers in the states, sometimes in very interesting areas. Aside from Civil War shells, none were fired in anger; they were fired/dropped in training or testing. Unfortunately, that makes little difference to the UXO and its unlucky victim. But no, the U.S. doesn’t have to worry about finding 1000kg bombs during every construction event. Phew!
@christopherT3141 thnx!