Posted on 04/07/2010 10:20:04 AM PDT by mlizzy
BERLIN — German authorities have shut down Berlin's main international airport after construction workers discovered a World War II bomb there. A police spokesman told The Associated Press on Wednesday the bomb's weight is estimated at a quarter ton. Police said no planes are allowed to land or take off from Tegel airport until experts manage to defuse the bomb. Police are blocking all access roads. Local media reported the airport would remain closed until the evening, forcing the cancellation or diversion of dozens of flights.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Amazing. Had it gone off and killed someone they would officially be victims of WW2.
I knew it was a big mistake to shut down Tempelhof!
“Whatever you do. Don’t mention the war.”
Fawlty!
Roger that... Imagine the investigators trying to figure out how “terrorists” managed to somehow get a bomb buried ~under~ a building. Would’ve been quite the head-scratcher...
They started it.
(Mr. Fawlty)
The U.S. dropped a lot of bombs with delayed fuses, which had the effect of discouraging attempts to disarm or remove duds. You couldn’t tell if a bomb was a dud or had a delayed fuse.
I suspect this was a dud-dud (not a delayed fuse-dud) that got buried in the mud, maybe in a raid aimed a cratering the runway.
“Had it gone off and killed someone they would officially be victims of WW2.”
The last US army troops killed by confederate artillery happened in 1942 at FT. Macon, NC.
The fort had been reactivated as a coastal defense battery.
A pair of soldiers found an old shell and used it to prop wood against in a fireplace during the winter.
I’ve read that up to 25% of all the bombs were duds. Just dug themselves into the mud.
A couple of years ago I was going by bike to pick up my son. Saw a lot of police, including the riot police. I stopped and they explained that I needed to cross the street to continue my journey. Being an American I, of course, asked Why?
After they explained that a BIG American bomb had been dug up I decided to cross the street and take another way home.
When I lived in Germany, this was a common occurence. I don’t remember the Kaserne (maybe Kissengen), but a bomb blew up under the commissary/px parking lot one weekend. Had the detonation happened during the week, many people would have been killed.
Sounds plausible. How do they know it was an American Bomb? The Brits dropped a lot of tonnage and were a lot more indiscriminate about where.
I still like the delayed fuse idea. If 25% fail to detonate, they still serve a temporary area denial function while they try to figure out what to do with them. Also makes recruiting bomb disposers a lot harder. Cruel, maybe, but war isn’t beanball. Ask your German neighbors’ grandparents.
Lots of guardian angels working OT on the timing of that one.
“I did once but I think I got away with it.”
Was It Over When The German’s Bombed Pearl Harbor?
Germans?
Are they diverting to Schoenefeld?
This happened to myself and Mrs. MAExile when we were in Italy a few years back. They had to shut down the trains and a highway for a couple of days. We ended up having to take a bus down to the Amalfi Coast.
We did not.
Basil: Yes you did you invaded Poland!
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