WWII Crash Site Excavation Results in UXO Find

Ebberston, United Kingdom A group working under an active permit to excavate the crash site of a WWII era British bomber uncovered one of the plane's 500 lbs bomb. The group called the Royal Air Force who dispatched an EOD team to investigate the find. Due to the condition of the unexploded bomb, EOD decided to conduct a blow in place operation. To limit potential damage to nearby buildings including a large greenhouse, EOD spent approximately two full days preparing the site for the disposal operation by surrounding the bomb with one ton sandbags to limit the fragmentation. Nearby roads were closed and residents were evacuated during the disposal operation.

The bomb was on-board a British Whitley bomber which crashed on 27 October 1940 while returning from a bombing mission over Germany. The excavation of the crash site is part of a larger effort to rebuild a British Whitley Bomber from salvageable parts as no complete examples of the plane exist any longer.