London City Airport Shut as WW2 Bomb Found in Thames

Re:London City Airport Shut as WW2 Bomb Found in Thames by madaxe_again on Monday February 12, 2018 @09:36AM (#16358781)

Eh, that's the theory. The reality is more as the parent describes - they just get tossed. More often than not they'll dig a pit, drag the heap of ordnance out of the barn, dump it in, pour on petrol, strike a light and leg it. The more enterprising/brave/stupid ones strip, clean, and sell on eBay through German and Dutch middlemen.

The nuts thing is that quite often they're chemical weapons they do this with - but it's not much different to what the military do - but nobody wants a cordon sanitaire around a productive field, so DIY it is.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:London City Airport Shut as WW2 Bomb Found in Thames by reacweb on Monday February 12, 2018 @11:30AM (#16359692)

I spend all my youth in the north of France. I have never heard of the behavior you describe. AFAIK, the rules are rather well applied and children are well informed to avoid accidents.

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Re:London City Airport Shut as WW2 Bomb Found in Thames by madaxe_again on Monday February 12, 2018 @12:02PM (#16359976)

Children, totally - I lived in Alsace for about six months as a kid, and was repeatedly warned not to touch any weird looking objects in woods, fields, etc., not that it stopped me from ferreting around in old bunkers.

I've never seen it done, but I did meet a farmer with an impressive array of ordnance stacked in his grange, some of which he sold, the rest of which he said he burned in a deep hole. Sure, single data point, but he definitely held the "this is what we do" attitude. This would've been '93.

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Re:London City Airport Shut as WW2 Bomb Found in Thames by trhway on Monday February 12, 2018 @12:12PM (#16360055)

GP described pretty much what we did with that stuff in our childhood in USSR. Not that we weren't well informed about the rules :)

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Re:London City Airport Shut as WW2 Bomb Found in Thames by craftyguy on Monday February 12, 2018 @11:20AM (#16359623)

How are the stupidest of that bunch the ones that sell them, and not the ones lighting piles of unexploded ordinance on fire?

They are both stupid ideas, but I can't see how a farmer would live past maybe one or two of those burn piles.

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Re:London City Airport Shut as WW2 Bomb Found in Thames by IntronExon on Monday February 12, 2018 @11:07AM (#16359524)

I know you’re right about how this is done, but my god I’d rather have that cordon than exposure to some horrific vesicant!

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