| Major Tom | 16 Mar 2015 2:01 p.m. PST |
Now I know what happened to my roof joist, the Hun got it. I had to trace some wiring in the attic/loft today and noticed an old patch to a joist which has a split. Later lifting some loft board below the joist I found a bullet head on top of the lath ceiling.
I've had a look on the web and it looks to be a German 7.92!!! Is it too late to claim compensation? |
 Endless Grubs  | 16 Mar 2015 2:09 p.m. PST |
It looks a tad bigger than a 7.92…. |
| pzivh43 | 16 Mar 2015 4:55 p.m. PST |
Yeah---I'm thinking 13mm or 20mm? |
BlackWidowPilot  | 16 Mar 2015 5:09 p.m. PST |
That is quite the amazing find. Color me envious, as out here in Northern CA about the only historical artifact one is likely to find in one's attic is a mummified squirrel…
Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net
|
| Mako11 | 16 Mar 2015 5:09 p.m. PST |
Well, Greece is still wanting reparations, so you might as well give it a shot. [bad pun intended] |
| Sundance | 16 Mar 2015 5:30 p.m. PST |
Very cool! Obviously not 13 or 20mm – compare it to the mm ruler he has it laid against. The length is the amazing part of it, and yes, looking at pics, it would appear you are correct. |
| Skrapwelder | 16 Mar 2015 5:41 p.m. PST |
I was renovating an Arts and Crafts period house in Woodland, CA and found a mummified sausage someone had used to plug a gas line. |
| Major Tom | 16 Mar 2015 6:07 p.m. PST |
The length is about 40mm if you take out the kink in the tip. The base is of the bullet head is completely flat with no concaving. In the second pic the blackening isn't corrosion but appears to be like a burnt coating. I live in Portsmouth (UK) which was a major dockyard at the time so the city became a prime target during the Blitz. Most of the bombs missed the yard and destroyed a lot of the city's residential areas and historic landmarks. This is a small reminder of just how indiscriminate city bombing raids were. My great uncle and his wife were in the City Fire Brigade so they were really caught up in it all. Leland, I did find a dessicated mouse but I can't pin that on the Luftwaffe. |
| 79thPA | 16 Mar 2015 6:47 p.m. PST |
One round is kind of odd. Perhaps an old home owner accidentally discharged a firearm in the house, or a round fired somewhere else at something else dropped into the house. |
| tuscaloosa | 16 Mar 2015 7:41 p.m. PST |
Very interesting! So much shooting going on in the skies, the bullets had to land somewhere. Not surprising that only one round impacted in a house; if you consider a two second burst while turning, the radius of the spread of bullets would dramatically increase the further away from the firing point you were, so if a dogfight were occurring thousands of feet high, the bullets would be spread over quite an area. |
| 79thPA | 16 Mar 2015 7:48 p.m. PST |
I agree, which is what I was getting at. A bullet landed on the house, but I don't believe the house was a target of anything. |
| PatrickWR | 16 Mar 2015 8:33 p.m. PST |
What a find! A few years ago my boss here in Chicago, who lives a quarter mile or so from one of the seedier gang-infested neighborhoods, found a 9mm bullet embedded in the shingles on his roof, courtesy of some overly enthusiastic gangbanger firing his piece into the air. No Hun bullet though … Just good old American lead. |
| skinkmasterreturns | 17 Mar 2015 3:21 a.m. PST |
Darn.All I found was horse hair carpet padding and some newspapers from the 30's when I redid my house.Oh,and the skeleton of a skunk under my porch… |
| uglyfatbloke | 17 Mar 2015 3:45 a.m. PST |
Better than finding a live one. |
| Martin Rapier | 17 Mar 2015 4:20 a.m. PST |
"So much shooting going on in the skies, the bullets had to land somewhere." My Dad said the sky used to rain shrapnel from the AA guns in the Blitz, it rattled off the roofs of the houses (plus all the bombs, spent ammo, bits of aeroplanes etc). |
| christot | 17 Mar 2015 7:08 a.m. PST |
I can't recall where I read it, but the estimated percentage of casualties caused by falling spent aa ordanance in the UK was enormous, to the extent that the figures were significantly massaged to incorporate these into the overall bombing casualties. Dammed if I can remember the numbers now but it was surprisingly high. |
| Fatman | 17 Mar 2015 2:42 p.m. PST |
Falling AA splinters can give you a nasty wound. Fatman |
| troopwo | 17 Mar 2015 4:28 p.m. PST |
Knowing the UK, you will probably be prosecuted for being in possession of ammunition. |
| BlackWidowPilot | 18 Mar 2015 2:46 p.m. PST |
Leland, I did find a dessicated mouse but I can't pin that on the Luftwaffe.
I'm not so sure, as the Luftwaffe bomber pilots of the day weren't all that discriminating in their targeting IIRC…
Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express |
| number4 | 20 Mar 2015 5:58 p.m. PST |
The mouse could have been an enemy agent….. |
| Come In Nighthawk | 21 Mar 2015 7:21 p.m. PST |
Measure it ACROSS the bullet, not along the long axis? Please? Just from your photos, it sure looks like about 7-8mms in width (caliber) to me! |
| mashrewba | 22 Mar 2015 4:17 a.m. PST |
Can anyone place the story of an RAF bomber crew who wanted to drop large wooden mushrooms during a raid on Germany as some sort of 'in joke'. The authorities denied permission as "the dropping of large wooden mushrooms during an air raid may cause unnecessary injury".
The unbelievable part of the story is , of course, that the crew asked permission in the first place… |
