"Things that go BOOM! in the night." Topic

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I hope it wasn't a case of a vehicle following the track thru the field that set the device off.

The story clearly asserts that no vehicles or people were involved. It just went BOOM in the night. Next day the crater was what they found.

From what I have read (no claim to expertise in this field), this is one of the big challenges of old ordnance. Explosives, and even chemical detonators, can become unstable with time and various chemical interactions that happen as oxidation affects both the contents and the casings.

There is perhaps another factor at play as well. Large objects tend to alternately "float" or "sink" in soil. It's a slow process, but objects with structural integrity can either work their way down into the dirt (as layers deposit on top of them), or work their way up (as layers are removed by plowing, wind and run-off). All across Europe you'll see stone walls around farm fields that have been built up by collecting the stones that "float" to the top in the fields year by year. I would not be surprised if a bomb that had buried itself deeply on impact slowly worked it's way back towards the surface in time.

Seems this bomb sat beneath the cornfield for 70-some years. Might have been too deep to be disturbed for some time. Or might have been too stable, until it degraded. Who knows….

Then over the weekend it just blew up for no apparent reason. Scary stuff.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

TNT does degrade over time, and those decay components are nowhere near as stable as TNT is…

Looks like the blast of a 250lb bomb, from crater size.

Looks like the blast of a 250lb bomb, from crater size.

Scary experience for the locals, I'm sure.

But useful for a guy who likes to scratch-build wargaming terrain. I mean, I've never seen a better pic of a 10 meter-wide bomb crater before.

-Mark
(aka: Mk 1)

On the plus side, it took care of the farmer's gopher problem… ;-)

That's one way to "aerate" your ground/lawn.

I'd have that field checked with iron directors and ground penetrating radar, before I started to use it again.
Rather unpleasant to be driving your tractor, harvesting grain, when you suddenly find yourself 10 meter in the air.