American WWII bomb explodes at Japanese airport, causing large crater in taxiway
American WWII bomb explodes at Japanese airport, causing large crater in taxiway
An unexploded American bomb from World War II that had been buried at a Japanese airport exploded Wednesday, causing a large crater in a taxiway and the cancellation of more than 80 flights but no injuries, Japanese officials said.
That'll wake you up....
Miyazaki Airport was built in 1943 as a former Imperial Japanese Navy flight training field from which some kamikaze pilots took off on suicide attack missions.
It was originally a military airfield during the war, which explains why there are bombs in the ground. Not exactly a comforting thought... I bet it's hard to detect a bomb that's been buried for 80 years and had a foundation laid on top of it.
It was originally a military airfield during the war, which explains why there are bombs in the ground.
Eh, at my local train station in a bigger city in Austria they still find American and English bombs every year. Whenever something is dug up for repairs or to expand the train station or for whichever other reason, a bomb specialist is examining the area first, when they find a bomb they either safely remove it to detonate it somewhere else, or if its too unstable (roughly every five years if my memory serves me right) we get radio broadcasts warning us when it will be detonated so we can prepare (close all windows, sometimes those living near it have to leave their houses).
That train station wasn't involved with the military (apart from soldiers using trains for transport, but by that logic you can bomb anything because soldiers use houses for sleeping and hospitals for medical treatment etc.), but sadly both Germany and the UK tried to destroy as much as possible in the other country.
Thanks for offering your perspective and some history