This is a photo of a 500lb bomb that landed behind my grandfathers house in Plaistow London. On the other side of the wall is the family bomb shelter. When the bomb came down Mum and her family were in the shelter, they felt an impact and when the all clear was given her Dad went out to inspect what had happened. There was a hole which he filled in. It was towards the end of the war that they called in the bomb disposal team (208 Section) and that is what they found.
Great photo, what a close call! My Dad lived in Balham throughout the war and tells a story of a bomb landing nearby but not exploding and his Granma sending his Grandad out to look for it (don't think he found it though!).
I love the small boys peeping round the gate. Can you put a name to them ? Imagine what the papers would make of that now, even if it had been declared 'safe'
Lady luck was with the Family and residents of the houses nearby. If the 250KG bomb had detonated, there would not have been much left in the vicinity. Regards Tom
good day omegaman,new member(welcome).yesterday.02:25pm.re:unexploded 500lb bomb in back garden.great post.your grandfather was a cool customer.after the raid he fills in a hole.i cannot imagen anybody doing that today,they would do what is common today,a lockdown of half the district.and the brave men who went down the hole to take the det out of the bomb.they had a very risky occupation.thank you for posting.regards bernard85
Yes, they are my aunts and uncles, in one further photo, my mother is present as well. The story was published in the Newham Recorder many years ago along with a few other peoples history articles
Two more photos as promised, the wood frame for lifting the bomb is clearly visible as is the ladder to get down to the bottom of the hole for defusing.
Wow great photos and story Omegaman - thank you for sharing them. The 'wood frame' was tubular metal scaffold legs called 'sheer legs' used for lifting the bomb.
The papers were just as a pain in the backside in 1940 on this very issue. The Joint Intelligence Sub Committee was rather perturbed with all the press stories mentioning dud bombs, they didn't want the Germans tipped off that quite a few of their bombs failed to explode.
