What is this military shell & is it dangerous ?(!)

Hello

Can anyone tell me what this military shell(?) thing is and whether or not it is likely to be explosive? (see image below)

I think it is almost certainly from WW2. It was found in the grounds of an SOE training area in Scotland
It is quite light (magnesium?) and is about 9.5 inches / 24cm long.

I'm guessing that it's an incendiary shell of some sort. But is it likely to be dangerous?

If dangerous, who should I contact here in the UK to dispose of it?

With thanks

John

 

Have a look at link below

http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/14198-found-ordnance-the-serious-bit/

 

According to this video, it's a German incendiary bomb.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKBL0e_WIdU

Please be very careful with that stuff - it might look old and harmless, but still. With ammo it's always better to have someone who knows how to deal with it take care of it.
I'm not an expert, even though we encounter tons of ammo when digging - all I do know is that it does look more harmless than it potentially is, even 70 years later.

 

Mates confirmed it is a German incendiary bomb. Can you post a picture of the head? That way they can tell how evil it still is. They say the actual contents aren't the problem (Al, Mg, bit of powder), it's the head which might be the issue.

 

Somebody on HMVF was talking about setting light to one to see how it burned...which is the sort of thing that most of us grew out of wanting to do when we were about 14 and thought that we were immortal.

It does at least have some period manual excerpts detailing the construction.


http://hmvf.co.uk/forumvb/showthread.php?53924-I-may-be-stupid-but&highlight=magnesium

 

Yikes. So it look like it's a German Luftwaffe Incendiary bomb type B 1 E.

Worse the blunt end may still contain the impact fuse + thermite filling.

I wonder how it got here. We are in what was originally an SOE military training ground in the West Highlands of Scotland. It's a very remote location, without many buildings around. I wonder if the Germans knew about the area and tried to destroy the place with incendiary bombs? (Surely incendiary bombs are mainly for burning larger built-up areas like cities & factories, no? I would have thought high explosives would be better for smaller targets, as a near miss would still cause massive damage to a target that way.)

I don't think I have much choice but call in the police. :^( It's a slight shame because I would quite like to keep the thing, so long as it could be made safe.

I don't really want to touch it any further (for obvious reasons!!) but here is another photo.

 

Postponed death!

 

Mate just had a look at it, said it's not evil, if there's no fire involved with this type it's quite safe.

 

Yes, Adam, you're right of course, I was actually gonna write that, but being at work I was concentrating on other things and forgot :/
Still wanted to let him know that the thing isn't gonna explode in his face just like that

 

,,, so he goes and hits it with a hammer, as you told him it was OK?
It's been identified as a WW2 incendiary bomb, that's good enough for me to leave it alone, let alone pick it up several times to photograph it in at least 2 "poses".

However well intentioned, just say "Leave it well alone and get the experts to deal with it."
If it turns out harmless, they may let him keep it,,,,

 

In addition to echoing all of the cautionary remarks above I would add that holding explosives without the relevant licences, etc., however naively, can attract criminal sanctions.

 

Wot? Clearly that's not what I said.

I actually spent quite some time searching the net and asking my friends (who have a lot of experience or even work with ammo) to help ship find out what exactly it is and how dangerous it is. Personally I find it helps to know what dangers there are, whether you shouldn't even touch it or whether you can handle it without getting yourself in immediate danger. Besides I told him to not mess with it, which is common sense anyway, I hope, so please do not insinuate I risk other people's lives.

 

I have now called in the Fort William police. Out of interest did it look like it still had the detonator?
J

 

Mate explained it to me, here's what I remember (without checkin, so you might need to do some more research):
There were two types, one with "Zersetzer" (which makes handling very dangerous) and one with "Aufschlagzünder", as is the case with the one above.
By the way, if there is an ammo disposal company in the area they might be the better option than the police, unless of course the police have experts, who know how to deal with ammunition (based on my experience in Germany).

 

Sadly I had commitments and couldn't watch the fun, but I am told that the bomb disposal chaps took it out to the headland and blew it up with one heck of a big bang!

 

That will have been their charge. It wasn't explosive ordnance.

They probably don't get all that much chance to make things go bang so will have jumped at the opportunity !

Based on where it was found, there is probably a reasonable chance that it had already seen service as a training aid...