It's quite possible the bomb didn't go off because it wasn't armed before it was jettisoned. I was a bombardier/Navigator and an Airborne Radar Officer in the USMC many years ago. Most of the bombs we used and trained with had to be armed before they were dropped. One wouldn't arm a bomb before jettisoning it over friendly or neutral territory. I can still explode under some unusual circumstances, but usually an unarmed bomb is just dead weight. Of course, something that heavy can still cause terrible damage, even if it doesn't explode.
Dan Matyola http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/danieljmatyola On Sat, Dec 8, 2012 at 7:52 PM, Gerrit Visser <[email protected]> wrote: > My grandparents apartment was nearly destroyed by bomb jettisoned over > Amsterdam by an allied bomber on its return to UK. Have to get the photo, > quite amazing that no one died. A large hole but it didn't detonate for some > reason. > > Gerrit > > -----Original Message----- > From: PDML [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Stan Halpin > Sent: December 8, 2012 7:04 PM > To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List > Subject: Re: Bomb sight > > A view from the other side of the channel: > > When I was five-six, (1950) my family finished up a three-year stint in > Northern Greece and headed back to the States. A three-week tour through > Europe, then a boat back home. One of my vivid memories from that trip was > seeing block after block of damaged buildings in Germany and asking my > father what had happened to them. "They were bombed during the war and > haven't been able to rebuild yet." Many years later, my major advisor from > graduate school published a personal memoir of sorts ["into the Fire by > Siegfried Streufert]. His father was one of the anti-Nazi senators who went > back home to Northern Germany in the mid 1930's (?) and was then part of the > resistance. Siegfried tells of what it was like as a child living under the > threat of bombers, and then later the frustration that the Allied troops > didn't understand that many Germans saw them as liberators, not as > conquerors. Bob, the graphic you shared really brings back those stories and > is a reminder that this wasn't a sometimes thing, but that everyone was at > risk in every neighborhood for months and months and months. A horrible way > to live and a testament to universal stupidity. > > stan > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
