Construction crews working at a Florida airport found a 1,000-pound World War II-era bomb, prompting an evacuation.
The discovery of the explosives was made Tuesday afternoon at the future site of the Wilton Simpson Technical College Campus at the Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport.
Deputies from the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office rushed to the scene around 3 p.m., after receiving a 911 call from a construction worker who reported that they had unearthed the weapon, believed to be a “very old” Mark 65 bomb.
The high-explosive aerial bomb was “so corroded and decayed” that there was no way to tell just by looking at it whether it was live or inert, Sheriff Al Nienhuis said in a video update shared on Facebook.
Deputies evacuated the area about half a mile in each direction of the devices found as a precaution and closed the road to traffic.
The Citrus County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad was called in to assess the find and determine the bomb was inert, or inactive.
A 1,000-pound World War II-era Mark 65 bomb was unearthed by construction workers at a Florida airport. Hernando County Sheriff’s Office Citrus County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad assessed the bomb and found it to be inactive. Hernando County Sheriff’s Office
Experts from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa were sent to Brookville to dispose of the weapon.
The Mark 65 is a general purpose bomb developed by the US military in 1939.
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It was used during World War II against reinforced targets such as dams and concrete or steel railroad bridges, according to the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
“The bomb itself is an unguided gravity bomb,” Dr. Angie Zambek, professor of history at UNC Wilmington, told Fox station 13. “It’s basically just TNT in a metal case.”
Deputies evacuated an area of about half a mile in each direction of the bomb. Hernando County Sheriff’s Office Hernando Al Nienhuis, center, said the bomb appeared to be “rusty and decaying.” Hernando County Sheriff’s Office
The airfield where the inactive ordnance was found was once Brooksville Military Airfield where World War II bombers trained.
Zambek said with a high degree of certainty that the Mark 65 bomb came from Eglin Air Force Base near Panama City, Florida.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
