When Satan dropped by for a visit

Image: © Neil Owen Taken: 20 Jan 2017

This unassuming suburban road in south Bristol doesn't give much of a clue about its past. It looks pretty much like a typical inter-war development, and so it remains. However, on 3/4 January, 1941, it was on the end of a raid by the Luftwaffe - a raid that was thought to have been intended for the aircraft factories of Filton, miles to the north. Among the many incendiaries and smaller H.E. bombs dropped about here, there was an exceptional ordnance which landed right on the pavement in front of the two houses. It was an 1800kg (4000lb) bomb, one of very few of that size ever seen in England. The bomb drove down into the ground to a depth of nearly 9m (30') but fortunately failed to detonate! With that being the case, it might seem obvious that the area was cleared and bomb disposal teams immediately summoned to deal with it. Strangely, this is not what happened. Indeed, 'Satan' remained in situ for over two years, until Royal Engineer experts dug it out with shovels and a crude chain system on 14th April, 1943! They did ensure the local primary school was evacuated to the park, just in case, allowing a day out of the classrooms. Having exhumed the weapon and defused it, Satan was taken away and made safe. It eventually was paraded in the Victory celebrations in London in 1945. The Satan was the heaviest bomb dropped on Britain during the war. See https://www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/2050367202 or https://www.flickr.com/photos/glosters/12148564913 for a record of the removal.

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