23/08/2024 Regno Unito, (UK), Inghilterra, (England), Yorkshire e Humber (Yorkshire and The Humber), East Yorkshire (East Riding of Yorkshire)
“If you ever come across anything suspicious like this item, please do not pick it up, contact your local law and/or enforcement agency for assistance”.
There are plenty of people who claim, usually to convince themselves as much as others, that they have “the best job in the world”. Paul Duckworth is another one. But he’s adamant. “It is, though. It’s every young lad’s idea of heaven. Think about it: we get paid to spend our time on a beautiful beach every day, just blowing stuff up,” he says, with a grin. “And the best thing is we’re actually making the public safer by doing it.” Steve Aldred and Dan Field, Duckworth’s two colleagues from Brimstone, an unexploded ordnance (UXO) risk management company, could not agree more. All three men are former military. Aldred is 66. He was supposed to retire last year. “But I just thought, why would I, when I get to do this?” As we bobble in a dark Ford Ranger pickup across Cowden Sands, a vast three-mile beach on the Holderness coast of East Yorkshire, their argument is difficult to dispute. On this clement midweek morning, the North Sea is an inviting teal. The sands are smooth and vacant. In the water, a seal watches us with indifference. “Welcome to the office,” Duckworth, 63, says from the driver’s seat. He draws a hand across the view. “See what we mean?” Idyllic as it seems, the beach contains a secret – and it’s increasingly bad at hiding it. For around six decades, between 1940 and the late 1990s, this 275-hectare patch of the East Riding was a key plank in our military defences, initially as a tank range and infantry training base, then as RAF Cowden, a bombing range used by the British Army, RAF, Royal Navy, Special Forces and Home Guard, as well as other Nato countries. By the time the range closed in 1998, it was estimated that over 2.5 million ammunition items were expended during its time in operation. In addition to moving tank targets on railways, static targets for RAF planes were set up on the cliff tops and at sea for aircraft – among them Phantoms, Buccaneers, Harriers, Hawker Hunters, Vulcans and American A-10 Thunderbolts – to practise with. At the time the ammunition was dropped, the targets were set well back from the cliff, or well out at sea. Yet coastal erosion, which nibbles the cliffs at a rate of around 5 metres per year here, now means more than half a million bombs are being unearthed and exposed to the public, who are free to use the beach as they please. Using the bombing ranges, the military had more pressing concerns than to think about what would one day happen to all that ordnance. (Those left out at sea are another matter entirely.) Some of the bombs they dropped exploded on impact, as desired. Some were just props, inert but potentially with small charge. And some may yet go off – after so many years, it is difficult to know. But they are all potentially very dangerous. “And that,” Duckworth says, “is the issue.”
If you find anything that appears to be an explosive device, do not touch it, leave it where it is and call the police. We will contact the appropriate agencies to properly dispose of the item.
Dear editors Biography of a bomb is aimed at highlighting the danger caused by unexploded bombs. Moreover, the most important aspect is that we work completely non profit, what drives us is raising awerness about this topic. We make use of your pictures and articles, but we need them to put a context in how findings are done. We trust in your understanding. We will (and we always do) cite the source and the author. We thank you for your comprehension
