Boy Finds WWII Bomb With Metal Detector Received for Christmas
A boy in England uncovered a World War II bomb near his home after he was searching for artifacts with a metal detector he received for Christmas.
Sonny Cater, 7, was exploring a field close to his house in Norfolk with his younger brother when he came across a dirt-encrusted metal tube. Cater dug the relic out of the ground and then brought the piece home.
When Cater brought the object home his father, Jem Cater, cleaned the find and discovered that it was not just another piece of metal. The boy's father immediately called the authorities, who sent a bomb disposal squad to their residence.
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"We are dumbfounded that he discovered this on his first go … we are going to go out again to see if he can find something Roman. It has made our Christmas," Sonny's mother Tracey told The Telegraph.
"It was caked in mud and Jem just thought it was a lump of metal and took it home … Sonny did become a little nervous with the arrival of the emergency services," she added.
Explosives experts from the Royal Air Force station at Wittering in Cambridgeshire identified the device as a 10-pound British practice bomb head from WWII. Members with the bomb squad were able to remove the device and dispose of the bomb.
Remarkably, the bomb head still had all of its original internal wiring and components, but experts said that it did not contain any explosive material. Explosive experts revealed that the bomb head was probably used during practice bomb runs in England during WWII.
"We find a lot of bombs in Afghanistan with metal detectors, but we don't tend to find them in the UK … we would urge members of the public to leave suspicious items," Flight Lieutenant Donald Earl, an RAF Wittering spokesman, told the BBC.
