RAF Fauld Explosion
Encyclopedia
The RAF Fauld explosion was a military accident
which occurred at 11:11am on Monday, 27 November 1944 at the RAF
Fauld underground munitions storage depot. The RAF Fauld explosion was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history and the largest to occur on UK soil.
Between 3,500 and 4,000 tonne
s of ordnance exploded — mostly comprising high explosive (HE)-filled bomb
s, but including a variety of other types of weapons and including 500 million rounds
of rifle
ammunition
. The resulting crater
was 120 metres (400 ft) deep and 1,200 metres (0.75 miles) across and is still clearly visible just south of the village of Fauld, to the west of Hanbury Hill in Staffordshire
, England
. A nearby reservoir containing 450,000 cubic metres of water was obliterated in the incident, along with a number of buildings including a complete farm
. Flooding caused by destruction of the reservoir added to the damage directly caused by the explosion.
The exact death toll is uncertain; it appears that about 75 people died in the explosion.
The cause of the disaster was not made clear at the time. However, there had been staff shortages, a management position that had remained empty for a year, and 194 inexperienced Italian POWs were working in the mines at the time of the accident. In 1974, it was officially announced that the cause of the explosion was probably a site worker removing a detonator
from a live bomb using a brass chisel rather than a wooden batten. An eye witness testified that he had seen a worker using brass chisels in defiance of the strict regulations in force.
Two huge explosions were witnessed at RAF No. 21 M.U. Bomb Storage dump on 27 November 1944 at 11.15 hours. Eye witnesses reported seeing two distinct columns of black smoke in the form of a mushroom cloud
ascending several thousand feet, and saw a blaze at the foot of the column. According to the Commanding Officer
of M.U. 21 (Group Captain
Storer) an open dump of incendiary bombs caught fire and it was allowed to burn itself out without damage or casualties.
Property was damaged within a radius of 3/4 miles of the crater.
Debris and damage occurred to all property within a circle extending for 1420 yards (1,298.4 m). Upper Castle Hayes Farm completely disappeared and Messrs. Peter Fordes Lime and Gypsum
works to the north of the village and Purse cottages were completely demolished. The lime works was destroyed by the destruction of the reservoir dam and the subsequent release of water into the works. Hanbury Fields Farm, Hare Holes Farm and also Croft Farm with adjacent cottages were all extensively damaged. Debris also damaged Hanbury village. The crater was some 900 by 700 feet (213.4 m) in length and 380 feet (115.8 m) deep covering 12 acre
s. Approximately one third of the RAF dump exploded, an area of 65000 square yards, but barriers of rock pillars between No. 3 and No. 4 sections held and prevented the other munition storage areas from exploding in a chain reaction. Damage from earth shock extended as far as Burton-upon-Trent.
Also 200 cattle
were killed by the explosion, many having been blown to pieces. A number of live cattle were removed from the vicinity but were dead the following morning.
While much of the storage facility was annihilated by the explosion, the site itself continued to be used by the RAF for munitions storage until 1966, when No. 21 Maintenance Unit (21 MU) was disbanded. Following France's withdrawal from NATO's integrated military structure in 1966, the site was used by the US Army, between 1967 to 1973, to store US ammunition previously stored in France.
Burton on Trent library has a complete documented file on the explosion.
By 1979 the site was fenced off and since then nature has taken over, with the area covered with over 150 species of trees and wildlife. The area is restricted as a significant amount of explosives are still buried deep in the site; the UK government has deemed their removal unfeasible on the grounds of cost.
No. 21 MU was the subject of a number of paintings under the collective title "the bomb store" by artist David Bomberg
. He was briefly employed as a war artist
by the War Ministry in 1943, and this is fully documented by Richard Cork in his biography of Bomberg.
Accident
An accident or mishap is an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance, often with lack of intention or necessity. It implies a generally negative outcome which may have been avoided or prevented had circumstances leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon, prior to its...
which occurred at 11:11am on Monday, 27 November 1944 at the RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
Fauld underground munitions storage depot. The RAF Fauld explosion was one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history and the largest to occur on UK soil.
Between 3,500 and 4,000 tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
s of ordnance exploded — mostly comprising high explosive (HE)-filled bomb
Bomb
A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
s, but including a variety of other types of weapons and including 500 million rounds
Cartridge (firearms)
A cartridge, also called a round, packages the bullet, gunpowder and primer into a single metallic case precisely made to fit the firing chamber of a firearm. The primer is a small charge of impact-sensitive chemical that may be located at the center of the case head or at its rim . Electrically...
of rifle
Rifle
A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...
ammunition
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
. The resulting crater
Explosion crater
An explosion crater is a characteristically shaped hole formed when material is ejected from the surface of the ground by an explosive event just above, at, or below the surface....
was 120 metres (400 ft) deep and 1,200 metres (0.75 miles) across and is still clearly visible just south of the village of Fauld, to the west of Hanbury Hill in Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. A nearby reservoir containing 450,000 cubic metres of water was obliterated in the incident, along with a number of buildings including a complete farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
. Flooding caused by destruction of the reservoir added to the damage directly caused by the explosion.
The exact death toll is uncertain; it appears that about 75 people died in the explosion.
Cause
Detonator
A detonator is a device used to trigger an explosive device. Detonators can be chemically, mechanically, or electrically initiated, the latter two being the most common....
from a live bomb using a brass chisel rather than a wooden batten. An eye witness testified that he had seen a worker using brass chisels in defiance of the strict regulations in force.
Two huge explosions were witnessed at RAF No. 21 M.U. Bomb Storage dump on 27 November 1944 at 11.15 hours. Eye witnesses reported seeing two distinct columns of black smoke in the form of a mushroom cloud
Mushroom cloud
A mushroom cloud is a distinctive pyrocumulus mushroom-shaped cloud of condensed water vapor or debris resulting from a very large explosion. They are most commonly associated with nuclear explosions, but any sufficiently large blast will produce the same sort of effect. They can be caused by...
ascending several thousand feet, and saw a blaze at the foot of the column. According to the Commanding Officer
Commanding officer
The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...
of M.U. 21 (Group Captain
Group Captain
Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks above wing commander and immediately below air commodore...
Storer) an open dump of incendiary bombs caught fire and it was allowed to burn itself out without damage or casualties.
Property was damaged within a radius of 3/4 miles of the crater.
Debris and damage occurred to all property within a circle extending for 1420 yards (1,298.4 m). Upper Castle Hayes Farm completely disappeared and Messrs. Peter Fordes Lime and Gypsum
Gypsum
Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...
works to the north of the village and Purse cottages were completely demolished. The lime works was destroyed by the destruction of the reservoir dam and the subsequent release of water into the works. Hanbury Fields Farm, Hare Holes Farm and also Croft Farm with adjacent cottages were all extensively damaged. Debris also damaged Hanbury village. The crater was some 900 by 700 feet (213.4 m) in length and 380 feet (115.8 m) deep covering 12 acre
Acre
The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...
s. Approximately one third of the RAF dump exploded, an area of 65000 square yards, but barriers of rock pillars between No. 3 and No. 4 sections held and prevented the other munition storage areas from exploding in a chain reaction. Damage from earth shock extended as far as Burton-upon-Trent.
Casualties
At the time, there was no careful tally of the number of workers at the facility. So while the exact death toll is uncertain, it appears that about 75 people died in the explosion. The official report said 90 were killed, missing, or injured, including:- 26 killed or missing at the RAF dump — divided between RAF personnel and some ItalianItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
prisoners of war who were working there — 5 of whom were gassed by toxic fumes, also 10 severely injured. - 42 killed or missing at Messrs Fordes and sons, a nearby plasterPlasterPlaster is a building material used for coating walls and ceilings. Plaster starts as a dry powder similar to mortar or cement and like those materials it is mixed with water to form a paste which liberates heat and then hardens. Unlike mortar and cement, plaster remains quite soft after setting,...
mill, and surrounding countryside, also 12 injured. - perhaps a dozen farm workers who had been working nearby.
Also 200 cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
were killed by the explosion, many having been blown to pieces. A number of live cattle were removed from the vicinity but were dead the following morning.
Aftermath
Burton on Trent library has a complete documented file on the explosion.
By 1979 the site was fenced off and since then nature has taken over, with the area covered with over 150 species of trees and wildlife. The area is restricted as a significant amount of explosives are still buried deep in the site; the UK government has deemed their removal unfeasible on the grounds of cost.
No. 21 MU was the subject of a number of paintings under the collective title "the bomb store" by artist David Bomberg
David Bomberg
David Garshen Bomberg was an English painter, and one of the Whitechapel Boys.Bomberg was one of the most audacious of the exceptional generation of artists who studied at the Slade School of Art under Henry Tonks, and which included Mark Gertler, Stanley Spencer, C.R.W. Nevinson and Dora Carrington...
. He was briefly employed as a war artist
War artist
A war artist depicts some aspect of war through art; this might be a pictorial record or it might commemorate how "war shapes lives." War artists have explored a visual and sensory dimension of war which is often absent in written histories or other accounts of warfare.- Definition and context:A...
by the War Ministry in 1943, and this is fully documented by Richard Cork in his biography of Bomberg.
See also
- List of United Kingdom disasters by death toll
- RAF munitions storage during WWIIRAF munitions storage during WWIIThe logistics organizations of the Royal Air Force in World War II were No. 42 Group RAF and RAF Maintenance Command. As a result of a serious shortage of funds during the inter-war period and a weakness of policy the RAF was singularly ill-equipped to deal with the requirements of air warfare with...
Further reading
- "Britain's big bang" by Peter Grego, Astronomy Now, November 2004. ISSN 0951-9726.
- McCamley, N.J. (1998). Secret Underground Cities. Barnsley: Leo Cooper. ISBN 0-85052-585-3.
- McCamley, N.J. (2004). Disasters Underground. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 1-84415-022-4.
- Grid Reference: SK182277