On Sunday 16 February Bill Brain and Ian Dearing discovered a large metal object buried in the sand at the south end of Watergate Bay that had been washed in due to the recent storms. After bringing it to the attention of the local authorities it was decided that further investigation was needed.
Yesterday, 18 February, the Southern Diving Unit bomb disposal team from Plymouth came to Watergate Bay to take a closer look.
After x-raying the device it was confirmed as a bomb which they decided to destroy with a controlled explosion.
At approximately 13.15pm the bomb was destroyed with an almighty bang.
At first the naval officers thought it was a WW1 bomb that may have been air dropped to aid the planes landing at St. Mawgan. However, whilst inspecting the pin they discovered it was in fact a WW2 British bomb made of brass. They estimated it was from 1944 and carrying around 500lbs of explosives.
We’d like to thank the three officers from Southern Diving Unit and Newquay Police Force for their assistance yesterday.
On 28 December 1943 a Liberator plane named ‘Mucks Mauler’ got into difficulties after taking off from St. Mawgan air field. It attempted to turn around but resulted in crashing into the cliffs at Watergate Bay. Read the full story here.