WaA257 Posted February 13, 2015 Share #26 Posted February 13, 2015 Phantom fixer, not myself, members of my squad. One of my buddies from the State Police was working during one of the "Clam Grenade" Incidents. For those who don't know, here on the East Coast a clamshell driveway is popular at some homes. Folks will purchase clamshells to line their driveway rather than blacktop. A local resident purchased 2-3 tons of clamshells and had them dumped in his driveway. As he was raking them out he discovered a hand grenade and yet kept raking!!! He raked until he was finished the driveway and then took a five gallon bucket containing no less than 24!!! Grenades and drove them to the closest State Police barracks where he attempted to turn them over to the Desk Sgt. Hilarity ensued! Come to find out, the clamshells were taken from a site offshore that was 75ft deep. These grenades were all WWI vintage French and American that had been dumped by the Army. The scary part? according to the Military Bomb Squad several of these were still live after all this time and immersion....just a word to the wise when finding old ordnance. Since this incident several more pieces have been found in clam piles and washed ashore.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phantomfixer Posted February 13, 2015 Share #27 Posted February 13, 2015 The USAAF fired their rockets from DAFB test center in to the water and marshes....wonder how many EXOs are still in the marshes???? 24 hand grenades for the desk Sgt....poor guy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaA257 Posted February 13, 2015 Share #28 Posted February 13, 2015 Phantom, correct I was told Bombay Hook was used to test Aircraft Fired Anti-Tank rockets just prior to the invasion of Europe. I know several years back they found a derelict P-47 back in the marsh that had crashed during WWII during rocket training...God knows what else is buried around here. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phantomfixer Posted February 13, 2015 Share #29 Posted February 13, 2015 I know where the landing gear is and the wing fairing that covers the 4 50 cal, they pulled from one of the P47s that crashed in the marsh.. I see em every Sunday... But yeah, who knows what kind of stuff is buried there... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phantomfixer Posted February 13, 2015 Share #30 Posted February 13, 2015 Sorry for the hijack Robin..... back on track,,, there is cool mil surp shop in Middletown that has several US hand grenades...I believe all inert..but will check Saturday to see what they are.....Sometimes he gets some very rare and cool stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichiesRelics Posted February 13, 2015 Share #31 Posted February 13, 2015 I went to ft. Miles last summer. I stayed at the campgrounds there for 5 days, (pretty reasonable rates if anyone likes camping). Anyway, they have signs all over the place telling you to stay on the trails and not to wander off. After the war they tested the M1 "super bazooka" at fort Miles. Many of the rounds are still buried there, and they think that many are still active, so they don't like people wandering off... Lots of neat things there. Restored artillery and anti-aircraft guns, the ruins of bunkers, and a lookout tower that you can climb up that was used to spot submarines during the war (they had a submarine surrender there a couple of days after the war ended). I bought a book there all about it, it's called Delaware's Coastal Defenses. Really interesting place... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blitzkrieg gsd Posted February 16, 2015 Share #32 Posted February 16, 2015 My dad's buddy sent him a live grenade in the 70s from nam still in the container. He said it set on his dresser in the bedroom for a couple years. My grandmother would dust it off every time she cleaned the room. Till one day my grandfather saw it and told him he had to get rid of it. Dad being dad decided the best way to do that was not turning it in to the proper people. Instead on one of his and my mothers first dates they took a ride down to the ohio river bank pulled the pin and threw it in. Mom said it was the most explosive date she ever been on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stretch Posted February 18, 2015 Share #33 Posted February 18, 2015 This thread brings up a caution - as robinb pointed out, always should treat ordnance as live, unless you've seen yourself that it isn't. Someone selling it as "inert" doesn't make it so if it's really .... "ert"... If you're selling, it's best to ship with the chamber open, so the buyer can see that it is really inert, without disassembling anything. I've bought an "inert" MK2 and a Japanese type 97 grenade that the sellers assured me were inert - and they weren't. That's not a fun discovery to make - when powder or chips pour out into your hand and you realize how close you potentially were to eternity (and a bloody mess for others to clean up..) , and I'm pretty sure both sellers really had no idea at all whether they were live. To me, that's potentially criminal culpability for such a misrepresentation of inertness, but it is what it is I suppose. IF you ever find yourself in that predicament, unless you are 100% sure of what you are doing, it's never good to start learning on live stuff - your life is worth more than a couple hundred dollars worth of ordnance. Just my $.02 worth on a topic I'm very sensitive about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Posted March 6, 2015 Share #34 Posted March 6, 2015 A lot of good info can be found on inert-ord.net. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John121 Posted April 8, 2015 Share #35 Posted April 8, 2015 Robinb, Nice mk2, what type fuze i.e. M10 etc on top of leave (cover)? Thanks John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robinb Posted April 9, 2015 Author Share #36 Posted April 9, 2015 It's an M10A3 fuze. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John121 Posted April 9, 2015 Share #37 Posted April 9, 2015 Robinb, Thanks for your reply. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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