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Brass plate from a British 1000lb MKII bomb, 1945

S

Simsam

Member
Hello, I found this brass plate in the mud of the Thames near Docklands in London. I've cleaned it up and can see that it's from a British 1000lb MKII bomb, filled in March 1945. I tried to find out more about these plates but was surprised how little information I could find through Google.

I would be grateful for any more information. Would every bomb have had one of these fixed to it? Were they removed from the bomb before use? I would also be very interested if anyone knows why it has a second date of 9/49, what "STN FD" is, or the filling "MIN2".

Many thanks

Bomb plate 150924.jpg
 
Hi, your bomb was a 1000Ib medium capacity, I would assume the MIN 2 is short for Minol a type of explosive used by Britain. The plate was attached the end of the bomb by rivets and stayed on it, the 1949 date was probably an inspection date and FD was where it was inspected. Nice find, I have a couple but obviously the normally get blown up! Tig
 
I am surprised that they used brass for this as they were always conserving it, even substituting steel in cartridge cases.
 
Thanks Tigbrand and highlandotter. The second date being an inspection date makes sense - there is a column with room for other dates below it. As the bomb was built just at the end of the war and then stored until 1949, it was maybe emptied / made safe as no longer needed. No idea how it ended up in the river, but then most things seem to find their way there somehow! Thanks for your helpful reply.
 
The bomb was filled by RDN – ROF Ruddington, Filling factory No. 14, which I believe was run by the Nottingham Wholesale Co-operative Society.

Ruddington is about 5 miles south of Nottingham and the facility now forms part of Rushcliffe Country Park.

The bomb was, as Tigbrand states, filled with Minol 2, an explosive developed by the Admiralty at the beginning of the War in order to conserve RDX and TNT. It’s a blend of TNT, Ammonium Nitrate and Aluminium powder.

12A-1988 Is the RAF Stores Reference Number for a 1000lb MC bomb filled Minol 2.

FD is the Station Code for RAF Fauld, an ordnance storage facility in Staffordshire. It was also the venue for the UK’s largest ever explosion and one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, when on 27th November 1944 between 3,500 and 4,0000 tonnes of stores detonated. Notwithstanding the accident, the facility was reused.

TimG
 
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I also have such a plate! What does my out?
 

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  • Typenschild MC-1000LB Mk.15.JPG
    Typenschild MC-1000LB Mk.15.JPG
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Perfect. Thanks. As always one thing leads to another - I've just been reading up about the RAF Fauld explosion. The explosion included 500 million rounds of rifle ammunition, and was possibly caused by someone using a metal chisel to remove a detonator, rather than a wooden one. Half a billion rounds... Quite incredible.
 
I can't imagine rifle ammo detonating. Usually in a fire, they pop off individually .Sounds more like a bunch of HE stuff.
 
Fusse2004,

Made by PAT - ROF Patricroft - an engineering ordnance factory in Eccles, Manchester.

Filled by BS - ROF Bishopton - an explosives factory in Renfrewshire Scotland. I knew post war, they filled rocket motors but didn't realise they filled items this large.

As for the filling - CHKL - I haven't got a clue!

TimG
 
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