The discovery of a 20mm round from an World War II fighter plane prompted a call out for the Royal Navy Bomb Disposal team today (Sunday).
Police were alerted to the discovery in Seaview near Ryde when a member of the public found the piece of ordnance on the beach.
Unwisely, the individual moved the object from its original location but did the right thing in alerting the authorities.
Bomb Disposal experts from Portsmouth attended the scene and confirmed that the item was still live – more than 75 years after the war.
The decision was taken to detonate the round by means of a controlled explosion, which was carried out in a nearby field.
World War 2 20mm round; Ours, or theirs?
What a fuss, just launch it back into the sea.
These things don’t explode by themselves like land mines could and after years in corrosive sea water are no more harmful than a limpet.
Still gives a nice ‘feeling’ to imagine you have saved some sweet child from being blown limbless I guess.
They only turned up because it is In seaview or bembridge,if it was washed up in sandown,the local street sweeper would have just dumped it in the recycling bin! Innit tho!