Berlin evacuates homes, diverts trains to defuse WWII bomb found inside building
At least this one wasn't American. I hate when they find unexploded American bombs in Germany or Japan. Some see those as a reminder of the war's brutality but I just see those as a lasting monument to poor quality control. (In all fairness, they were probably made by union workers, which would explain why so many failed to work.)
Anyway...
Sometimes it boils down to a single worker, doing something the wrong way. I'm reminded of a British factory worker, near retirement, who installed a single bolt upside down in the tail section of Halifax bombers (I think it was) - which limited some aileron or rudder movement & caused several crashes. They gently retired the fellow & never told him how many lives his mistake had taken. At least those bombers aren't still in use, though - unlike the uncovered bombs which can still go off.
ReplyDeleteWith the speed they were pushing those bad boys out, I'm not surprised there were a few duds. And as much as I like to think that the Greatest Generation were all on board with the war effort, I know there were communist sympathizers and an American National Socialist party...small, and VERY well watched, but who knows? With all of the gearing up for war production, there were ample opportunity for a saboteur to slip in and switch a wire or two.
ReplyDeleteRevPaul reminds me of a story about the parking attendant at a British museum who retired one day, just didn't show up. After a week or so, the museum contacted the city to get them to send out another parking attendant. City responded that they did not have any such position, and any parking fees were collected by the museum. So this guy had been standing out with a meter for 20 frikkin years, collecting parking fees and pocketing 100% profit. They checked around...no laws were broken, so nobody could prosecute the guy, which didn't matter, cuz nobody knew who he was or where he lived since he wasn't on any payrolls. Awesome!!!