During the Second World War, RAF Fauld in Staffordshire was used as an enormous bomb storage facility. The MOD had taken over the underground mining tunnels, to be used in the war effort.
But on Monday 27th November 1944, something truly horrific happened. The missiles, and bombs in the underground tunnels exploded.
It was the largest explosion in British history, and the largest non nuclear explosion in the world.
90 people lost their lives that day, but their deaths were kept secret, as the government didn’t want the enemy to know what had happened.
I am joined by Phil, and by Ande, and we explore what is left of the site, including railways, tunnels, and bunkers, before making our way to the epicentre of the explosion.
Fauld crater is 30 metres deep, and 300 metres wide, and still contains unexploded bombs, that have lay dormant for 80 years.
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25 Comments
The brass chisel or hammer theory doesn`t wash, brass does not spark even if you grind it.
The name British Gypsum seems to ring a bell with me. I'm sure we used to have deliveries from them (from the Stoke on Trent area) when l worked at Chessell pottery on the Island. Great video and just the tonic l needed after a 4 day spell in hospital.
I have heard that the explosion was actually heard in Weston-super-Mare on the Bristol Channel and felt by Seismometers in Morocco
Read somewhere, a long time ago, that shortly after the explosion, a young US bomber pilot flew his aircraft round the inside of the crater, just below the rim.
I say young, because we do stupid things like that when we are young, the lucky one's live to be old!
Mr Google tells me the largest non nuclear explosion was in Halifax Canada during WW1, but that doesn't take away from this particular event, it must have been colossal.
Plaster board
Hi, I have been enjoying your videos, especially the Isle of Wight ones. I don't suppose next time you are over there you could do a video on the ventnor radar station? Thank you
I was a Royal Engineer in the 70's ,we returned to still clear unexploded ordinance, there are signs about warning about stuff still not found.
The largest explosion was the Tsar Bombe.
So you did not g.o in the Tunnels There is à Video of about 8 men walking in the tunnels .
Not the largest non-nuclear explosion. The British carried out operation Big Bang (really!) in April 1947 on the island of Heligoland using 7,400 tons of explosive. Somewhat larger than Faulds. Not difficult to find!
Erm…."largest explosion in history"…. Ever heard of volcanos? Or man made…the tsar bomb?…… There are things called books available for research……..
Having watched the video again you say " in British history", I stand corrected !! ,never heard of this so it's interesting 👍
There is an excellent book by Nic McCamley, The Fauld Disaster which gives a detailed description of the disaster.
The explosion was only second to the Halfax explosion against which all non nuclear explosions are rated, making it the second largest in the world.
The wide spacing between the tracks isnt to do with saftey, if one side went off you would need about 100m gap to prevent sympathetic detonation, much more likely the gap was for vehicles…..
Interesting video. Richard Willett sent me. Subscribed.
Excellent video Gareth. Reminds me of Slapton Sands near where I live and Operation Tiger and the secrecy kept around that for years. It was a practice landing by the US Army for the D-Day landings on Utah beach. Not only was live ammunition used on the first day but on the 2nd day they came under attack from German U Boats due to errors by the Royal Navy and higher commands. All covered up – the survivors were too scared to talk for years. The American families come every April to honour their dead. Shocking and sad. War is terrible on all fronts x
I came here from WTAF. Good stuff mate.
Blimey! Had no idea this happened! So interesting.
We look forward to seeing all the walks you and the lads do x
There is allways money for war… And wars are planned in advance… In sweden students are being forced to do army service agian… One wonders why…
There’s a monument to the victims of Faund at the National Arboretum too.
Good video nice one 👍
Fantastic work lads, probably the best "boots on the ground" video I've seen about the surface site and crater. As an amateur miliary historian I was very impressed. Keep up your excellent work, and I very much look forward to your future explorations. Thank you.🙏👍👍👍🤩
You were walking through what was the reservoir, not the crater itself. The mine entrances in your drone footage had previously been back-filled and buried. It looks like they have been restored, above ground at least. The restricted areas are firework factories.
In 1978 I used to work at a hotel in Tutbury. I would often go up to Tutbury Castle ans one day I went into the adjacent churchyard and saw a number of deaths with the same date.