The British ammunition facility named RAF Fauld went off in a huge mushroom cloud on Nov. 27, 1944. The mushroom cloud was felt as far as Morocco as more than 4000 tonnes of bombs exploded in Hanbury, Burton.
The explosion left a huge crater in the ground. A YouTuber named Tom Scott has filmed the area as a part of his “Things You Might Not Know” series which shows what the site of the explosion looks like 70 years after the incident.
The underground munition depot was built in 1930 as a storage for smaller explosives. The demand for larger explosives and weapons skyrocketed with the onset of WWII, and thus the warehouse was filled more than its capacity.
The official inquiries of the British confirmed that the devastating accident was a result of mismanagement. On the said day, most of the senior staff was not around, and the worker used a brass chisel to remove a detonator from a live bomb. The resulting spark sent up the entire facility in a huge mushroom cloud.
Since the bodies were never recovered, the accurate number of deaths couldn’t be determined. It is said that about 70 people lost their lives in the fatal explosion. The explosion is often referred to as the largest non-nuclear explosion in the history of Britain.
The Hanbury Crater is more than 300 feet deep and covers a diameter of a quarter of a mile. Over time, the land has been reclaimed by nature. However, the military believes that some live bombs are still present in the underground facility. Thus, the area has been cordoned off, and a gate is the sole point of entry.
The Hanbury Crater is testimony that Life will always find a way.
You can watch how the site of the horrific explosion looks like today, in the video below: