“Accidental” bombing one of many for Air Force

Last week’s Oklahoma bombing was at least the sixth such accident since 2002. Dummy bombs have struck homes and businesses (or landed near them) in the US, Europe and Asia. They often carry phosphorous and other incendiary materials. — mb

(Dummy bomb: The US Air Force has a habit of accidentally dropping these babies on civilian sites near its bases. And practice bombs ain’t always for practice, history shows. Photo: GlobalSecurity.org)

“God must love the people at Canyon Creek.”

That’s what a manager of an Oklahoma apartment complex told the Associated Press after the U.S. Air Force bombed the complex last week.

But God must also love the factory workers in Choong-chung, Korea, whose workplace the US bombed in 2006:

1/12/2007 - OSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea — The 51st Fighter Wing and the Republic of Korea Air Force have completed an exhaustive and Air Force wide investigation of an inadvertent release of a small non-explosive practice munition on Nov. 29, 2006 by an aircraft stationed at Osan Air Base.

An A/OA-10 aircraft assigned to the 25th Fighter Squadron was returning to Osan from a routine training mission at approximately 12:30 p.m. when an apparent systems problem caused the inadvertent release of a 25 pounds practice munition — a BDU-33. The small, non-explosive training munition then struck a civilian factory in northern Choong-chung province damaging the building but causing no injuries.

… And let’s not forget the farmers near East Yorkshire, England, who were bombed by the US in 2004:

US Air Force drops practice bomb
Alan Marsland, who farms land near to the site the bomb landed, said: “It went through the asphalt on this old airfield which is now owned by Allied Grain. Luckily no-one was around.”

Or the West Texas family whose home was hit by the Air Force in 2002.

In fact, all of these incidents involved the BDU-33, which can carry incendiary materials that produce a flash on impact.

The red phosphorous in one BDU-33 also blew off half of Petty Officer John Love’s face a few years ago.

The list goes on.

On the same day in November 2007, the Air Force dropped a dummy bomb along a busy road in North Carolina, and a Navy jet accidentally dropped one on one of its bases.

Dummy bombs not just for practice

Dummy bombs have played a number of roles over the years. Military leaders have used the practice ordnance to frighten and intimidate populations since World War II.

Even as far back October 1920, the Navy dropped dummy bombs on an old battleship, the Indiana, to trick the American public into believing its battleships could not be sunk.

Note: The secret societies historian Alan Watt says Canadian forces once dropped ordnance down his chimney.

MARK BAARD

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