Villages cleared as WW2 bomb made safe

A huge Second World War bomb was destroyed in a controlled explosion today after two villages were evacuated as a precaution.

More than 1,000 people were moved from their homes in Ebberston and Allerston, near Pickering, North Yorkshire, before the 500lb bomb was made safe by an RAF team in a cloud of dust.

The device was discovered on Sunday in a field near Ebberston by enthusiasts who are excavating, under licence, a Second World War plane which crashed in the area in 1940.

The bomb disposal team spent two days preparing for the blast, surrounding the device with dozens of one tonne sandbags to minimise the impact of the explosion.

People were kept more than a kilometre away from the bomb as the 3pm detonation time approached.

And the RAF team was just three minutes late pushing the button.

The bomb was found in a field away from houses but just 100m from a huge greenhouse complex.

It was unearthed by a team working on the wreckage of a British Whitley bomber which crashed on October 27, 1940.

The plane had limped back over the North Sea after it was hit by flak over the German coast.

All the crew parachuted to safety with one man landing close to the village.

The excavation of the wreckage is part of a nationwide project to rebuild a Whitley from salvageable parts as there are no complete examples of the plane left.

People living in Ebberston said they recalled neighbours talking about children playing in the wreckage and filling their pockets with live ammunition.

According to one report, the bomb was found in the bucket of a digger.

A 300m cordon was placed around the area on Sunday but this was extended an hour before the detonation and the nearby A170 Scarborough to Thirsk road was also closed.