The Fauld Explosion, Staffordshire – 27 November 1944

On 27 November 1944, the underground ammunition store at RAF Fauld in Staffordshire blew up, killing 70 people and also creating ‘the Hanbury Crater’.

It’s said that the explosion, which is also rumoured to be the world’s biggest non-nuclear explosion (there is some debate regarding this point), was heard as far away as Geneva.

Here is a newspaper report about the tragedy, published the day after the explosion took place.

Nottingham Evening Post – Tuesday 28 November 1944

Image © Local World Limited. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000321/19441128/024/0004