#1 ...Something does not sound right. Let me explain:
*The Mk8X series is filled with Tritonal, a highly stable and heat resistant filler that is engineered to go boom only when we specifically tell it to and then only after a certain series of steps have been performed in a specific fashion.
*Said fashion is thus: When assembling an 8X (BTW, the Mk81 250GP is the smallest of the 8X series, not the 82) you install a booster cup into the fuze well, then install the fuze itself. This is the 'explosive train', a series of progressively larger explosions that will set off the Tritonal filler. Cutting into the bomb body (and I know that we should not speak ill of the dead, but I refuse to believe this guy had no idea what he was looking at) should not have set off the filler - and if it did, and roughly two hundred pounds of filler let go, you wouldn't have anyone around to try and explain what happened. The lethal blast/frag radius for a Mk82 is IIRC two thousand feet, and you don't just get a 'partial' explosion - if any of it goes, it all goes.
* What COLOR was this bomb? If it was green with a yellow band around the nose, that's a live weapon. If it's overall light blue or green with a blue band, that's an inert practice round - but if that was the case, somebody made a horrifying mistake somewhere. I'd also point out that there are stamps on the bomb case indicating what it is (though it's at least understandable that a civilian didn't know to look for those), and it's supposed to be stenciled (at least 1/2" white or yellow letters) as well ('BOMB, MK82 500LB GP'along with two or three more lines indicating where/when it was made). Are we being told that NONE of this was on the bomb in question?
So - what did happen? There's a LOT wrong with this story based on the facts we have, and I will be paying close attention to what comes next.
Mike |