V1 rocket to be detonated next week

A V1, a flying bomb from World War II, that was found on farmland in Kruisland, Noord-Brabant, will be detonated on Thursday, February 27, on site, announced the City of Steenbergen Monday. The bomb was found late January after a targeted search.

The detonator is at the bottom and in poor condition, making it too dangerous to move. The bomb will be covered with 5,000 cubic meters of sand, which will be dumped on top in the next few days up until that Thursday. The City predicts the detonation will produce a bang similar to an aircraft breaking the sound barrier. The airspace over Kruisland will be closed all day. Thirteen families in the area have to evacuate their homes that day from 06:30, only to return in the evening. They will be accommodated in a café in Kruisland. Although a V1 (vergeltungswaffe 1) is called a bomb, it's actually the first unmanned jet, used by the Germans to shoot at London and the Antwerp harbor from France and the Netherlands. This particular V1 was fired at the Antwerp harbor, but crashed and remained intact. The bomb contains 930 kilos of explosives. The name roughly translates to "retaliatory weapon 1." Germany fired 8,564 of these V1's, of which 1,900 never made it to their intended target. The very rare find only occurs every 10 years or so.