Police have reopened a stretch of the A15 outside Lincoln following the discovery of a suspected explosive device on the runway at RAF Waddington on Wednesday morning.
RAF Waddington, one of the country’s largest active RAF bases, received a £35 million investment to begin lengthening the runway last September and it was the contractors undertaking the work who discovered the device.
The A15 running south from Lincoln to Sleaford was closed for several hour and commuters experienced serious delays outside Waddington as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit attended the scene.
The EOD declared that the device was an 11.5lb decoy World War 2 mortal shell and removed from the site without requiring detonation.
Lincolnshire Police reported, “Contactors renewing the runway at RAF Waddington have unearthed what appears to be an old mortar shell, possibly from WW2.
“EOD attended and the shell was identified as a WW2 practice / training device and did not need any form of controlled explosion.”
The works being undertaken on the runway at the base are due to run until October of this year, and have caused the cancellation of this year’s running of the annual Waddington Air Show, an event that brings thousands of tourists to the area each year.
The base made headlines last year as the decision to make it home of the UK’s first squadron of military drones caused protests in the nearby city of Lincoln, and incidents of protesters gaining access to the base.
by Tom McBeth (May 2015)
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