Re: SD2-butterfly bomb 1940
The SD-2 was an anti-personnel weapon designed principally for airfield attack.
There is some evidence to suggest their first use over the UK was by Me 109s of ErPrGr.210 during an attack on RAF Martlesham Heath on 27 Oct 1940. At least 5 people were killed by some which fell in Ipswich and were picked up UX with fatal results. The first warnings were issued by the BBC on 28 Oct.
The SD-2 was used intermittently in 1941 during intruder raids against airfields, and quite extensively during the autumn of 1943 by the Me 410s of V/KG.2 I believe the Luftwaffe made more widespread use of them on the Eastern Front.
A farm worker at Scottow (edge of RAF Coltishall) was killed when he disturbed one in Feb 1944 - the bomb had been dropped on 27 Sept 1943.
In 1975, the screening of the ITV drama series "Danger UXB" resulted in a number of reports of SD-2s from around the country as people realised that the small, innocuous objects they had kept in sheds or on mantelpieces were in fact, high-explosive devices.
BC
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