Adventurous schoolboy unearths World War II bomb in Airdrie

Apr 6 2011 by Gordon Robertson, Airdrie & Coatbridge

A SCHOOLBOY who found a bomb in Airdrie declared – I want to keep it.

Cheeky Gavin Chapman (nine) was out with his uncles Darren (28) and Barry Chapman (29) when he came across the unexploded device.

It was lying among trees in fields north of Clarkston where Darren and Barry were quad biking.

Gavin saw it lying there and thought he would take it back to show his gran Helen Chapman (58).

The Kirkintilloch youngster was spending the night at her home in Colliertree Road at the start of the school holidays.

Helen soon alerted the police and it wasn’t long before around 20 homes were evacuated and the bomb squad appeared on the scene.

She said: “We phoned the police and three minutes later they were here.

“They told us we had to get out of the house and they joked with Gavin that if he found any more he should take them back to his own bit.

“Gavin’s raging that he can’t keep it.

“But he’s loving all the fuss. The TV cameras were here as well.”

Gavin’s uncles were sure it wasn’t a live bomb but they took precautions to be on the safe side.

Barry said: “We didn’t think it was live but just in case, we buried it in sand in the garden.”

Darren added: “We didn’t think it was live because we saw a hole in it.

“I couldn’t stop laughing at Gavin carrying it up the path because it was quite heavy.”

Residents took the evacuation of around 20 houses in good spirits and were allowed to return home within two hours.

One of the evacuees, neighbour John Curran (74), joked about it yesterday (Tuesday).

He said: “I was just about to sit down to my tea and the police came to the door and said there was a bomb in the front garden next door and we had to get out.

“When they asked us if we had somewhere to go I thought of the Tudor! But we went to my daughter’s.”

A police spokesman said: “A woman reported what she believed was a First World War bomb.

“Police evacuated the area before the bomb disposal people turned up.

“A 200 metres exclusion zone was set up.

“The device was found to be a Second World War practice bomb and it was removed.”