Noise

[Patrick @ IFF]

Interesting reading about the noise of the explosions at the fuel depot in England last Sunday: Can sound really travel 200 miles?

I think we all read somewhere accounts of hearing the noise of artillery guns and the explosions of mines during WWI.

[ianw]

I understand that there was an atmospheric inversion that morning with a cold layer of air at ground level and warmer air over. We clearly heard the bang in Surrey around 40 miles away. I don't know about 200 miles but the bang produced a 2.5 Richter scale affect, I think.

[uncle bill]

my grandmother lived in Kent during the Great War and I remember her telling me that she clearly heard the sounds of the war and even saw the flashes on the horizon.

Edited 14 December , 2005 by uncle bill

[ypres1418]

Never heard a sound of the explosion here, wasn't around during the Great War!

Mandy

[J T Gray]

There is an account of a bombardment starting being heard in Essex in the thread on Gt Dunmow War Memorial under "Cemeteries and Memorials".

I recall in my student days in Hernia Bay (1991-3) being bemused by the strange booming noises coming from the sea - a sort of whoom-whoom-whoom-whoom-whoom-whoom-whoom-whoom noise. Always - ALWAYS - in eights.

Eventually someone with a military musseum told me that it was Bofors ammunition being fired off at Shoeburyness. A Bofors shell is 40mm in calibre, so contains much less bang than most things going off in France, or Buncefield, and the noise was travelling a good thirty miles. Of course, estuaries have very little relief to muffle the sound!

And why eight? Bofors shells come in clips of four, and seld destruct a certain time or distance after firing... So four bangs as they are fired, four as they burst.

Adrian

[shinglma]

The more accounts I hear of this the more I am amazed that I didn't hear a thing.

I live in Walthamstow and was up at 5.45am. At the time of the explosion I was watching BBC news - and indeed the man in Whitehall who heard the explosion. Yet I heard nothing.

Or is the reason that living in Walthamstow I didn't register a loud bang as being out of ordinary at that or any time of day?

Mike

[Ciaran Byrne]

Do you know, that is such a strange coincidence. I live in Wood Green, not too far from you and I heard nothing too. I was up at that time as well. I work for the BBC and used to live in Walthamstow!

[FAAAEd]

And why eight? Bofors shells come in clips of four, and seld destruct a certain time or distance after firing... So four bangs as they are fired, four as they burst.

Adrian

By being in the right spot you may also hear a bang when each missile breaks the sound barrier.

Anybody who has been close to aircraft on GA using rockets in pods will have heard the bangs as these missiles went sonic. Ripple fire of a full load of rockets from an aircraft e.g a Sea Vixen with a full load of 144 could be rather spectacular.

[shinglma]

Do you know, that is such a strange coincidence. I live in Wood Green, not too far from you and I heard nothing too. I was up at that time as well. I work for the BBC and used to live in Walthamstow!

That is strange - or perhaps we're both just mutt...

[Ciaran Byrne]

Thats probably the more likley to be the case...

[Gary Samson]

Here in Canterbury I distinctly heard the Buncefield explosion as a muffled 'thump' at 6.10am on Sunday. So did one of my Golden Retrievers. The same one that likes to inform us vocally whenever there's a thunderstorm directly overhead and, for the two weeks either side of November 5th, that fireworks are going off outside!

Gary

[Simon Furnell]

Evening all.

I was sparko Sunday morning,but my Mum was up,letting out one of the dogs,and the explosion rattled the front door on their house,and the porch door.

All of the local wildlife(they are surrounded by woods),went loopy,and so did the rest of the dogs.

This was in Ashampstead,about 10 miles from Reading,Berks,and the village is on top of a hill.

I remember as a kid,when i lived in the village,hearing what sounded like a distant rumbling noise,usually during the summer on a hot day.

I asked my Dad what it was,one day,and he said it was the guns on Salisbury plain,which is at least 40 miles away,as the old crow flies,from Ashampstead.

Although i never heard the thump,the smoke was visible very early on Sunday morning in the Newbury area,and,come the evening,the smell of burning oil was very strong.

Must have been a hell of a bang,close up.

All the best.

Simon.