"Operation Bang"
p. 38 · Read in the full issue
ARAAF demolition team is now at work at Tadji, near Aitape, New Guinea, disposing of 3,000 tons of bombs which were a legacy from the New Guinea campaign. It is expected that the job will be completed by about the end of February.
It was planned, originally, to explode the whole 3,000 tons at once. This created interest all over the world among scientists, geologists and others who wished to make seismic recordings. How ever, in the interests of safety this big bang was called off and it was decided to explode the bombs in smaller lots.
But even under the new plan it is ex pected that the explosions will be con siderable and precautions have been taken to see that local natives will be out of the danger area.
The original bomb dump was one square mile in area. After the war ended it quickly became overgrown and clearing out this undergrowth has been perhaps, the most difficult part of the job.