Live UXO Destroyed at Ynyslas Beach…After Children Played With It
2No. items of Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) were destroyed in a controlled explosion after being found washed up on Ynyslas Beach in Ceredigion, Wales. Rather alarmingly, at least one of the items (which were live) had been propped upright and used as a prop in games played by local children.
During WWII, Ynyslas was used as an important military research base (the Ministry of Supply Experimental Establishment Anti-Aircraft), testing rockets with different fuels. The facilities were associated with the Liquid Oxygen and Petroleum Guided Anti-Aircraft Projectile (LOPGAP) project. The foreshore was marked out with a target grid and impacts recorded.
Post-WWII, the military facilities for rocket testing were continued under the Air Ministry, largely testing rocket fuels. The facility closed in late 1946, when the tests were transferred to Aberporth.
There are also records that munitions were dumped at sea off Ynyslas beach in 1954 when the range was decommissioned. Items of UXO have been encountered on the beach frequently ever since, with Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams mobilised in 2008 and 2010 to dispose of live shells.
Fortunately, this latest incident caused no harm but the importance of raising the awareness of local residents (particularly children) as to the potentially hazardous items present on local beaches has once more been reinforced.
