Missile found

Press, 10 February 1982, Page 8

Missile found

NZPA-Reuter Schramberg American explosives experts yesterday drilled more than 4.5 m into the concrete floor of a Black Forest barn and recovered a Sidewinder missile ■ lost during United States Air Force exercises a week ago. The 86kg air-to-air missile, which carried about 4kg of explosive, was. accidentally dropped during a training flight by an Air Force Eagle jet siatidned-al Bitburg. West Germanv.

A spokesman for the recovery team said that electronic tests conducted during the excavation to unearth the missile indicated that it had not been primed to explode before it was lost. Officials said they were investigating why the missile dropped from the fighter. The missile lodged in the floor of a barn owned by a 79-year-old farmer who' is hard of hearing and did not realise anything was wrong until five days later when he discovered a hole in the barn roof. '■

Using pneumatic drills. American explosives experts bored more than 4.5 m into the barn's concrete and sandstone floor- to recover the missile parts.