Buncefield Missile

a reply to: intrptr

I realise tales can grow out of nothing, but John told at least one individual what he saw. It's quite possible he never told anyone else, there may never be confirmation. At the time there were several eyewitness reports of an unusual aircraft or missile being seen, heard or both. The story seems to have shrunk rather than grown.

Some activists blocking unloading of an illegal cargo went running around the docks. They came to a fence with warning signs to keep out. They climbed over the fence, ran through the maze of pipes and climbed out on the other side where a stony faced dock worker was waiting for them. As they climbed down he said, "No one ever goes in there. One spark could send this whole place up." (I'm not one of those activists, I don't give police the runaround, I just find unusual ways to communicate vital messages.)

We have to remember the official story is a quantity of petrol and petrol vapour detonated in Hertfordshire with a report heard up to 200 mies away, even rattling doors.

On Sunday morning at appr. 7.17 in the moring I heard my glass door shaking. First I thought that there was a gas explosion in my local neighbourhood but later I learned that the explosion occured in the UK. So I confirm that the sound ( at leat the air-movment was present in my City. I'm living at Kortrijk in Belgium about 60 km from the coast line.

news.bbc.co.uk...


John was heavily involved in a very different subject area and he chose not to speak publicly about the missile he saw.

I've had the usual signs that this thread has hit a nerve.

I live about 1 mile as the crow flies from the Buncefield depot. Having been woken by the blast I was at the adjoining industrial estate within 15 minutes looking at the devastation, before the whole area was cleared out and sealed off.

I used to work in one of the heavily damaged, and subsequently demolished buildings that backed onto the Buncefiled site and often used to stand in our top floor office looking out across the site wondering what the effects of a blast would do. I also, due to the global support role I had, used to work late nights or through the early hours of the morning. There were quite a few times I'd nip out the back for a cigarette and not have one due to the smell of petrol fumes in the air and not wanting to a heavier smoking session than is normal. We even watched a tanker roll past late one night having just left the plant, with a damaged valve and gushing fuel along the road. Luckily a passing police car flagged it down before it got far. I'd say some of the safety was a bit lax at times!

As for security at the plant, a lot of the fenceline was old and in need of repair at the time of the blast and anyone could have just clambered through the brambles at the back of our site (perhaps more of a deterrent than the actual fencing) , so it's not outside the reals of possibility that people could have infiltrated the site.
As for the sound of an aircraft, don't forget that Luton Airport is just down the road and at that time of day the first flights would have been starting to arrive / depart. Departing flights, on full climbing power, would have sounded quite loud over Hemel, especially given the cold and very still air that morning.

I'm inclined to believe it was just an unfortunate accident this time around, given my own personal observations of having worked next to the place for several years.

a reply to: kester

"No one ever goes in there. One spark could send this whole place up."

Apache guy, right? Remember me? I wasn't there, I respect your investigation into "conspiracy" for this event. But also trying to just evaluate the type of explosion and the reports of that. I have no other than what you are telling me they say about it.

If man says he saw a "missile", then okay thats what he says.

The problem I have with that is like I said, a very precise hit by large warhead would be required to result in a such a huge explosion, as a result of fuel-air mix of volatiles.

The plant is capable of that on its own, under the right circumstances.

It happens when refineries go up more often than not. The first bang is huge because just the right circumstances preceded the event.

The first event is a minor explosion that sends a cloud of volatile vapor into the air where it hangs until the right mix of oxygen and fuel exist, then….wham!.

A missile could initiate that, but only in the most remote of circumstances. The military and government invests considerable effort to keep this from happening, don't know why they might fire a missile at one of their own wealth repositories. Its expensive to clean up, toxic waste, rebuilding, just doesn't make sense.

On the other hand, lax safety measures, disgruntled employees and poor maintenance (to save money) causes these kinds of events all the time.

a reply to: Britguy

Thanks Britguy for that first hand rundown. Those observations make it clearer that lax safety and maintenance issues could lead to such a disaster.

a reply to: Britguy

The local people must be very familiar with the usual aircraft sounds and sights.

a reply to: intrptr

The timing, just before Christmas when flights would be busy, suggests to me the possibility that it was a political statement from a party affected by oil related invasion. It would be unsettling to admit an unfriendly group could smuggle a missile into the country. I can understand why the establishment would like it to be thought accidental.

I have to admit I'm not putting much time into this but after thirty seconds searching I found this page.

"Several other neighbours said they did see a plane go into the depot."

Sky reporter said he thought the explosions were preceded by an overhead rumble

Multiple eyewitness reports of it being a plane going into the fuel depot

We did hear a screeching sound before it happened. It did sound like something going overhead, then huge huge bang.

www.cookdandbombd.co.uk...

I had thought the exact timing was a humanitarian approach to gain moral superiority by causing devastation and disruption without large numbers of casualties. But now I think it could more likely be convenient timing to take advantage of lax security with less risk of unlucky discovery.

Some combination of C4, missile and tampering could possibly have created ideal conditions. Could a missile penetrate a tank and detonate at the bottom, sending the vapour cloud up?

a reply to: kester

I'd expect people are familiar. However, there are times when something other than the usual 737 or Airbus comes out of Luton as it's always been a busy business jet centre as well. I often look out to see what that was just coming out of Luton if it makes an unusual sound - not all are necessarily quiet!
If they taking off to the West, and heading East, the departing aircraft will come right over the edge of Hemel (almost directly across the top of Buncefield) in a climbing turn, so a faster smaller BizJet will perhaps be a little noisier than some departing airliners. If the sound of a fast(er) louder jet aircraft was heard immediately before the explosion, that may explain the theory of a missile or military aircraft. Again, I don't buy it though.

Also a factor was the atmospheric condition at the time of the explosion, which was very still air and frosty, which was why it was heard so far away.

a reply to: kester

Could a missile penetrate a tank and detonate at the bottom, sending the vapor cloud up?

Not big enough of a war head. The reports as far as 200 KM(?) of the blast pretty much negate that. I didn;t hear of the plane report before.

So some people saw something go in there…

The enormous energy required to lift enough fuel into the air to cause that big an explosion would supersede any sized missile warhead or light plane. But if the exact right spot was hit for something on the site to explode and lift that much fuel into the air, that could be accomplished. Then, that has to detonate, making the prospect difficult. Setting off an explosion that sets of a fuel cloud that mixes just right with the air, then detonates, thats the hard part with timing and all.


Like I said, it happens with refineries all the time, not because of outside influences, but because of aspects of operations that make it a potential disaster. Heres one example of natural gas doing this. The cloud grows until the mix is right and all the while its seeking a spark. Skip the first thirty seconds in here.

a reply to: intrptr

200 miles. news.bbc.co.uk...

"To hear it 200 miles away is unusual," says Mr Wilton. "But the blasts were unusual because you don't usually get that amount of energy at the source. On Sunday there were classic conditions for sound to travel further than usual."

a reply to: kester

There you go. Hella bang to be heard that far.

Texas City disaster was a detonation cause by a load of ammonia nitrate fertilizer. Two barges were docked next to each other, one carrying a load of ammunition (on fire) and the other a load of fertilizer. When the ammo went up it sent up the cloud of fertilizer that then detonated, causing massive destruction. The mushroom cloud is visible at about :30 seconds into here.

Fuel air explosions are a cloud formed and then detonated above ground, sometimes the fuel and oxygen already occur together like in rocket fuel, oxidizers are present in the mix already, causing massive explosions without needing oxygen added.

Remember Pepcon rocket fuel plant?