The cycle path in question in this case runs parallel to the former runway. “There have been many impacts,” says Kootstra. He points to an aerial photo taken on March 24, 1945, showing the bombs and impacts. “All those little white dots are crater impacts. They bombed a lot at the start of the runway.”
Kootstra himself has already tried with his metal detector to see if he could find something. But due to the raw materials available there was no clear answer. “I had a signal, at the very beginning. I did not go any further. You should leave that to experts.”
Research agency Leemans from Overijssel is driving today with a detection system on the bicycle path. According to driver Jeroen Davenschot, that is precision work. “It’s a coloring page that you sign. You close it. Every piece you haven’t drawn in, you don’t have any data on it.”
Every piece under the bike path and the environment is recorded in this way. The resulting map is then analysed, explains executor Gerrit Leus. “Then specialists will look at that to see what is in the ground. And how deep is it and what is the situation.”
The municipality also carried out large-scale research during the construction of the De Meerkamp residential area in Havelte. According to Kootstra, one bomb after another was found there. “They encountered them when building the foundations of houses. At a certain point they also stopped construction and first examined the entire area for bombs.” Except for the bike path. “It was already in there then.”
Gerrit Leus was also involved in that construction. “In the few years I’ve been here, we cleared 188 bombs.”
Should a large explosive appear under the bicycle path, it could have major consequences for the adjacent residential area, says Kootstra. “De Meerkamp may have to be evacuated, because the vibrations during a possible explosion could break the windows.” That was not necessary with the last bomb that Kootstra found. That was because the bomb was located on defense grounds and further away from civilization.
Leemans expects to provide the municipality with a definitive answer about their findings on 9 September. It will only become clear later whether it is bombs or other metal.