WWII AB23 butterfly bomb container (inert – this was never a bomb).

This is not a bomb, just an empty container in two halves! A restored and totally inert AB23 with an inert, type 79A fuze held in a private collection.

On the night of 13th/14th June 1943, 3,000+ butterfly (or Sprengbombe Dickwandig or SD 2) bombs were dropped by the Luftwaffe over Grimsby, Cleethorpes and Great Coates. The SD2s were not dropped individually; they were packed into AB23 containers each holding 23 ‘butterflies’. An electric, airburst, time fuze type 79 blew open the hinged AB23s and the anti-personnel SD2s spun towards the ground. Counting the empty AB23s provided a guide to the number of SD2s in the vicinity.