World War II-era inert 1,000-pound bomb unearthed near Florida airport

Construction workers discovered an inert 1,000-pound bomb at the site of a proposed college campus in Florida, officials said Tuesday.

Hernando County Sheriff Al Nienhaus said they were working on the proposed construction site for the Wilton Simpson Technical College campus in Brooksville, located at the northeast corner of the Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport. It is said that a bomb was unearthed. Brooksville is about 80 miles north of Tampa.

Although authorities did not immediately know that the bomb was inert, they evacuated an area approximately half a mile in all directions from the bomb.

“It’s so rusted and decayed that there’s certainly no way to tell if it’s live or inert ammunition,” Nienhuis said in a video posted on social media after the discovery.

The Citrus County Sheriff’s Office Bomb Squad responded and determined the bomb was inert, officials said. A team at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa also responded.

Roads in the area were reopened Tuesday night.

Sheriff’s Office officials identified the bomb as an M-65 weapon. The bomb was typically used against hardened targets such as dams and concrete or steel railroad bridges, according to the National Air Force Museum.

Brooksville Tampa Bay Regional Airport is located on the site of a former World War II military airfield, according to the airport. During the war it was used to train pilots and ground personnel. The training took place on a B-17 Flying Fortress and a B-24 Liberator.