November 27, 1944: Nearly 4,000 tons of ordnance explodes at an underground storage depot in Staffordshire, England, leaving about 75 dead and a crater ¾ of a mile across and 400 feet deep. The blast is one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, and it remains the largest on British soil.
Between 3,900 and 4,400 tons of ordnance exploded, mostly high explosives. The explosion crater has a depth of 100 feet and a maximum width of 1,007 feet, although different sources have exaggerated this size. The crater is still visible just south of Fauld, to the east of Hanbury. It is now known as the Hanbury Crater.
As with the Morgan munitions explosion in Sayreville, New Jersey in World War I in 1918, it’s not clear how many people died, though 70 is an estimate.
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November 27, 1944 was a Monday. Mickey Leland, later to be a Representative from Texas and the Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus was born.
Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. There was 1 game in the NHL: The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the New York Rangers, 8-2 at the old Madison Square Garden. Ted "Teeder" Kennedy had 3 goals and 2 assists.
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