A GIANT pipe bomb discovered under the runway of a former Royal Navy base in Hampshire has been made safe.

Parts of Lee-on-the-Solent could be evacuated when it is removed by bomb disposal experts.

The British device was discovered during survey work at the former HMS Daedalus site.

Pipe mines were laid under all airfields within ten miles of the coast in the early years of the Second World War when the possibility existed of an invasion by Germany - but most were removed following the war.

The mines were up to 100ft long in 10ft sections, and were pushed into the ground at an angle, in a pattern across the whole of the airfield.

In the event of an imminent invasion, they would have been detonated, thereby denying access to the landing strips for enemy aircraft.

The Daedalus site was recently bought by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency from Defence Estates.

The MCA is to build a new search and rescue helicopter hangar on 256 acres at the site, which closed down as a working airfield in 1966, with work due to start next month.

The Defence Logistics Organisation found the bomb under the southerly runway when they were carrying out investigations for any remaining buried ordnance as part of the sale process.

An Army bomb disposal team will plan the ordnance removal, which could involve some evacuations of nearby homes.

It was confirmed that the mine had been made safe, but will still require removal.

The operation would probably involve small controlled explosions to cut the pipe into manageable sections.