Colonel Howard Richardson ditched the bomb off Tybee IslandPosted on 06/23/2009 1:32:58 PM PDT by BGHater
More than 50 years after a 7,600lb (3,500kg) nuclear bomb was dropped in US waters following a mid-air military collision, the question of whether the missing weapon still poses a threat remains.
In his own mind, retired 87-year-old Colonel Howard Richardson is a hero responsible for one of the most extraordinary displays of aeronautic skill in the history of the US Air Force.
His view carries a lot of weight and he has a large number of supporters - including the Air Force itself which honoured his feat with a Distinguished Flying Cross.
But to others, he is little short of a villain: the man who 50 years ago dropped a nuclear bomb in US waters, a bomb nobody has been able to find and make safe.
'Top-secret flight'
Shortly after midnight on 5 February 1958, Howard Richardson was on a top-secret training flight for the US Strategic Air Command.
It was the height of the Cold War and the young Major Richardson's mission was to practise long-distance flights in his B-47 bomber in case he was ordered to fly from Homestead Air Force Base in Florida to any one of the targets the US had identified in Russia.
The training was to be as realistic as possible, so on board was a single massive H-bomb - the nuclear weapon he might one day be instructed to drop to start World War III.
As he cruised at 38,000 feet over North Carolina and Georgia, his plane was hit by another military aircraft, gouging a huge hole in the wing and knocking an engine almost off its mountings, leaving it hanging at a perilous angle.
Colonel Howard Richardson ditched the bomb off Tybee Island
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Wouldn’t we have alpha detectors??? :-)
We’re safe.
Julia hit it with a wrench and it blew up underground in 1977.
That would be a pretty big nuclear explosion. Somebody's doing some serious hyperventilating here.
Emilio Largo has it
No danger of it going off, it went in unarmed, and sufficient decay over 50 years should prevent it now if it should arm. For 10 years they kept the onshore area restricted for that reason.
Pucker factor realism.
Alpha particles are easily stopped by a sheet of paper.
IOW, any alpha particles emitted by the nuclear material in the bomb will be stopped by the explosive wrapping or metal case or the paint layer.
No “plutonium trigger?”
Hmmm, is the reporter headed somewhere with this?
But to others, he is little short of a villain: the man who 50 years ago dropped a nuclear bomb in US waters, a bomb nobody has been able to find and make safe.
Which others? Who? I've read about this story for 20 years and never once heard anyone castigate him personnally.
...the nuclear weapon he might one day be instructed to drop to start World War III.
A U.S. first strike on the USSR, to be started by this Major and his trusty B-47. This reporter seems to have gotten some real secret info.
But his case has been vigorously contested by opponents who raise apocalyptic fears of a thermonuclear explosion which could destroy much of the US eastern seaboard.
A thermonuclear explosion that could destry much of the eastern seaboard????? Not even a 1000 megaton bomb could do that.
Alpha particles don’t go very far in water.
MK-15 with a yield of 1-4 MT. The confusion is probably based on the MK-24 which had a yield of 10-15 MT, but could not have been carried by a B-47, it was intended for the B-36 and B-52. Some reports have confused the 24 in MK-24 to mean the yield at 24 MT. With the right wind, a 24 MT detonation would have contaminated a sizeable area.
Dunno, it is the BBC.
Water is used more because of its ability to shield against neutrons, which unlike alphas is much more penetrative and has a high Q value.
All to protect his precious bodily fluids.
Yeh - we used to pop those in our hands on the 4th of July until Mom made us stop.
Hey, it’s all good until someone loses an eye.
Those "others" probably consisting of the 1 disgruntled homosexual BBC news eunuch that wrote this tripe.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.