Declassified report: Two nuclear bombs nearly wiped out North Carolina

CNN ^ | 6/12/14 | Emma Lacey-Bordeaux

[TangledUpInBlue]

On a January night in 1961, a U.S. Air Force bomber broke in half while flying over North Carolina. From the belly of the B-52 fell two bombs -- two nuclear bombs that hit the ground near the city of Goldsboro.

A disaster worse than the devastation wrought in Hiroshima and Nagasaki could have befallen the United States that night. But it didn't, thanks to a series of fortunate missteps.

Declassified documents that the National Security Archive released this week offered new details about the incident. The blaring headline read: "Multi-Megaton Bomb Was Virtually 'Armed' When It Crashed to Earth."

Or, as Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara put it in back then, "By the slightest margin of chance, literally the failure of two wires to cross, a nuclear explosion was averted."

[Vigilanteman]

FWIW, my father was a USDA Field Agent in SW Utah and eastern Nevada when I was a tot. His job was just to check livestock diseases. They told him all the mysterious sheep deaths which were occurring at the time had nothing to do with the atomic testing.

When he insisted that it was a probable cause, they demoted him to an office job in Denver. He quit soon thereafter and got a real job in the private sector.

[Mastador1]

Lets see. James Bond was on scene to cut the wires just as the timer hit 007! USA shaken but not stirred.

The real James Bond (Connery) didn't have a clue how to disarm a nuclear bomb,we all learned that in Goldfinger. It wasn't until the clown James Bond (Moore) that he was an expert on everything except being witty and manly.

[TLOne]

A Titan II missle leaked rocket fuel in Arkansas and blew a warhead a quarter of a mile without any incident. 1970’s era.

Silos were in a pretty rural area but that still caused a scare. I believe all our current arms use solid fuel.
Much cheaper and safer.

The old Titans were fitted with some solid boosters and used to launch satellites I think.

[RegulatorCountry]

This was the era of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I wasn’t even born yet, but from what I’ve read it was a very tense time. Having bombers with armed nuclear bombs flying out of or over NC, with the large number of military bases there, is not at all surprising.

[SpeakerToAnimals]

The book 15 Minutes has a chapter on this event. I highly recommend reading this book. Netflix also has Trinity and Beyond, a documentary of all 335 above ground nuke tests. We played with matches in a dynamite storage room.

[Know et al]

I had heard of an A-bomb being lost off the coast. The details would indicate that it was a separate incident. I can't remember exactly where it was lost though.

[RegulatorCountry]

Georgia.

[Andy'smom]

Are you serious? What’s story behind the Savannah nuke?

[ilovesarah2012]

I saw it on the news ticker on CNN this morning but hadn’t read about the details. Pretty scary stuff.

[Popman]

After this incident they started putting fail safe devices on the cores to prevent an accidentally nuclear device going off...

We shared that technology with the soviets after a rogue submarine lanched a nuclear attack against Pearl Harbour.....in May,1967...

Thank God...the detonation device to start the nuclear explosion failed and sank the sub...

The CIA thinks the KGB was behind it....

[Bidimus1]

Most of the data is not new.

Chrome dome flights and other active Nuke carrier aircraft running racetrack paths were common in the cold war.

The incidents like this one cause the us to invest in passive action locks and 1 point explosives which nearly equaled the earlier “pit” design for safety.

for a tech desc.
http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/315002m.pdf

[GreyFriar]

These are the official reports that provide the details of what happened. It was general news when it happened.

Nearly went off because of an extraordinary event that caused the safeguards to be wrecked.

[ken5050]

Missile crisis was a year + later

[Repeal The 17th]

“... What’s the story behind the Savannah nuke? ...”
-
Very simple to find:
https://www.google.com/search?q=story+behind+Savannah+nuke
It is the first link that pops up.

[Buckeye McFrog]

I think my dad was stationed near Goldsboro then. Means I would not be here today.

[Andy'smom]

Thanks. My daughter goes to school close to that area.

[lefty-lie-spy]

I’m familiar with that incident too. There is a good list on wikipedia if you search for “Broken Arrow”; a list of nuclear terminology terms and incidents will show.

[SeeSharp]

Of course this would never happen under Clinton or Obama.

That reminds me of when Clinton lost the codes.

[Repeal The 17th]

It’s been lying there for way over 50 years;
since back when I was 7 years old.
They gave up looking for it;
it ain’t going nowhere.

[lefty-lie-spy]

Here it is: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_Tybee_Island_mid-air_collision