SC Ping
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Posted on 09/20/2004 5:55:10 AM PDT by Ed Straker
'Tybee bomb' quest
Military to study site Statesboro duo believes bomb rests
By LOGAN THOMAS
lthomas@statesboroherald.net
On a clear and frigid February night lit by a full moon in 1958, the air space above the border of Screven and Bulloch counties was the site of a midair collision.
An Air Force B-47 carrying a Mk-15 nuclear bomb collided with a F-86 just after midnight. The fighter pilot ejected and his plane plummeted 35,000 feet to crash in a Bulloch County farmer's field.
Howard Richardson, the pilot of the damaged bomber, turned the aircraft back toward Savannah for a landing attempt.
Richardson took the B-47 out over the ocean to come back and land into the wind. It was here, just off the beach in Wassaw Sound near Tybee Island, that the 7,600-pound hydrogen bomb was jettisoned.
The bomb itself was one of the first thermonuclear devices developed by the United States to be several times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb.
Derek Duke, a Statesboro resident and retired Air Force Lt. Col., became fascinated with the story about five years ago. His interest has turned into a full-time search for the location of the "Tybee bomb" – a search in which he said he has spent a great deal of time and dealt with personal ridicule.
The area Duke believes to be the bomb's resting place for the past 46 years is in 12 feet of water in Warsaw Sound.
Walt Strickland, a Statesboro resident and retired Navy captain, is helping in Duke's search. Strickland said the radiation readings of the Warsaw spot were "seven to 10 times higher than normal residual radiation."
Coming up Sept. 27, a team of 20 experts from various government agencies will meet at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's Building in Savannah with the expedition to Wassaw Sound occurring on Tuesday, Sept. 28.
"They are coming down for a site visit," Duke said.
"If they determine the radiation is there, they will then discuss what to do about it. I would think a recovery operation would then happen immediately."
Close to home
"It's incredible that a story like this happened so close to home," he said. "The fighter pilot had taken off from Charleston and was practicing intercepting the bomber. The radar malfunctioned and steered him into the right wing of the bomber."
Duke said Richardson received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions in saving the airplane and his crew.
"It reportedly took him three attempts to land," he said. "Given the conditions of the runway, he decided it was safer to jettison the bomb over the water than try to land with it ... I'm sure there was a great deal of relief among the ground crew when they heard the bomb wasn't coming in with the plane."
Strickland said he remembered the military's search for the bomb.
"I was living on Wilmington Island and I remember watching them trying to recover the bomb," said Strickland who was on the USS Kiowa off the coast of Spain during a nuclear bomb recovery in 1966. "It was more of public relations search to calm the fears of the people of Savannah."
Duke said he wanted to go back and "truly investigate the accident and the search" involving the bomb. Duke said the military never searched the area that the navigator reported the bomb was jettisoned.
"They searched two miles away," he said. "I don't know why the Air Force sent the search teams to that other place."
Duke said the divers searching the area were forced to deal with freezing water that only allowed minutes underwater.
"They had no radiation gear," he said. "The visibility there is next to nothing."
Nuclear explosion?
In 1966, a congressional committee was investigating lost nuclear weapons. Duke said Assistant Defense Secretary W.J. Howard, at the time testified that two complete nuclear bombs, one in Japan and one off the coast of Georgia, were still out there.
"This meant that these were active bombs with nuclear capability," Duke said. "But others later said the testimony was wrong and the bomb was not fully capable of a nuclear explosion."
Many years later, Howard changed his testimony.
"He told Air Force personnel many years later that 'if you say I was wrong, then I guess I was wrong,'" Duke said. "I just don't think he would testify in front of Congress [in 1966] unless he was absolutely sure about what he was saying."
The non-nuclear dangers of the bomb
The people of Florence, South Carolina know how dangerous a nuclear bomb can be – even if a nuclear explosion does not occur.
A bomb was dropped near the town on March 11, 1958. The non-nuclear material in the bomb exploded, destroying a farmhouse and leaving a crater 60 feet and 60 feet deep.
"If you drive up Hwy 301," Duke said, "the crater is still visible. Nothing grows there. It's dead dirt."
The Florence incident is what drew Duke's interest toward the Tybee bomb.
"I flew with the navigator involved in the Florence bomb," he said.
"He was the reason I became interested because it's not every day you fly with a navigator that dropped a nuclear bomb on the United States."
Why find it
The question many ask Duke is: "Should the Tybee bomb be left alone?"
Strickland said letting the issue rest is not an option. "This [bomb] is in unrestricted waters," he said.
"Shrimping boats are out there all the time. The Coast Guard is routinely placing buoys. I've also heard some experts say an explosion could blow a hole into the Floridian Aquifer and contaminate our drinking water."
Duke said he was contacted by the Coast Guard about the exact location of the bomb.
"They called and wanted to know," he said.
"They said they drive pilings into the ocean floor in that location all the time."
Duke said Mother Nature could also eventually affect the bomb.
"We have not had a major hurricane impact this area since the bomb has been there," he said. "What if the currents move the bomb? How big of a jolt would that bomb get?"
And Duke said there is the other issue of the bomb being found by the wrong people.
"I don't think we should ever underestimate the intelligence of those that want to do us harm," he said.
Bomb must be found
Even if the speculated location is not correct, Strickland believes the bomb should be found.
"If this is not the location," he said, "the U.S. government has an obligation to locate the bomb and determine its status. That's 400 pounds of enriched uranium down there ... No matter where it is, it needs to be recovered."
Duke said the retrieval of unexploded ordinance would be possible.
"If we know exactly where it is," he said, "and we plan carefully, there is a low probability that something would happen on site."
With the arrival of the government's team of experts on Sept. 27, Duke believes they are on the right track.
"It's now a routine matter of business," he said.
"Because of politics, this is a long time being done ... the Air Force has the responsibility to do the right thing here. Now, they've committed to do that. They're very professional and diligent about this. I think we've turned a corner."
Logan Thomas can be reached at (912) 536-1772.
Publication Date: Sunday, September 19, 2004
We've got a lot of ordinance in my locality that could use exploding.
Radiation seven to 10 times higher than normal!!?!!
Get down there and scoop that damn thing up!
(I thought those fish looked funny.)
(Not to mention all those Savannah people.)
They believe the warhead may be buried in mud 100 feet or more deep.
As this bomb is located in the coastal waters of Georgia, this bomb rightfully belongs to the People of the Great State of Georgia. This makes us a nuclear power.
So listen up Kim Ill Jung -- Washington may be circumspect when it comes to the use of nuclear weapons, but Georgia will nuke your ass in a heartbeat, so you best get your act together. And all you jihadis -- unless you want to spend eternity encased in glass, stay out of Georgia.
And you don't even want to know the message from the nuclear power of Georgia to the cities of Ithaca, Berkeley, Austin, and Madison, or the state of New Jersey.
Just remember any number coming out of Staaaatesburroa you have to multiply by 10 and still it will be wrong.
Maybe they should stick to football and skip the science.
Please. The bomb wasn't armed, and the non-nuclear trigger doesn't have that kind of power.
(snip)
Duke said Mother Nature could also eventually affect the bomb.
"We have not had a major hurricane impact this area since the bomb has been there," he said. "What if the currents move the bomb? How big of a jolt would that bomb get?"
A hurricane might uncover it, or even nudge it a bit, but we're talking about a very dense & heavy object. It won't go far before it reburies itself.
And Duke said there is the other issue of the bomb being found by the wrong people.
Finally, this guy gets to the BEST reason to recover the weapon. It's a challenging recovery, but amature divers -- properly motivated & equipped -- might be able to pull-off a recovery. I wouldn't want Osama's scuba team finding that weapon.
Supposed to be two fission bombs resting on the ocean floor about 120 miles southeast of New jersey . Were jettesioned by a bomber in trouble in bad weather in the late 50's and never found ..
Hey! I resemble that remark ;)
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This 'broken arrow' is getting an awful lot of press.
That was funny!
Bump
>>>>Supposed to be two fission bombs resting on the ocean floor about 120 miles southeast of New jersey
Nah nah Spodefly! My arsenal is bigger! pfffssst...
ROTFLMAO!!!!!
I bet y'all would too!
Here, Here!
Hey! I use to live in Savannah! We use to go sailing out in the sound all of the time.
I've heard about that bomb being off the coast, but didn't know that it was a hydrogen bomb! Wouldn't the metal have corroded/rusted from the bomb by now since it's in salt water? It's been 47 years afterall.
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