Carolina almost nuked in the 60s

DanicaFreak

DanicaFreak

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(CNN) -- 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."



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Scary stuff
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/12/us/north-carolina-nuclear-bomb-drop/index.html?hpt=hp_inthenews
 
SpeedPagan said:
.....Why did they just leave a nuclear bomb buried!? Don't you think it'd be important to you know....recover it!?
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This, or if they did why make it general knowledge of the location.

Hold my beer...

smallfirez.jpg
 
ztevans said:
This was roughly 20 miles east of where I live and grew up. One of the bombs is still buried where it landed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash
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Do you remember that day?

From the wiki..

Looks like all is well. :confused: They recovered some of the bomb put concrete over the rest....


The bomb that descended by parachute was found intact, and standing upright as a result of its parachute being caught in a tree. According to Lt. Jack Revelle, the bomb disposal expert responsible for disarming the device, the arm/safe switch was still in the safe position, though it had completed the rest of the arming sequence.[9][10] The Pentagon claimed at the time that there was no chance of an explosion and that two arming mechanisms had not activated. A United States Department of Defense spokesperson told United Press International reporter Donald May that the bomb was unarmed and could not explode.[11] Former military analyst Daniel Ellsberg has claimed to have seen highly classified documents indicating that its safe/arm switch was the only one of the six arming devices on the bomb that prevented detonation.[2][11] In 2013, information released as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request confirmed a single switch prevented detonation.[12]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash#cite_note-14



Air Force personnel working in an underground pit to recover parts of an MK-39 nuclear bomb.
The second bomb plunged into a muddy field at around 700 miles per hour (310 m/s) and disintegrated without detonation of its conventional explosives. The tail was discovered about 20 feet (6.1 m) below ground. Parts of the bomb were recovered, including its tritium bottle and the plutonium.[13][page needed] According to nuclear weapons historian Chuck Hansen, the bomb was partially armed when it left the aircraft though an unclosed high-voltage switch had prevented it from fully arming.[9] In 2013, ReVelle recalled the moment the second bomb's switch was found. “Until my death I will never forget hearing my sergeant say, 'Lieutenant, we found the arm/safe switch.' And I said, 'Great.' He said, 'Not great. It’s on arm.'”[14]

Excavation of the second bomb was abandoned as a result of uncontrollable ground-water flooding. Most of the thermonuclear stage, containing uranium, was left in situ. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers purchased a 400 feet (120 m) circular easement over the buried component.[15] The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill determined the buried depth of the secondary component to be 180 feet (55 m), plus or minus 10 feet (3.0 m).[13][page nee
 
So....if they do fracking in the wrong part of North Carolina, they could irradiate half of the state. Fantastic....
 
How soft is the soil in NC? The bomb buried itself 180 feet deep +/-10 feet?
 
@DanicaFreak: My dad was six months old at the time, so I can't say I have any recollections of the event. But yeah, I feel like if it hasn't been disturbed by innumerable jets flying around nearby Seymour Johnson AFB (and probably a few drunken teenagers on scavenger hunts over 50+ years) it's probably safe. Or at least as safe as a nuke can be,

@Bobw: The joke around here is that if it rains, there's a good chance parts of Goldsboro are going to flood. Very soft ground, very swampy in that area. I'm sure that also contributed to the groundwater flooding issues they had when they were trying to extract the bomb. I'm guessing it was safer to just cover it in Lord knows what than to try and remove it through that much earth and water.
 
DanicaFreak said:
Thanks Z
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No problem. I'm admittedly not a peace, war, and defense expert, but I've heard plenty of stories about it growing up. Which begs the question: Is CNN traditionally 52 years late to news, or was this their crack at Throwback Thursday (or #tbt as the kids on the Tweeters call it)? I'll leave it there, though. The media conversations should be reserved for @AndyMarquisLive.
 
ztevans said:
No problem. I'm admittedly not a peace, war, and defense expert, but I've heard plenty of stories about it growing up. Which begs the question: Is CNN traditionally 52 years late to news, or was this their crack at Throwback Thursday (or #tbt as the kids on the Tweeters call it)? I'll leave it there, though. The media conversations should be reserved for @AndyMarquisLive.
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I think some docs were declassified...
 
ztevans said:
No problem. I'm admittedly not a peace, war, and defense expert, but I've heard plenty of stories about it growing up. Which begs the question: Is CNN traditionally 52 years late to news, or was this their crack at Throwback Thursday (or #tbt as the kids on the Tweeters call it)? I'll leave it there, though. The media conversations should be reserved for @AndyMarquisLive.
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No sometimes they are 102 years
cnn-used-a-breaking-news-banner-on-the-sinking-of-the-titanic.jpg
 
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