North Carolina was very lucky back in 1961

[eddie]

When a B52 broke up while in flight over NC back in 1961, it was carrying 2 nuclear bombs. As the plane broke up (the reason for that is still a mystery) both bombs fell, one just slammed into the ground and did nothing but make a big hole, the other acted like it was activated. Its parachute opened and fell like it was armed, but luckily a low voltage device prevented it from exploding!!:huh: The bomb was a lot more powerful then what was dropped on Japan during the war, but everyone living in NC at the time, were very fortunate it didn't go off!!

Of course, the US Govt said at the time, no one was in danger from a nuclear accident here in the States.

http://news.msn.com/us/nuclear-bomb-nearly-exploded-over-nc-in-1961-paper

[Red October1984]

It's a conspiracy!

Also, the number of ur posts when I read this was 1,666....

:)

Lucky indeed. If that had gone off, phew, i can't imagine how bad that would've been.

[Stealhead]

Well North Carolina would have a much larger bay area.The information about the bomb nearly arming is not "new" though. I read about it in a book published in 2009 along with a photo section showing some of the documents.

It was not low voltage though the bombs had several safety switches they where designed to sense a purposeful drop from an accident like in the case of the B-52 where the bombs got tossed out as it fell apart in the sky.The trips where go/no go so on upon a no go they opened breaking the circuit.The one bomb "sensed" a drop and 5 seconds before it hit the ground the last safety trip worked as designed and opened preventing a calamity.What did fail actually was on the second bomb its retardation chute failed to open and it entered free fall it did not explode which clearly implies that the safety trips worked.The second bomb is the one that nearly exploded but for the one last safety trip its chute did deploy properly which means that it would have blown.the one that entered free fall would not have fully detonated.There where six safety trips designed to sense various parameters if any one of them tripped it broke the circuit.

Strange luck though just one safety trip away.

In those days though times where different I talked to a sailor once that witnessed the tests during Operation Crossroads in 1946.He said they stood on one side of the ship and faced away from the bomb (they where about 20 or so miles away)He said despite facing the other direction and having his eyes closed tightly hands over his eyes he could see for maybe 4 or 5 seconds the bones in his hands that must have been gamma rays from the bomb.That was test Able which was above the sea Baker was the one that was 100ft below the surface.After the tests they went right up to the ships only a few hours after many of those guys died from cancer later or suffered from cancer at one point.


Here is how a more modern B61 works we still have a version in our stocks every fixed wing combat aircraft in the US inventory can use this bomb if required.
declassified film form the 1970's.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlH7OuWiPb4

[Catfish]

Losing nuclear weapons or arming them unintentionally has happened several times, also in the atlantic and in the mediterranean.

It is not a conspiracy, just bad material and the usual military incompetence (and sheer craziness). If you want a good description of what the cold war was about, see Dr. Strangelove. And i am not kidding :O:

[Cybermat47]

Lucky. If it had gone off, there would have been Carolina and Crater :o

[Betonov]

Having an accidental explosion is bad enough, now imagine if the thing went of and the hotheads in DC would think it's the Soviets.

The world was lucky that day, not just NC :o

[Dread Knot]

Lucky. If it had gone off, there would have been Carolina and Crater :o

And Goldsboro would now be called Glowsboro...if there was anything left of it.

[Wolferz]

The northeastern seaboard would have been irradiated from the fallout too.
Washington DC, Boston, Philadelphia. New York City and everything in between would've been a radioactive kill zone.:hmmm: North Carolina would've been a total write off.:huh:

Maybe this is why we were always having those drills in school.:-?

[Oberon]

Actually, no.

The winds on that night would have pushed the fallout out to sea, and the area itself that the bomb fell on was fairly rural. You're probably looking at 5,000 dead and over 20,000 injured, and massive panic.
Not likely that it would have been mistaken for a Soviet attack, especially when the rest of the eastern seaboard failed to burst into flames, but it probably would have made the bombers and boomers be flushed and silos put on readiness to launch, but when nothing else exploded and radar and sigint didn't pick up anything then it would have been recognised as a Broken Arrow.

But as Stealhead put it, very unlikely to have gone off, even though the technology was old, it was rugged and pretty reliable. Heck, part of the bomb is still there, the Uranium part I think, buried about 180 foot down, they tried to dig it up but flooding stopped it.

[Mr Quatro]

Here's a whole lot of nuclear weapons accidents: http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/weapons/q0268.shtml

I could not find the one about a nuclear depth charge being lost in South Carolina and never found, but here's one in Washington state that was never found.


25 September 1959: A P-5M Marlin patrol aircraft of the US Navy was conducting a mission off Whidbey Island, Washington, while carrying one unarmed nuclear depth charge without its fissile core. The aircraft crashed into Puget Sound and the weapon was never recovered


In fact a lot of nuclear weapons are missing that were never found ... now that's scary :yep:

[Stealhead]

Losing nuclear weapons or arming them unintentionally has happened several times, also in the atlantic and in the mediterranean.

It is not a conspiracy, just bad material and the usual military incompetence (and sheer craziness). If you want a good description of what the cold war was about, see Dr. Strangelove. And i am not kidding :O:


Who said anything was a conspiracy?I never said anything was a conspiracy I merely gave more information one particular incident.I believe that there where 27 Broken Arrows involving US weapons.Some where lost like the one over Spain and the one over Greenland others where found like the ones in North Carolina.

I often wonder how many Broken Arrow type incidents occurred in the Soviet Union,UK,France and China.Surely they had some problems as well.

All of the bombs unrecoverable that where under US military change where lost in deep waters.The one possible exception would be one that a disabled B-47 dropped at some point off the coast of Georgia the exact location was not known it could have been 20 or 30 miles out at sea or right along the coast near Savannah,Ga they searched for it very extensively but never found it.It is possible that it got buried deep into coastal mud.Most of the bombs where not fully armed luckily.

[Oberon]

Aye, we had a few, mostly pretty low scale stuff, traffic accidents and the like, with a much reduced size of our arsenal and less nuclear bombers it's to be expected. Most of the accidents are usually buried under paperwork, but the anti-nuclear groups are pretty good at digging them up, and then usually blowing them out of all proportions (pardon the pun), here's some lists:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/nuclear-missile-error-that-could-have-ravaged-lincolnshire-was-kept-secret-738686.html

http://www.nukewatch.org.uk/accidents.php

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20121026065214/http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/C3FEB537-53A9-4173-8210-95C0886AB273/0/raf_bruggen_boi.pdf

One of our biggest radioactive problems though, doesn't come from a weapon, but from the glow-in-the-dark dials from WWII aircraft which were scrapped and the rubbish dumped on a beach in Scotland...all well and good...but the dials were made out of radium...and as such the beach is now radioactive. :/\\!!

[Platapus]

There was a lot we did not understand about radioactivity in the 40-60's :nope:

[Stealhead]

There was a lot we did not understand about radioactivity in the 40-60's :nope:


The X-ray machines at the shoe stores need I say more?

[Platapus]

The X-ray machines at the shoe stores need I say more?

http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/shoefittingfluor/shoe.htm

Shoe-fitting Fluoroscope

http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/shoefittingfluor/shoe.h2.jpg


http://www.museumofquackery.com/devices/shoexray.htm

By 1970, shoe fitting x-ray units had been banned in 33 states including Minnesota and strict regulation in the remaining 17 states made their operation impractical. Believe it or not, this particular shoe-fitting x-ray unit was found in 1981 in a department store in Madison, West Virginia. It was still being used in the store's shoe department! When it was pointed out to the store managers that it was against West Virginia law to operate a shoe-fitting x-ray unit, they donated it to the USFDA.

Irradiating children's feet. What could possibly go wrong? :doh:

[Stealhead]

In the late 40's it was trendy in medicine to have people soak I guess gamma rays from an X-ray machine if what ever ailed you.My uncle in 49 or 50 when he was about 7 years old they did that to him for some thing not sure what it was a cold maybe as it was around his neck.

Well in the early 70's he started having thyroid problems so they took samples of his thyroid and sent them to experts on radiation caused cancers in Hiroshima Japan who where at the time and I assume still are the leading experts.They advised that the entire thyroid be removed. He has never had any problems since.

[ETR3(SS)]

X-Ray machines emit X-Ray radiation. :up:

[Stealhead]

Well you also have for use on non living things gamma ray machines.they use those to inspect for cracks in aircraft landing gear,wing spars stuff like that.I friend did that job (NDI non destructive inspection) in the USAF.

During NCO school we had to do a presentation about our job his was pretty interesting.One of those gamma ray machines could kill a horse in 30 seconds he might have exaggerated that part a little to make everyone laugh but you do not want to get exposed to the rays they emit.They have a way to block the rays so that they do not go very far.

They use Gamma ray machines to inspect trucks and things at boarders and ports.I always wonder they must somehow verify that no people are hidden inside the object to be inspected.I have seen photos that imply other wise.I suppose they shut the machine off right away if they see people inside.

[Oberon]

I'm just going to leave this here:

http://gizmodo.com/5869753/once-upon-a-time-we-used-radium-condoms-for-glow-in-the-dark-sex


It was quite effective at stopping fertilisation though... :hmmm:

[Platapus]

Any old photographers here?

Some lenses made in the 1940-1970's contained Thorium Oxide.

http://camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Radioactive_lenses

Brings a glow to the cheeks... not the model's, but the photographer's :o

"keep your eye on the little Beta Particle"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ozOMssiP2E

[Stealhead]

I'm just going to leave this here:

http://gizmodo.com/5869753/once-upon-a-time-we-used-radium-condoms-for-glow-in-the-dark-sex


It was quite effective at stopping fertilisation though... :hmmm:


That makes me think of Fallout.

[mapuc]

This story generates a wide what IF?

Have tried to speculate in the aftermath if this hydrobomb went off

Of course the would be millions of dead people directly and after due to radiation

Would it have any influent on the American nuclear program?
a.s.o

Markus

[Oberon]

This story generates a wide what IF?

Have tried to speculate in the aftermath if this hydrobomb went off

Of course the would be millions of dead people directly and after due to radiation

Would it have any influent on the American nuclear program?
a.s.o

Markus

Not millions, at most about 10,000. The area was very rural, it was night-time and raining so most people were indoors, the wind would have blown the fallout off to the east, out to sea and whilst there would be a period of chaos as the US tries to work out what just happened, the fact that there was only one explosion, in a completely non-essential location, would mean that they would quickly realise that it wasn't the Soviet Union.

The social and political aftermath would likely have been pretty extreme, it would have given Greenpeace and CND fuel for decades to come, the anti-nuclear lobby in the US would be even stronger, there would be a lot of public outcry and perhaps a ban on non-essential B-52 flights, although that would be pretty extreme and unlikely to fly (pardon the pun).
North Carolina would have a reasonable sized no-go zone for a few decades afterwards, much in the same way that a good sized portion of Nevada has a no-go zone but life would go on, just as it does in Las Vegas, despite the city being right next to, and indeed, built for the purpose of viewing, one of the US's main nuclear weapons testing grounds.