North Carolina was very lucky back in 1961

eddie · 09-20-13, 09:07 PM

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!!

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-...-in-1961-paper

Red October1984 · 09-20-13, 09:18 PM

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 · 09-20-13, 09:41 PM

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.

Catfish · 09-21-13, 05:37 AM

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

Cybermat47 · 09-21-13, 06:13 AM

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

Betonov · 09-21-13, 06:44 AM

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

Dread Knot · 09-21-13, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cybermat47

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

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

Wolferz · 09-21-13, 06:55 AM

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.

North Carolina would've been a total write off.

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

Oberon · 09-21-13, 08:20 AM

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 · 09-21-13, 11:28 AM

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

Quote:

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

Stealhead · 09-21-13, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 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

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 · 09-21-13, 01:13 PM

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/sc...et-738686.html

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

http://webarchive.nationalarchives.g...ruggen_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 · 09-21-13, 02:20 PM

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

Stealhead · 09-21-13, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Platapus

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

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

Platapus · 09-21-13, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stealhead

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

http://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/s...fluor/shoe.htm

Shoe-fitting Fluoroscope

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

Quote:

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?

09-20-13, 09:07 PM	#1
eddie Ocean Warrior Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Minnesota Posts: 3,023 Downloads: 99 Uploads: 0	North Carolina was very lucky back in 1961 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!! 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-...-in-1961-paper __________________ Don't mistake my kindness for weakness. I'm kind to everyone, but when someone is unkind to me, weak is not what you are going to remember about me. Al Capone

09-20-13, 09:18 PM	#2
Red October1984 Airplane Nerd Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Texas Posts: 6,243 Downloads: 115 Uploads: 0	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. __________________

09-20-13, 09:41 PM	#3
Stealhead Navy Seal Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Kentucky Posts: 5,421 Downloads: 85 Uploads: 0	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. Last edited by Stealhead; 09-20-13 at 10:12 PM.

09-21-13, 06:13 AM	#5
Cybermat47 Willing Webfooted Beast Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Australia Posts: 5,408 Downloads: 300 Uploads: 23	Lucky. If it had gone off, there would have been Carolina and Crater __________________ Historical TWoS Gameplay Guide: http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?p=2572620 Historical FotRSU Gameplay Guide: https://www.subsim.com/radioroom/sho....php?p=2713394

09-21-13, 06:55 AM	#8
Wolferz Navy Seal Join Date: May 2007 Location: On a mighty quest for the Stick of Truth Posts: 5,963 Downloads: 52 Uploads: 0	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. North Carolina would've been a total write off. Maybe this is why we were always having those drills in school. __________________ Tomorrow never comes

09-21-13, 05:37 AM	#4
Catfish Dipped Squirrel Operative Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: ..where the ocean meets the sky Posts: 17,766 Downloads: 38 Uploads: 0	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

09-21-13, 06:44 AM	#6
Betonov Navy Seal Join Date: May 2009 Location: Slovenia Posts: 8,647 Downloads: 26 Uploads: 0	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

09-21-13, 08:20 AM	#9
Oberon Lucky Jack Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 25,976 Downloads: 61 Uploads: 20	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.

09-21-13, 01:13 PM	#12
Oberon Lucky Jack Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 25,976 Downloads: 61 Uploads: 20	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/sc...et-738686.html http://www.nukewatch.org.uk/accidents.php http://webarchive.nationalarchives.g...ruggen_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.

09-21-13, 02:20 PM	#13
Platapus Fleet Admiral Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19,361 Downloads: 63 Uploads: 0	There was a lot we did not understand about radioactivity in the 40-60's __________________ abusus non tollit usum - A right should NOT be withheld from people on the basis that some tend to abuse that right.