Mar. 11, 1958

[Brad]

Ok, so what's so special about that date? That was the date of the Mars Bluff Atomic Bomb incident.

From Time Magazine's website:

Drooping, knife-edge wings raised to flight, black exhaust streaming from six jet engines, the Strategic Air Command's B-47 No. 876 hurtled into the air from the runway at Hunter Air Force Base at Savannah one afternoon last week. Along with most of SAC's 308th Bomb Wing, No. 876 was headed off on a highly classified flight—Operation Snow Flurry—to one of the four SAC fields in North Africa.

As the plane climbed toward 15,000 feet, Captain Earl Koehler, 36, the plane commander, saw a light flash on his instrument panel. This was a warning and an urgent one: the electrical bomb-locking system was malfunctioning, and in the bomb bay lay an unarmed nuclear bomb.

Slipping Pig. Navigator Bruce Kulka unbuckled his seat and shoulder harnesses, scooted up from his seat in the nose to the crawlway, opened a hatch and squeezed into the floodlighted bomb bay. There the big bomb—SACmen call it a "pig"—hung from its single shackle. Cautiously, Kulka tried to slide a big steel pin through the shackle to hold the pig in case the electrical lock let go. The bomb began to wobble. Desperately, Kulka worked on.

Suddenly the bomb unhinged, dropped through the fragile bomb-bay doors, which flapped open, fell out of the B-47. Somehow Kulka managed to catch hold of something—he cannot remember what it was—and hung on for his life in the empty bomb bay in the whistling wind. Back in the flight cabin, Koehler heard a rumble, and Copilot Charles Woodruff idly noticed a shock wave radiating on the ground. "Just like a concussion wave from a bomb," Woodruff told himself. Then, with a shock, he realized what had happened. Captain Koehler closed the bomb-bay doors and reported to his flight leader: "This is Garfield 13. I am aborting the mission." He explained why, radioed his story for relay to his home base.

As No. 876 circled the area, taking photographs, logging everything, the airmen watched pale-faced as tiny ambulances sped toward a South Carolina community with the incredibly appropriate name of Mars Bluff.

Vaporized Hen. The unarmed bomb slammed down in the gummy loam near Florence (pop. 30,000) and went off with the impact and power of a 2,000-lb. World War H-type RDX bomb. Its exploding charge of TNT, part of the nuclear trigger device, dug a 20-ft. crater in the backyard of the asbestos-shingle home of Railroad Conductor Walter ("Bill") Gregg, 37, cut and bruised Gregg, his wife, his three children and his niece, damaged seven buildings, killed one hen and probably vaporized a dozen more. Within minutes the curious began pouring toward the crater. Kids soon spotted jagged chunks of shiny metal, carted them home in paper bags until Air Force police moved in.

Technicians deployed their Geiger counters to check the level of radioactivity. Report: no danger. Reason: nuclear bombs have been painstakingly designed so that they cannot function unless they go through a complex arming process, and the Air Force is not likely to fly with armed nuclear bombs this side of the Iron Curtain or the Pole.

Dangers in Defense. No. 876's unarmed atomic bomb nonetheless went off thunderously around the world, and nowhere more so than in London, where Socialists, pacifists and many Fleet Street editors latched on to a new gimmick for their campaign against U.S. Air Force nuclear patrols over Britain. Radio Moscow chipped in to say that all nuclear flights ought to be grounded: "Events have shown how topical this warning is."

But, while Defense Secretary McElroy hailed SAC's bomb-safety precautions, and while SAC investigated No. 876's bomb-locking system, it was Florence that best told Britain and Moscow the reasons why. Said Mayor David McLeod: "We all realize that we live in periled times, and our nation must be prepared to defend itself at a moment's notice. There are dangers in such defense, and this is one of the dangers."

World War II Paratrooper Bill Gregg, owner of the wrecked frame house, could not have agreed more. Once his astonishment had worn off and Air Force lawyers had assured him that things would be put to rights, he remarked: "I always wanted a swimming pool, and now I've got the hole for one at no cost. I may open it to the public—charge them for swimming in uranium-enriched waters."

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,868306,00.html

In short this was one of the few instances where an atomic bomb was dropped on the US, and the only one that resulted in the destruction of civilian property. The fuse was armed and that along with the detonation charges went off. Fortunantely the atomic warhead itself was not in place inside the bomb, else I probably wouldn't be typing this post right now, considering that my parents lived in this town off and on again since they were born.

Anyways, just thought I'd share that nifty Aerospace Education bit for everybody. Also, our squadron has been asked to assist with "crowd control" with the ceremony that will be taking place that Tuesday evening. I've never been to the site, but if I understand it right, it's within running distance of my university, I'm serious. Small, crazy world at times!

[♠SARKID♠]

Almost as good as the time we accidentally dropped four nukes on Spain.  Same situation though, no warheads.

[PHall]

Almost as good as the time we accidentally dropped four nukes on Spain.  Same situation though, no warheads.

WRONG!!!!!!!!

They were armed, It was an Airborne Alert mission and the accident happened when the B-52 and the KC-135 collided during air refueling.
The three weapons that impacted on land had their conventional explosives detonate but the nuclear materials did not go off since the weapons were in the "safe" mode for the air refueling.
The explosions resulted in radioactive plutonium dust contamination of the areas they impacted.
The fourth weapon landed in the ocean and was recovered by the Navy using, IIRC, the Alvin.

Go look up the Palamares Spain accident.

[CASH172]

They were armed, It was an Airborne Alert mission and the accident happened when the B-52 and the KC-135 collided during air refueling.

I still find it amazing that the AF still use those aircraft.