WILMINGTON – Turns out, nuclear weapons can be dangerous.
Knowing this, one would think that our military would treat nuclear warheads with at least as much care and concern as Ralphie’s father did with that Italian leg lamp from “Fra-GEE-lee” so many Christmases ago.
However, our country seems to causally toss around our nuclear arsenal like baggage handlers on the tarmac at the end of their shift.
Since 1950, the US military has officially recognized THIRTY-TWO “broken arrow” events – that is, a major accident involving a nuclear weapon.
Two such events in the late 50’s and early 60’s hit very close to home (pun intended).
In 1958, Mars Bluff, South Carolina was nearly turned into a version of its planetary namesake when a Mark 6 nuclear bomb was accidentally released from a Boeing B-47 flying over the area.
During the flight, Air Force Captain Bruce Kulka was summoned to the bomb bay area to investigate a fault light indicating that the bomb’s locking harness pin had not engaged correctly.
While attempting to pull himself up to take a look, Kulka accidentally grabbed the emergency release pin for the bomb itself and the 8,000lb nuke dropped to the floor.
The weight of the bomb caused the bomb bay doors to fly open, and Kulka watched in horror as the nuclear warhead fell some 15,000ft to the ground below.
Luckily, the warhead did not contain the fissile nuclear core at the time but the impact of the bomb itself did plenty of damage.
It smashed into a playhouse for the children of the Gregg family who, thankfully, were about 200 yards away from the spot when it exploded.
The bomb left a crater 70 feet wide and 35 feet deep, injuring the entire Gregg family, who would go on to successfully sue the US Government for the accident and were awarded $54,000 in damages (about $450,000 today).
The accident came down to simple human error and subsequently changed the design of the bomb bay doors on nuclear warhead-carrying planes; it should not be simple to accidently release a nuclear bomb.
While the nuke dropped on Mars Bluff did not contain its nuclear core (and therefore was not at risk of a nuclear detonation), the two (yes, TWO) nukes dropped onto Goldsboro, NC were a different story.
While flying over Goldsboro, NC in 1961, a B-52 bomber carrying two Mark 39 nuclear bombs (with nuclear cores intact) began to break apart during a routine mid-air refueling.
Five of the eight crewmen on board at the time successfully ejected from the plane as the two nuclear warheads they were carrying plummeted towards the ground along with the rest of the wreckage.
The safety parachute of the first bomb successfully deployed and it was found standing straight up, having become entangled with a tree.
The turbulence of the descent had successfully completed its arming sequence, with only a single switch out of four preventing detonation.
The safety chute of the second bomb did not activate, however, and it plunged deep into a muddy field at around 700 MPH and mostly disintegrated upon impact.
The arm/safety switch of this bomb was eventually located and found to be in the “armed” position.
A single low voltage switch (think flipping a light switch) miraculously failed to close and was the only thing preventing detonation of the warhead.
Excavation of this bomb was deemed too dangerous due to constant ground flooding and pieces of the wreckage, including its plutonium and uranium thermonuclear stage, remain there to this day.
The University of Chapel Hill at North Carolina eventually purchased a 400’ easement around the wreckage and deemed the depth of the nuke to be about 180’ deep.
If you ever want to test out your new Geiger counter, just look for the “Nuclear Mishap” historical road marker in the town of Eureka, NC, about 3 miles north of the unfenced crash site!
