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Declassified report: Two nuclear bombs nearly wiped out North Carolina
CNN ^ | 6/12/14 | Emma Lacey-Bordeaux

Posted on 06/12/2014 8:19:31 AM PDT by TangledUpInBlue

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."

Or, as Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara put it in back then, "By the slightest margin of chance, literally the failure of two wires to cross, a nuclear explosion was averted."

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: History; Military/Veterans
KEYWORDS: northcarolina; nuclearbombs
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To: lefty-lie-spy
FWIW, my father was a USDA Field Agent in SW Utah and eastern Nevada when I was a tot. His job was just to check livestock diseases. They told him all the mysterious sheep deaths which were occurring at the time had nothing to do with the atomic testing.

When he insisted that it was a probable cause, they demoted him to an office job in Denver. He quit soon thereafter and got a real job in the private sector.

21 posted on 06/12/2014 8:56:59 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: Don Corleone
Lets see. James Bond was on scene to cut the wires just as the timer hit 007! USA shaken but not stirred.

The real James Bond (Connery) didn't have a clue how to disarm a nuclear bomb,we all learned that in Goldfinger. It wasn't until the clown James Bond (Moore) that he was an expert on everything except being witty and manly.

22 posted on 06/12/2014 9:01:49 AM PDT by Mastador1 (I'll take a bad dog over a good politician any day!)
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To: Hulka

A Titan II missle leaked rocket fuel in Arkansas and blew a warhead a quarter of a mile without any incident. 1970’s era.

Silos were in a pretty rural area but that still caused a scare. I believe all our current arms use solid fuel.
Much cheaper and safer.

The old Titans were fitted with some solid boosters and used to launch satellites I think.


23 posted on 06/12/2014 9:03:25 AM PDT by TLOne (All terrorists want is for us to bow and worship their god. Oh, and to let them rule.)
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To: ken5050

This was the era of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I wasn’t even born yet, but from what I’ve read it was a very tense time. Having bombers with armed nuclear bombs flying out of or over NC, with the large number of military bases there, is not at all surprising.


24 posted on 06/12/2014 9:06:18 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: Hulka

The book 15 Minutes has a chapter on this event. I highly recommend reading this book. Netflix also has Trinity and Beyond, a documentary of all 335 above ground nuke tests. We played with matches in a dynamite storage room.


25 posted on 06/12/2014 9:07:34 AM PDT by SpeakerToAnimals (I hope to earn a name in battle)
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To: lefty-lie-spy
I had heard of an A-bomb being lost off the coast. The details would indicate that it was a separate incident. I can't remember exactly where it was lost though.
26 posted on 06/12/2014 9:11:58 AM PDT by Know et al (Keep on Freepin'!!!)
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To: Know et al

Georgia.


27 posted on 06/12/2014 9:12:26 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: Repeal The 17th

Are you serious? What’s story behind the Savannah nuke?


28 posted on 06/12/2014 9:15:13 AM PDT by Andy'smom (How many more acts of love can we take?)
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To: TangledUpInBlue

I saw it on the news ticker on CNN this morning but hadn’t read about the details. Pretty scary stuff.


29 posted on 06/12/2014 9:15:47 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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To: TangledUpInBlue

After this incident they started putting fail safe devices on the cores to prevent an accidentally nuclear device going off...

We shared that technology with the soviets after a rogue submarine lanched a nuclear attack against Pearl Harbour.....in May,1967...

Thank God...the detonation device to start the nuclear explosion failed and sank the sub...

The CIA thinks the KGB was behind it....


30 posted on 06/12/2014 9:26:15 AM PDT by Popman ("Resistance to Tyrants is Obedience to God" - Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Andy'smom

Most of the data is not new.

Chrome dome flights and other active Nuke carrier aircraft running racetrack paths were common in the cold war.

The incidents like this one cause the us to invest in passive action locks and 1 point explosives which nearly equaled the earlier “pit” design for safety.

for a tech desc.
http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/315002m.pdf


31 posted on 06/12/2014 9:27:07 AM PDT by Bidimus1
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To: TangledUpInBlue; rlmorel; zot; ken5050

These are the official reports that provide the details of what happened. It was general news when it happened.

Nearly went off because of an extraordinary event that caused the safeguards to be wrecked.


32 posted on 06/12/2014 9:31:52 AM PDT by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
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To: RegulatorCountry

Missile crisis was a year + later


33 posted on 06/12/2014 9:33:25 AM PDT by ken5050 ("One useless man is a shame, two are a law firm, three or more are a Congress".. John Adams)
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To: Andy'smom

“... What’s the story behind the Savannah nuke? ...”
-
Very simple to find:
https://www.google.com/search?q=story+behind+Savannah+nuke
It is the first link that pops up.


34 posted on 06/12/2014 9:36:00 AM PDT by Repeal The 17th (We have met the enemy and he is us.)
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To: TangledUpInBlue

I think my dad was stationed near Goldsboro then. Means I would not be here today.


35 posted on 06/12/2014 9:41:25 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Repeal The 17th

Thanks. My daughter goes to school close to that area.


36 posted on 06/12/2014 9:51:43 AM PDT by Andy'smom (How many more acts of love can we take?)
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To: Know et al

I’m familiar with that incident too. There is a good list on wikipedia if you search for “Broken Arrow”; a list of nuclear terminology terms and incidents will show.


37 posted on 06/12/2014 9:53:34 AM PDT by lefty-lie-spy (Stay metal. For the Horde \m/("_")\m/ - via iPhone from Tokyo.)
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To: jim999
Of course this would never happen under Clinton or Obama.

That reminds me of when Clinton lost the codes.

38 posted on 06/12/2014 9:54:44 AM PDT by SeeSharp
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To: Andy'smom

It’s been lying there for way over 50 years;
since back when I was 7 years old.
They gave up looking for it;
it ain’t going nowhere.


39 posted on 06/12/2014 9:56:23 AM PDT by Repeal The 17th (We have met the enemy and he is us.)
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To: Know et al

Here it is: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_Tybee_Island_mid-air_collision


40 posted on 06/12/2014 9:57:18 AM PDT by lefty-lie-spy (Stay metal. For the Horde \m/("_")\m/ - via iPhone from Tokyo.)
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