The mishap of 1961 in North Carolina (time period and overview)
The Cold war (or the period from 1947 to 1991) was a period during which the tensions between USA and Soviet Union was increasing rapidly and USA felt the need to defend itself from Soviet Union and prevent the spread of communism. The rapid deterioration of relations between the United States and Soviet Union made Soviet Union a threat and USA needed bomber planes capable of flying to the communist nation in Eurasia and fly back to the air base and powerful bomber planes like the B-2 Spirit, the B-1 Lancer and the B-52H Stratofortres were used for this purpose,they frequently patrolled airspace in the case of an event that made the US have a need for dropping a bomb in the communist nation. Among them the B-52 G bomber was the most powerful and it arose from a U.S. Air Force requirement for a powerful bomber. In 1961 during such patrolling one of the B-52 plane crashed on its way to return to air base and it is one of the most dreadful event that could have occurred on American soil.The B-52 plane was carrying two nuclear bombs, each with a force 260 times more powerful than the bomb dropped over Hiroshima and 8 crew members of the US Air Force and 2 atomic bombs making their way back from a communist nations airspace. Shortly after takeoff the plane began to experience technical difficulties and began to break into pieces in mid-air. The B-52 plane broke up in midair and the bombs were dropped near Goldsboro, North Carolina. In 2013, government documents about the incident were declassified, and they reported that one of the two bombs was nearly detonated in the crash. These bombs could have destroyed a 220 square mile area, but careful recovery of the crash prevented it. In fact the country was close to lose an entire coast to nuclear radiation.
what happened and what caused the B-52 plane crash of 1961
The Bomber aircraft, a B-52 G,was based at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro. In January 24, 1961 the B-52 g Stratofortress was carrying two 3.8 megaton Mark 39 hydrogen bombs from Goldsboro, NC on a mission.Before taking off the bomber plane crew had a conference with a tanker for aerial refueling. During the meeting, the tanker crew advised the B-52 aircraft commander, Major Walter Scott Tulloch, that the aircraft had a fuel leak in the right wing. The refueling was aborted, and ground control was notified of the problem. However, when the B-52 reached its assigned position, the pilot reported that the leak had worsened and that 19 tons (17,000 kg) of fuel had been lost in two minutes. The aircraft was immediately directed to return and land at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
As it descended through 10,000 feet for approaching the right wing got torn off in mid air as a result the pilots were no longer able to control and the commander ordered the crew to eject and following the order the crew ejected at 9,000 feet. Five men jumped out and landed safely. Another jumped out but did not survive the landing, and two died in the crash .The third pilot of the bomber, Lt. Adam Mattocks, ejected the B-52 without an ejection seat and he was the first pilot to survive the landing without an ejection seat.The 3.8 megaton Mark 39 bombs separated from the aircraft and broke up between 1000 to 2000 feet above the ground.One of the Mark 39 bomb plunged into a muddy field at around 700 miles per hour and shattered without detonation of its conventional explosives. The tail was discovered about 20 feet below ground. Pieces of the bomb were recovered. Although the bomb was partially armed when it left the aircraft, an unclosed high-voltage switch had prevented it from fully arming.the second bomb was found largely intact with its parachute still attached but three aircrew died in the accident: Sergeant Francis Roger Barnish (35), Major Eugene Holcombe Richards (42), and Major Eugene Shelton (41)
The wreckage of the aircraft covered a 2-square-mile area of tobacco and cotton farmland at Faro, about 12 miles (19 km) north of Goldsboro. However, fallout calculations from the blog Nuclear Secrecy show that radiation could have spread all along the Eastern Seaboard - from Washington, DC, to Baltimore, Philadelphia and even New York City - if the wind was blowing in the wrong direction Most of the arming mechanisms of one of the bombs got activated but the deployment of the bomb with a retard parachute caused the bomb to do little damage, otherwise the bomb could wipe out an entire coast and be the result of deaths of thousands of lives
The Bomber aircraft, a B-52 G,was based at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro. In January 24, 1961 the B-52 g Stratofortress was carrying two 3.8 megaton Mark 39 hydrogen bombs from Goldsboro, NC on a mission.Before taking off the bomber plane crew had a conference with a tanker for aerial refueling. During the meeting, the tanker crew advised the B-52 aircraft commander, Major Walter Scott Tulloch, that the aircraft had a fuel leak in the right wing. The refueling was aborted, and ground control was notified of the problem. However, when the B-52 reached its assigned position, the pilot reported that the leak had worsened and that 19 tons (17,000 kg) of fuel had been lost in two minutes. The aircraft was immediately directed to return and land at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
As it descended through 10,000 feet for approaching the right wing got torn off in mid air as a result the pilots were no longer able to control and the commander ordered the crew to eject and following the order the crew ejected at 9,000 feet. Five men jumped out and landed safely. Another jumped out but did not survive the landing, and two died in the crash .The third pilot of the bomber, Lt. Adam Mattocks, ejected the B-52 without an ejection seat and he was the first pilot to survive the landing without an ejection seat.The 3.8 megaton Mark 39 bombs separated from the aircraft and broke up between 1000 to 2000 feet above the ground.One of the Mark 39 bomb plunged into a muddy field at around 700 miles per hour and shattered without detonation of its conventional explosives. The tail was discovered about 20 feet below ground. Pieces of the bomb were recovered. Although the bomb was partially armed when it left the aircraft, an unclosed high-voltage switch had prevented it from fully arming.the second bomb was found largely intact with its parachute still attached but three aircrew died in the accident: Sergeant Francis Roger Barnish (35), Major Eugene Holcombe Richards (42), and Major Eugene Shelton (41)
The wreckage of the aircraft covered a 2-square-mile area of tobacco and cotton farmland at Faro, about 12 miles (19 km) north of Goldsboro. However, fallout calculations from the blog Nuclear Secrecy show that radiation could have spread all along the Eastern Seaboard - from Washington, DC, to Baltimore, Philadelphia and even New York City - if the wind was blowing in the wrong direction Most of the arming mechanisms of one of the bombs got activated but the deployment of the bomb with a retard parachute caused the bomb to do little damage, otherwise the bomb could wipe out an entire coast and be the result of deaths of thousands of lives
Q&A
1. How close were the bombs to exploding?
One of the bombs went through the 3 of the 4 safety stages and a failed parachute makes it very close to denotation. The failed stage was a armed switch which had to be thrown by the commanding pilot. Possible it was switched in the air or an electrician jolt but that failed. One bomb had the parachute deployed and “unarmed” and was safe. The bomb without a parachute almost hit 700 MPH. It landed 20 ft below the ground. When the bomb touched down, a firing signal was sent to the nuclear core of the device, and it was only this single switch that prevented catastrophe. "The MK 39 Mod 2 bomb did not possess adequate safety for the airborne alert role in the B-52," Jones concluded. The bomb failed 3 of the 4 safety steps and was armed through 5 of the 6 arming steps.
2. How Big was the bomb?
cylindrical device measuring 11 feet seven inches in length and weighing between 9,000 and 10,000 lbs. Hansen wrote in 1990 that the potential yield of the Mark-39 bomb in the Goldsboro incident was "2 to 2.5 megatons". Highest possible amount is 4 megatons, that is Hiroshima 250 times over. Common misinformation that the bomb was 24 megatons as the United States never made a weapon that high of damage.
The highest being 15 to 20 megatons.
3.How many times did accidents like this occur?
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/12/us/north-carolina-nuclear-bomb-drop/index.html
There was 21 similar incidents. Happened in many states and in other countries, Greenland, Spain, Morocco and England, and over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and the Mediterranean Sea.
1. How close were the bombs to exploding?
One of the bombs went through the 3 of the 4 safety stages and a failed parachute makes it very close to denotation. The failed stage was a armed switch which had to be thrown by the commanding pilot. Possible it was switched in the air or an electrician jolt but that failed. One bomb had the parachute deployed and “unarmed” and was safe. The bomb without a parachute almost hit 700 MPH. It landed 20 ft below the ground. When the bomb touched down, a firing signal was sent to the nuclear core of the device, and it was only this single switch that prevented catastrophe. "The MK 39 Mod 2 bomb did not possess adequate safety for the airborne alert role in the B-52," Jones concluded. The bomb failed 3 of the 4 safety steps and was armed through 5 of the 6 arming steps.
2. How Big was the bomb?
cylindrical device measuring 11 feet seven inches in length and weighing between 9,000 and 10,000 lbs. Hansen wrote in 1990 that the potential yield of the Mark-39 bomb in the Goldsboro incident was "2 to 2.5 megatons". Highest possible amount is 4 megatons, that is Hiroshima 250 times over. Common misinformation that the bomb was 24 megatons as the United States never made a weapon that high of damage.
The highest being 15 to 20 megatons.
3.How many times did accidents like this occur?
http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/12/us/north-carolina-nuclear-bomb-drop/index.html
There was 21 similar incidents. Happened in many states and in other countries, Greenland, Spain, Morocco and England, and over the Pacific and Atlantic oceans and the Mediterranean Sea.
work sources and citations
“3 Killed As Jet Crashes.” 3 Killed As Jet Crashes, 24 Jan. 1961. The Longview Daily News, basic.newspapers.com/image/178582302/?terms=goldsboro.
Bureau of Public Affairs, 8 Aug. 1990. nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb475/docs/doc%207.pdf.
Burr, William. “New Details on the 1961 Goldsboro Nuclear Accident.” New Details on the 1961 Goldsboro Nuclear Accident, nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb475/#_ednref1.
Burr, William. Bombs Over Goldsboro. UNC Libraries, www.learnnc.org/lp/pdf/bombs-over-goldsboro-p6005.pdf.
“ Goldsboro Revisited: Account of Hydrogen Bomb near-Disaster over North Carolina – Declassified Document.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 20 Sept. 2013, www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/20/goldsboro-revisited-declassified-document.
“3 Killed As Jet Crashes.” 3 Killed As Jet Crashes, 24 Jan. 1961. The Longview Daily News, basic.newspapers.com/image/178582302/?terms=goldsboro.
Bureau of Public Affairs, 8 Aug. 1990. nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb475/docs/doc%207.pdf.
Burr, William. “New Details on the 1961 Goldsboro Nuclear Accident.” New Details on the 1961 Goldsboro Nuclear Accident, nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb475/#_ednref1.
Burr, William. Bombs Over Goldsboro. UNC Libraries, www.learnnc.org/lp/pdf/bombs-over-goldsboro-p6005.pdf.
“ Goldsboro Revisited: Account of Hydrogen Bomb near-Disaster over North Carolina – Declassified Document.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 20 Sept. 2013, www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/20/goldsboro-revisited-declassified-document.