Re: In 1958, America accidentally dropped a nuclear weapon on two ...
Group: rec.sport.pro-wrestling Date: Thu, Apr 26, 2012, 8:58am (EDT-3)
From: rjs2...@aol.com (rob)
On Apr 25, 9:50 pm, BillV2...@webtv.net (The Saltex Brujo) wrote:
Re: In 1958, America accidentally dropped a nuclear weapon on two little
g
Group: rec.sport.pro-wrestling Date: Wed, Apr 25, 2012, 11:46am (EDT-3)
From: rjs2...@aol.com (rob)
On Apr 25, 8:55 am, BillV2...@webtv.net (The Saltex Brujo) wrote: In
1958, America accidentally dropped a nuclear weapon on two little
girls’ playhouse
For certain rural residents of the Carolinas during the Cold War,
apocalyptic anxiety hit disturbingly close to home. In 1958 and 1961,
the American Air Force lost nuclear weapons over the skies of South and
North Carolina, respectively, raining potential apocalypse on the folks
below.
In both incidents, complete catastrophe was avoided thanks to that
ever-potent combination of foresight and unmitigated dumb luck. And in
the former incident, the bomb fell square on some unsuspecting
children's playhouse.
The first accident occurred over Florence, South Carolina on March 11,
1958, slightly after 4:30 in the afternoon. An American B-47E bomber was
flying from Savannah, Georgia to Bruntingthorpe Air Base in England for
exercises â€" onboard was a Mark 6 30-kiloton fission bomb. After
experiencing some mid-flight difficulties with the bomb's locking pin,
Captain Bruce Kulka entered the aircraft's bomb bay to inspect the
device. It was at this very moment that the dark slapstick inadvertently
started. Recounts American Heritage magazine of the Kubrickian scene
that unfolded next:
The task was doomed from the start; later testimony indicated Kulka had
no idea where to find the locking pin in the large and complicated
bomb-release mechanism. After a tense 12 minutes searching for the pin,
the bombardier decided, correctly, that it must be high up in the bomb
bay and invisible because of the curvature of the bomb. A short man, he
jumped to pull himself up to get a look at where he thought the locking
pin should be. Unfortunately, he evidently chose the emergency
bomb-release mechanism for his handhold. The weapon dropped from its
shackle and rested momentarily on the closed bomb-bay doors with Captain
Kulka splayed across it in the manner of Slim Pickens in Dr.
Strangelove. Kulka grabbed at a bag that had providentially been stored
in the bomb bay, while the more-than-three-ton bomb broke open the
bomb-bay doors and fell earthward. The bag Kulka was holding came loose,
and he found himself sliding after the bomb without his parachute. He
managed to grab something-he wasn't sure what-and haul himself to
safety. Moments later the plane was rocked by the shock wave of the
blast when the bomb hit the ground.
And Kulka's reaction ? "Oh...I dropped the damn thing."
Fortunately, the bomb's nuclear core had been stored elsewhere on the
aircraft. Unfortunately, the loose 7,600-pound bomb â€" which
contained concussion-activated explosives â€" fell adjacent to
37-year-old Walter Gregg's home in Mars Bluff, South Carolina, promptly
transforming his vegetable garden and his daughters' playhouse into a
70-foot-wide, 35-foot-deep crater.
Nobody died from this explosion, but all five members of the Gregg
family (and one visiting cousin) were injured in the ensuing blast. The
Greggs would successfully sue the Air Force for $54,000. And the crew of
the B-47E? They were initially detained â€" officials worried this
bombing was an act of sabotage â€" but otherwise avoided reprimand.
(The bomber crew at least had the decency to apologize to the Greggs.)
Nowadays the crater sits on private property , but you can visit the
spot on Google Maps.
The second accidental bombing of the Carolinas occurred around midnight
on January 24, 1961, when a B-52G bomber broke up near Goldsboro, North
Carolina after a leak was noticed during a standard mid-air refueling.
The aircraft's wreckage fell over farmland in the small town of Faro.
Five of the eight crew members survived this crash. Pilot Adam Maddocks
managed to survive without an ejector seat, parachuting off the plane as
it spiraled to the ground . After the accident, Major Richard Rardin
noted the difficulties of crash-landing in rural North Carolina: I could
see three or four other chutes against the glow of the wreckage. The
plane hit ten or twelve seconds after bail out. I hit some trees. I had
a fix on some lights and started walking. My biggest difficulty getting
back was the various and sundry dogs I encountered on the road. Two Mark
39 thermonuclear weapons were onboard the bomber. One of these bombs
parachuted to the ground, whereas the other smashed into a farmer's
field at give or take 700 miles per hour, losing its uranium component
in the process.
Unlike the 1958 mishap, the Goldsboro crash could have had dire
consequences for the Tar Heel State. As the bombs' deactivator Dr. Jack
Revelle later admitted , "How close was it to exploding? My
opinion is damn close. You might now have a very large Bay of North
Carolina if that thing had gone off." The University of North Carolina
elaborates further on this belated realization : Robert McNamara,
then Secretary of Defense, admitted that when the parachute-less bomb
was found, its arming mechanism had accidentally gone through all but
one of the seven steps toward detonation. More alarming information
about the crash was revealed later. In 1992, Congress released a summary
of the Goldsboro accident indicating that, according to investigators,
upon impact the parachute-less bomb had broken into several pieces, one
of which was never found. The missing piece contained uranium, and it
was believed that it may have struck the ground so hard that it sank
deep into the soft, swampy earth. Lest you think some free uranium is up
for grabs, the Air Force has purchased the land where the non-parachuted
second bomb fell. For those of you who are now in an apocalyptic mood,
here are some other occasions we almost nuked ourselves . And for
those readers who just can't wait for civilization to collapse, know
that you can always live out your Hunger Games fantasies right
outside of Asheville. Finally, check out a more comprehensive list of
nuclear whoopsies over at CDI . Via University of North Carolina ,
iBiblio , The Columbia Star , and Motherboard . Photos (in order)
via The Columbia Star, Express Lane , and Sonic Bomb . Contact
Cyriaque Lamar:
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('( ' Fuck /' ')
\ You' /
'\' _.7'
\ (
\ \
DON'T TAZE MY GRANNY!
BEWARE OF OL' JEEZL PETE.
2012-THE YEAR OF THE ROBBY.
we should nuclear bomb north korea!
ol' Mac was pushing for it back in the Korean War!
_
/'_/)
,/_ /
/ /
/'_'/' '/'__'7,
/'/ / / /" /_\
('( ' Fuck /' ')
\ You' /
'\' _.7'
\ (
\ \
DON'T TAZE MY GRANNY!
BEWARE OF OL' JEEZL PETE.
2012-THE YEAR OF THE ROBBY.
well why the hell didnt we do it? then we wouldnt have to deal with
their stupid leaders now. they said they were going to wipe seoul or
however you spell it off the earth.
it was a pretty complicated thing.
they were afraid if they used nukes on NK it would provoke the Chincs
and the Russkies to start WW3 and the russians had nukes by then.
_
/'_/)
,/_ /
/ /
/'_'/' '/'__'7,
/'/ / / /" /_\
('( ' Fuck /' ')
\ You' /
'\' _.7'
\ (
\ \
DON'T TAZE MY GRANNY!
BEWARE OF OL' JEEZL PETE.
2012-THE YEAR OF THE ROBBY.
