blitzpackage Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Interesting history about my hometown....... On Tuesday, 24 January 1961, at about 12:30 a.m., two hydrogen bombs fell to earth near the tiny farming village of Faro, NC Obviously, neither bomb yielded its awful potential, or the world would today be mourning an infamous catastrophe. The two model MARK 39 devices came down when the B-52 bomber in which they were riding suffered structural failure and disintegrated in mid-air 12 miles north of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, NC. The plane exploded as it fell. Five crewmen parachuted to earth safely. Three died -- two who went down with the doomed bomber, and one who was found two miles from the crash site hanging by his parachute in a tree, his neck broken. The H-bombs jettisoned as the plane descended, one bomb parachuting to earth intact, the other striking a farmer's field at high speed -- "probably mach 1" (about 760 miles per hour) speculates one retired Air Force Colonel. Safety mechanisms designed to prevent unintended or unauthorized detonation served their function, and a historic nuclear catastrophe was averted. But published sources disagree on how close the people of Wayne County came to suffering fiery annihilation. There is also disagreement in print on the potential yield of the weapons. An on-going environmental concern centers on the portion or portions of one bomb still buried, sunk in a boggy farm field. Quicksand-like conditions made deep excavation impossible where the free-falling bomb came down, and that bomb was never recovered in full. The state of North Carolina still conducts periodic radiation testing on local ground water. It states later in the story that the US Government forced the farmer to sell a 200 ft radius easement surrounding the bomb for $1000(in 1961)in the middle of his farm to be monitored by state and federal officials. More in the article http://www.ibiblio.org/bomb/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#98QBKiller Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Wow. I guess our lives would be way different. I doubt my family would have moved to N.C. after something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blitzpackage Posted February 27, 2007 Author Share Posted February 27, 2007 Wow. I guess our lives would be way different. I doubt my family would have moved to N.C. after something like that. Pretty crazy. It says part of the second bomb remains in the farmer's field and the area is periodically tested for radiation. I could drive to that crossroads from my work in about 5 minutes. Oh well, now I may have a new excuse for my frequent brain farts here on ES. It's the radiation, man!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sisyphus Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 There have been quite a few. In Cumberland MD one went down also in a blizzard and the crew were lost. The warheads were recovered 'relatively intact'. Here's a list of those that are public: http://www.cdi.org/Issues/NukeAccidents/accidents.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blitzpackage Posted February 27, 2007 Author Share Posted February 27, 2007 There have been quite a few. In Cumberland MD one went down also in a blizzard and the crew were lost. The warheads were recovered 'relatively intact'.Here's a list of those that are public: http://www.cdi.org/Issues/NukeAccidents/accidents.htm Thanks for the info. Here is an excerpt on the Goldsboro incident... According to Daniel Ellsberg, the weapon could have accidentally fired because "five of the six safety devices had failed." Nuclear physicist Ralph E. Lapp supported this assertion, saying that "only a single switch" had "prevented the bomb from detonating and spreading fire and destruction over a wide area." In my best Keanu Reeves' voice: "Whoa" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#98QBKiller Posted February 27, 2007 Share Posted February 27, 2007 Pretty crazy. It says part of the second bomb remains in the farmer's field and the area is periodically tested for radiation. I could drive to that crossroads from my work in about 5 minutes.Oh well, now I may have a new excuse for my frequent brain farts here on ES. It's the radiation, man!!!! If there's a pond nearby, I'd suggest looking for the infamous 3-eyed fish from the Simpsons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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