USAF nearly nuked North Carolina in 1961

[Resora]

Good thing it didn't go off then, or it would come under the list of really dumb military mistakes.

If it had gone off, it would have sparked nuclear war. Everybody would assume the Soviets had dropped the bomb, and not unreasonably.

[Pagan Hungary]

Saw this on the World of Tanks forum, pretty frightening for people in that area and the whole US of A.

[The blood ravens]

Saw this on the World of Tanks forum, pretty frightening for people in that area and the whole US of A.

Even if it did go off it wouldn't have been a nuclear explosion, unless the crew inserted the core for some reason.

[Len Hyet]

"secret" Documents.

The Washington Post reported it as a declassified document. Three of the four failsafes failed. That's why there were four failsafes.

[Sebtopiaris]

What would happen to the US government if North Carolina actually got nuked?

[Benuty]

What would happen to the US government if North Carolina actually got nuked?

People would be absolutely barking mad if they found out it was the US and not the Soviets who had done it.

[Starkiller101]

This doesn't suprise me

[European Socialist Republic]

What would happen to the US government if North Carolina actually got nuked?

The Soviets would ridicule them and Krushchev would laugh in JFK's face.

[The Revolutionary Fighters of Intel]

What would happen to the US government if North Carolina actually got nuked?

They would blame it on terrorists, China, North Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Vietnam, Laos, Cuba, England, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Iran, Libya, Egypt, Panama, Russia, many of it's other enemies, people that it has fought against or will fight against.

[Arumdaum]

What would happen to the US government if North Carolina actually got nuked?

No Cuban Missile Crisis.

[Benuty]

What would happen to the US government if North Carolina actually got nuked?

No Cuban Missile Crisis.

If we were lucky at best it would have been a limited missile conflict followed by a war lasting into the late 1960s ( Soviet invasion of Germany and Alaska, reigniting the Korean conflict, Vietnamese conflict intensifying, US invasion of Cuba, and a multi front war in Africa).

[Napkiraly]

Come to Australia, the climate's great!

Amazing considering the pacific was sunbathed several times from atom bomb detonations for decades on end.

Explains why all the animals in Australia want to kill everything.

[AiliailiA]

Saw this on the World of Tanks forum, pretty frightening for people in that area and the whole US of A.

Even if it did go off it wouldn't have been a nuclear explosion, unless the crew inserted the core for some reason.

Second time in the thread you've asserted that. Are you sure it applies to the Mark 39 bomb ..?

EDIT: Looking more closely, I see also this. That's THREE times, so let's have a source from you.

[Sebtopiaris]

Amazing considering the pacific was sunbathed several times from atom bomb detonations for decades on end.

Explains why all the animals in Australia want to kill everything.

Not the cuddly (and sleepy) little koalas. Just look at them







MORE CUTENESS!!!!!!!!!

[L Ron Cupboard]

[The blood ravens]

Even if it did go off it wouldn't have been a nuclear explosion, unless the crew inserted the core for some reason.

Second time in the thread you've asserted that. Are you sure it applies to the Mark 39 bomb ..?

EDIT: Looking more closely, I see also this. That's THREE times, so let's have a source from you.

I had incorrectly assumed that most US gravity bomb nuclear weapons utilized the system in which the pit was kept in the "bird cage", and had to be inserted into the bomb mid flight.

I apologize for the ignorance on my part, and failure to check what nuke was dropped before making claims.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_6_nuclear_bomb
http://www.flocomuseum.org/artifacts/mars-bluff-bomb/

Although I believe I was correct when I stated the Georgia bomb was not armed.

http://www.commandposts.com/2011/03/los ... confusion/

[AiliailiA]

Second time in the thread you've asserted that. Are you sure it applies to the Mark 39 bomb ..?

EDIT: Looking more closely, I see also this. That's THREE times, so let's have a source from you.

I had incorrectly assumed that most US gravity bomb nuclear weapons utilized the system in which the pit was kept in the "bird cage", and had to be inserted into the bomb mid flight.

I apologize for the ignorance on my part, and failure to check what nuke was dropped before making claims.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_6_nuclear_bomb
http://www.flocomuseum.org/artifacts/mars-bluff-bomb/

Fair enough.

That second incident you mentioned was described in another link offered by another poster. While I'm dubious about the very title of it, since the Goldsboro bombs were also "dropped", sources sometimes have facts which other sources don't have.

For some reason the policy of the Air Force was the release the pin before take off in case it needed to be dropped. And then at 5,000 feet the pin was to be re-inserted until the time came to drop it.

When aircraft 53-1876A took-off they released the pin as per Air Force policy. Then once they had reached 5,000 feet the co-pilot reached down and pulled the lever that would re-insert the pin. The lever failed and the pilot’s instrumentation notified them that the pin was not set properly.

As the bombardier Bruce Kulka’s job was to help find targets and destroy them. As the person responsible for the bomb, Kukla was instructed by the pilot to go back there and figure out what is wrong. Because the bomb bay compartment is not pressurized the entire plane had to be depressurized and the whole crew had to go on oxygen.

The space in the plane where the bomb is stored is very tight. In fact, it was so small a space Kukla could not wear a parachute back there. The 7,600 pound bomb with dimensions of 10 feet, 8 inches long and 61 inches in diameter was just about as large as the inside of the B-47E. Kukla had to blindly reach up and try to re-insert the pin. Now remember, this place is crapped, Kukla can’t even see what he is doing and he is hauling around an oxygen tank. Turns out that instead of the pin Kukla grabs the emergency-release lever. The bomb drops onto the bomb bay doors with Kukla on top of the bomb. The co-pilot would later remark, “I wouldn’t even try to imagine what he was feeling in those seconds.” With the combined weight of Kukla and the bomb, the doors give way and the bomb and Kukla begin to drop. Having better luck now Kukla manages to grab onto something and stop his fall towards Earth.

That first paragraph is what I found most interesting. It makes sense to me: over friendly territory a plane in trouble wants to drop their bombs (to keep from crashing by lightening the plane, or if they're going to crash anyway, keeping the bombs out of the burning wreckage). Remember that takeoff is a dangerous time for aircraft, exceeded only by landing. Taking the pin out during takeoff is a sensible safety precaution for routine non-combat flights.

But over enemy territory, or at sea where enemy forces could recover the bomb if it was dropped accidentally, you want to be really sure you don't drop the bomb by accident. Thus, the pin goes back in when the aircraft is at a safe flying altitude and the most likely thing to bring it down is enemy action. In that case, you want the bomb destroyed as thoroughly as possible, so if all else fails it stays in the plane as it crashes.

I could be making too much of the source, but it makes sense to me.

[AiliailiA]

(Image)

That seems to be a Tasmanian Devil. They're quite small. I wouldn't want to be bit by one, but if I was ... I would win.

[The blood ravens]

I had incorrectly assumed that most US gravity bomb nuclear weapons utilized the system in which the pit was kept in the "bird cage", and had to be inserted into the bomb mid flight.

I apologize for the ignorance on my part, and failure to check what nuke was dropped before making claims.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_6_nuclear_bomb
http://www.flocomuseum.org/artifacts/mars-bluff-bomb/

Fair enough.

That second incident you mentioned was described in another link offered by another poster. While I'm dubious about the very title of it, since the Goldsboro bombs were also "dropped", sources sometimes have facts which other sources don't have.

For some reason the policy of the Air Force was the release the pin before take off in case it needed to be dropped. And then at 5,000 feet the pin was to be re-inserted until the time came to drop it.

When aircraft 53-1876A took-off they released the pin as per Air Force policy. Then once they had reached 5,000 feet the co-pilot reached down and pulled the lever that would re-insert the pin. The lever failed and the pilot’s instrumentation notified them that the pin was not set properly.

As the bombardier Bruce Kulka’s job was to help find targets and destroy them. As the person responsible for the bomb, Kukla was instructed by the pilot to go back there and figure out what is wrong. Because the bomb bay compartment is not pressurized the entire plane had to be depressurized and the whole crew had to go on oxygen.

The space in the plane where the bomb is stored is very tight. In fact, it was so small a space Kukla could not wear a parachute back there. The 7,600 pound bomb with dimensions of 10 feet, 8 inches long and 61 inches in diameter was just about as large as the inside of the B-47E. Kukla had to blindly reach up and try to re-insert the pin. Now remember, this place is crapped, Kukla can’t even see what he is doing and he is hauling around an oxygen tank. Turns out that instead of the pin Kukla grabs the emergency-release lever. The bomb drops onto the bomb bay doors with Kukla on top of the bomb. The co-pilot would later remark, “I wouldn’t even try to imagine what he was feeling in those seconds.” With the combined weight of Kukla and the bomb, the doors give way and the bomb and Kukla begin to drop. Having better luck now Kukla manages to grab onto something and stop his fall towards Earth.

That first paragraph is what I found most interesting. It makes sense to me: over friendly territory a plane in trouble wants to drop their bombs (to keep from crashing by lightening the plane, or if they're going to crash anyway, keeping the bombs out of the burning wreckage). Remember that takeoff is a dangerous time for aircraft, exceeded only by landing. Taking the pin out during takeoff is a sensible safety precaution for routine non-combat flights.

But over enemy territory, or at sea where enemy forces could recover the bomb if it was dropped accidentally, you want to be really sure you don't drop the bomb by accident. Thus, the pin goes back in when the aircraft is at a safe flying altitude and the most likely thing to bring it down is enemy action. In that case, you want the bomb destroyed as thoroughly as possible, so if all else fails it stays in the plane as it crashes.

I could be making too much of the source, but it makes sense to me.

It does make sense that you would not want to have your enemies to recover your nuclear weapons, and turn them against you.

Also I really question the logic behind doing these flights with live nuclear weapons.

I think someone mentioned the nukes lost in Georgia earlier, and I'd like to point out that it was a dud.

http://www.commandposts.com/2011/03/los ... confusion/

Its kind've scary that they lost this many nukes.

[Darra Adam Khel]

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/24951 check this out they almost nuked SC as well

[The blood ravens]

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/24951 check this out they almost nuked SC as well

Not really.

The bomb dropped on mars bluff actually required the nuclear core to be inserted manually mid flight. There was no way that bomb was going to go nuclear, unless the crew inserted the core into the bomb before jettisoning it.

http://www.flocomuseum.org/artifacts/mars-bluff-bomb/

[Greed and Death]

This is why we need more defense spending so these sorts of accidents do not happen.

[Greed and Death]

Fair enough.

That second incident you mentioned was described in another link offered by another poster. While I'm dubious about the very title of it, since the Goldsboro bombs were also "dropped", sources sometimes have facts which other sources don't have.



That first paragraph is what I found most interesting. It makes sense to me: over friendly territory a plane in trouble wants to drop their bombs (to keep from crashing by lightening the plane, or if they're going to crash anyway, keeping the bombs out of the burning wreckage). Remember that takeoff is a dangerous time for aircraft, exceeded only by landing. Taking the pin out during takeoff is a sensible safety precaution for routine non-combat flights.

But over enemy territory, or at sea where enemy forces could recover the bomb if it was dropped accidentally, you want to be really sure you don't drop the bomb by accident. Thus, the pin goes back in when the aircraft is at a safe flying altitude and the most likely thing to bring it down is enemy action. In that case, you want the bomb destroyed as thoroughly as possible, so if all else fails it stays in the plane as it crashes.

I could be making too much of the source, but it makes sense to me.

It does make sense that you would not want to have your enemies to recover your nuclear weapons, and turn them against you.

Also I really question the logic behind doing these flights with live nuclear weapons.

I think someone mentioned the nukes lost in Georgia earlier, and I'd like to point out that it was a dud.

http://www.commandposts.com/2011/03/los ... confusion/

Its kind've scary that they lost this many nukes.

They do these with live nukes because that was in the event of nuclear war these bombers could instantly be diverted to their targets.

[Darra Adam Khel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96ncmuZ9VMw was still pretty embarrassing for the Air Force

[Oceasia]

*Feels lucky to live in Java*