1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash

The 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash refers to an accident that occurred near Goldsboro, North Carolina, on 24 January 1961 when a B-52 Stratofortress carrying two Mark 39 nuclear bombs broke up in mid-air, dropping its nuclear payload in the process.^[1][2]

Accident

The aircraft, a B-52G, was on a 24-hour "Coverall" airborne alert mission on the Atlantic seaboard. Around midnight on January 23/24, 1961, it rendezvoused with a tanker for mid-air refuelling. During the hook-up, the tanker crew advised the B-52 captain, Major W.S. Tulloch, that his aircraft had a leak in its port wing fuel cell. The refuelling was broken off, and ground control notified of the problem. The aircraft was directed to assume a holding pattern off the coast until the majority of fuel was consumed. However when the B-52 reached its assigned position, the captain reported that leak had worsened and that 37,000 pounds (17,000 kg) of fuel had been lost in 3 minutes. The aircraft was immediately directed to land at Seymour Johnson Air Base. As it descended through 10,000 feet (3,000 m) on its approach to the airfield, the pilots were no longer able to keep the aircraft in trim and lost control. The captain ordered the crew to eject, which they did at 9,000 feet (2,700 m). The crew last saw the aircraft intact with its payload of two Mark 39 nuclear weapons onboard.^[2]

The two nuclear weapons separated from the gyrating aircraft as it broke up between 10,000 feet (3,000 m) and 2,000 feet (610 m). Five of the six arming mechanisms on one of the bombs activated, causing it to execute many of the steps needed to arm itself, such as charging the firing capacitors and, critically, deployment of a 100 feet (30 m) diameter retard parachute. The parachute allowed the bomb to hit the ground with little damage. The wreckage covered a 2-square-mile (5.2 km²) area of tobacco and cotton farmland at Faro, near Goldsboro.

According to former military analyst Daniel Ellsberg, he saw highly classified documents indicating that the pilot’s safe/arm switch was the only one of the six arming devices on the bomb that prevented detonation.^[1][3] The Pentagon claims that there was no chance of an explosion and that two arming mechanisms had not activated. A United States Department of Defense spokesperson told United Press International reporter Donald May that the bomb was unarmed and could not explode.^[3]Later, however, it was found that both bombs were fully functional. Of the Air Force statement that a) there were two bombs, b) they were unarmed, c) they were both recovered, and d) there was no danger: only the part about being two bombs was true.

The second bomb plunged into a muddy field at around 700 miles per hour (310 m/s) and disintegrated.^[4] The tail was discovered about 20 feet (6.1 m) below ground. Much of the bomb was recovered, including the tritium bottle and the plutonium. However, excavation was abandoned due to uncontrollable ground water flooding. Most of the thermonuclear stage, containing uranium, was left in situ. It is estimated to lie around 55 feet (17 m) below the surface. The Air Force purchased the land to prevent interference with the nuclear remnants.

The third pilot of the bomber, Lt. Adam Mattocks, is the only man known to successfully bail out of the top hatch of a B-52 without an ejection seat. The commander of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team, Lt. Jack B. ReVelle, said of the bomb, "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." He also said the size of each bomb was 3.8 megatons, more than 250 times the destructive power of the Hiroshima bomb, and large enough to have a 100% kill zone of seventeen miles. Each bomb would exceed the yield of all munitions (outside of testing) ever detonated in the history of the world by TNT, gunpowder, conventional bombs, and the Hiroshima and Nagasaki blasts combined.^[5]

See also

• Special Weapons Emergency Separation System

References