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Or that time a U.S. Bomber crashed on U.S. soil (North Carolina) with 2 nukes on board during a training mission; one of which was armed! Link: https://en.wiki

Or that time a U.S. Bomber crashed on U.S. soil (North Carolina) with 2 nukes on board during a training mission; one of which was armed! Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash

mrep 9y ago
Even if it was armed, it would be unlikely to go off. Here is a quote from a missile silo accident: https://www.armytimes.com/news/2017/11/04/details-of-south-dakota-nuclear-missile-accident-released/ https://www.armytimes.com/news/2017/11/04/details-of-south-d... "Incredible as it may sound to a civilian, Hicks said he spent no time worrying about the thermonuclear warhead. He had been convinced by his training that it was nearly impossible to detonate a warhead accidentally. Among other things, he said, the warhead had to receive codes from the launch-control officers, had to reach a certain altitude, and had to detect a certain amount of acceleration and G-force. There were so many safeguards built in, Hicks later joked, that a warhead might have been lucky to detonate even when it was supposed to."
- totalZero 9y ago
  Some folks who knew more than you and I seemed to think there was potential for a nuclear disaster. > In 2011, Lt. Jack Revelle, the bomb disposal expert responsible for disarming the device, claimed "we came damn close" to a nuclear detonation that would have completely changed much of eastern North Carolina > In a now-declassified 1969 report, entitled "Goldsboro Revisited", written by Parker F. Jones, a supervisor of nuclear safety at Sandia National Laboratories, Jones said that "one simple, dynamo-technology, low voltage switch stood between the United States and a major catastrophe", and concluded that "The MK 39 Mod 2 bomb did not possess adequate safety for the airborne alert role in the B-52".
totalZero 9y ago
> Three of the four 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-foot-diameter (30 m) retard parachute. The parachute allowed that bomb to hit the ground with little damage. Damn.

mrep 9y ago

Even if it was armed, it would be unlikely to go off. Here is a quote from a missile silo accident: https://www.armytimes.com/news/2017/11/04/details-of-south-dakota-nuclear-missile-accident-released/ https://www.armytimes.com/news/2017/11/04/details-of-south-d... "Incredible as it may sound to a civilian, Hicks said he spent no time worrying about the thermonuclear warhead. He had been convinced by his training that it was nearly impossible to detonate a warhead accidentally. Among other things, he said, the warhead had to receive codes from the launch-control officers, had to reach a certain altitude, and had to detect a certain amount of acceleration and G-force. There were so many safeguards built in, Hicks later joked, that a warhead might have been lucky to detonate even when it was supposed to."

totalZero 9y ago
Some folks who knew more than you and I seemed to think there was potential for a nuclear disaster. > In 2011, Lt. Jack Revelle, the bomb disposal expert responsible for disarming the device, claimed "we came damn close" to a nuclear detonation that would have completely changed much of eastern North Carolina > In a now-declassified 1969 report, entitled "Goldsboro Revisited", written by Parker F. Jones, a supervisor of nuclear safety at Sandia National Laboratories, Jones said that "one simple, dynamo-technology, low voltage switch stood between the United States and a major catastrophe", and concluded that "The MK 39 Mod 2 bomb did not possess adequate safety for the airborne alert role in the B-52".

totalZero 9y ago

> Three of the four 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-foot-diameter (30 m) retard parachute. The parachute allowed that bomb to hit the ground with little damage. Damn.