US plane in 1961 'nuclear bomb near-miss'

As it was breaking apart, a control inside the cockpit released the two Mark 39 hydrogen bombs over Goldsboro.

One fell to the ground unarmed. But the second "assumed it was being deliberately released over an enemy target - and went through all its arming mechanisms save one, and very nearly detonated over North Carolina,"

US plane in 1961 'nuclear bomb near-miss'

This quite literally could have changed the world as we know it - and yet we're only finding out about it now.

Its entirely possible that, had this detonated, the resulting confusion could have started WW3, and I'd not be typing - or you reading - this right now.

In this day and age, with the cold war having thawed (although not fully) we tend to be looking for terrorists rather than payiong attention to what our own side is doing, or to the systems that keep the relevant nuclear arsenals in place. The breaking of this particular story is something of a timely reminder I think.

If you'd like some extra reading on just how close we've come over the years, check out this link

8 Potentially World Ending Nuclear Scares all of which are true, and will either fascinate or terrify you - or both.

Remember, whilst no one really discusses it any more, there are about 4100 nukes knocking about round the world, and it only takes one mistake...

reply to post by neformore


Very scary to think that a single low-tech fuse was all that stood in the way of a nuclear explosion.

Well I don't even know for sure if new-ks are real, I'd say it's about 50/50 in my mind. But if they are they claim there's been like 50 near misses like what you're describing. many of which would likely have triggered a ww3. But can't you also see how great a propaganda piece that is to keep society scared? Like oohhh it was just about to happen on X date because of those damn ruskies! It jst seems like propaganda.

spartacus699
Well I don't even know for sure if new-ks are real, I'd say it's about 50/50 in my mind.

You are kidding right?



Maybe you should read up on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and look at the various nuclear test videos dotted about on YouTube etc.

Bhagavad Gita: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

It has been said if you handle a knife long enough, you will get cut.

I have found this to be true being a collector of hundreds of knives and almost as many scars.

Using that logic, this is not surprising

Terrifying, but not surprising...

Isn't there also supposed to be a "lost" nuclear bomb somewhere off Tybee Island, Georgia?
I also seem to remember a crash at or around Mildenhall / Lakenheath a few decades ago with the aircraft involved carrying nuclear weapons. We've probably come close to an "accident" more times than we know about but the details just haven't found their way into the public domain.
It wouldn't do people's confidence much good, knowing they were more likely to be vapourised or irradiated by their own forces rather than the government's enemy of the moment.

reply to post by Britguy


1958 Tybee Island mid-air collision

During a practice exercise, the B-47 bomber carrying the bomb collided in midair with an F-86 fighter plane. To protect the aircrew from a possible detonation in the event of a crash, the bomb was jettisoned. Following several unsuccessful searches, the bomb was presumed lost somewhere in Wassaw Sound off the shores of Tybee Island.

Yep

neformore

spartacus699
Well I don't even know for sure if new-ks are real, I'd say it's about 50/50 in my mind.

You are kidding right?

Maybe you should read up on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and look at the various nuclear test videos dotted about on YouTube etc.

Really, ask the natives of the Bikini Atol in the Marshal Islands if they recognized the place after they were allowed to go back. Fact is, they really couldn't. Bikini Island is currently visited by a few scientists and inhabited by 4-6 caretakers.

Some were able to return to the Bikini Island in 1970 until further testing revealed dangerous levels of Strontium-90. The islanders have been the beneficiary of several trust funds created by the United States government which as of 2013 covered medical treatment and other costs and paid about $550 annually to each individual.

(wikpedia)

What a deal they got!

reply to post by spartacus699


I have met people who worked on the first atomic weapons, the science which lead up to them, and helped develop them for years afterward. I have lived within five minutes of a military equipment and weapons testing facility for virtually all of my life, and seen goods trains trundle through the highstreet of my town with what appeared through the tarp wraps to be sectioned up bits of massive missiles.

But I would be the first to admit that this is far from definitive. I tell you who you CAN ask about the matter of the existence of nuclear weapons though. The Japanese obviously know full well the stark, horrific, reality of nuclear weapons, having been the only nation against whom such things have been used in anger. But you might wish to consult the aboriginal Australians also, because on the sixties some of their most valued spiritual locations was used as a test range for nuclear weapons by the British military, in partnership with the Australian government,several times. After this, the aboriginal tribes persons were merely allowed to return by the government, to walk barefoot through the now irradiated land.

Also ask the British service persons who were tasked to go on maneouvres in the area, specifically to see how they copped with the harsh radioactive environment. Those of them who were belly crawling through the contaminated landscape and remain alive through luck, and the widows of the rest, will let you know all you could' possibly want to on that subject.

reply to post by neformore

This quite literally could have changed the world as we know it - and yet we're only finding out about it now.

This knowledge of this incident is been out for years.

spartacus699
Well I don't even know for sure if new-ks are real, I'd say it's about 50/50 in my mind.

really are you just taking the piss right now...if so how many hours of television do you watch per day and was the titanic a real ship?

edit on 21-9-2013 by hopenotfeariswhatweneed because: (no reason given)

reply to post by roadgravel


Yes, but we didn't know about the one-fuse-from-kablooie bit.

reply to post by neformore


we are not " just hearing about it now " - we are hearing an update that none of us had any influence over

I have known about this incident since the late 70s - but was under the " warm and fuzy " delusion that both warheads fell ` all points safe `

now - the question is - does it make a difference ?

IMHO - no - I was a feutus at the time - there was bugger all I could have done

and to anyone who was an adult at the time - what would you have actually done ?

appologies if this sounds snarky - but the alledged " need to know " is a pointless distraction .

reply to post by AngryCymraeg


That classified for years method of the government works well. Can't let a near disaster give the people a chance to end the madness.

reply to post by TrueBrit

Also ask the British service persons who were tasked to go on maneouvres in the area, specifically to see how they copped with the harsh radioactive environment. Those of them who were belly crawling through the contaminated landscape and remain alive through luck, and the widows of the rest, will let you know all you could' possibly want to on that subject.

Good Lord! I thought the American quacks and sadists in Uniform were bad about the 40's and 50's testing of atomic technology in every way possible. What you describe isn't quite as barbaric as the Soviet testing ..but not that far off? Wow.

I guess this is why America didn't do similar things. Ours were more the open blast exposure and a real focus (no pun intended) on visual impact and damage done. Crawling through the dirt, known to be irradiated? What was the point? Write them all off as dead men and just record how much they could do before becoming totally ineffective? ....the scary thing is, the mindset that did that is still running things today of course.

reply to post by neformore


Although I personally believe they are real, you and I don't really have proof. I mean, the videos you see online could be achieved with a large amount of explosives.. the bombs dropped on japan were around 15 kt that means 15 kilotons of tnt would be the same explosion minus the radiation. The description of the devastation of an bombed city would probably be the same and is only different in those cases because the added mystique of this intense new weapon. That said.. I still think those xities were nuked, but it could have easily not been anuke, unfortunately It was.

The no nuke theory is weak, and easy to disprove. It has just spread because the internet and show me generation. It would make sense for propaganda, but it doesn't work if everyone knows about it and can do it. It would lose all power.

reply to post by semperfortis


Agreed.
I've heard/read at least one or two similar stories since I have gotten interested in conspiracy theories.

In fact, here's about ten of them [from Jan 2012]
www.listosaur.com...

Arguably the most frightening accident involving nuclear weapons occurred Jan. 24, 1961, when a B-52 bomber exploded in midair due to a fuel leak after departure from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina.

and another list
www.toptenz.net...

reply to post by GogoVicMorrow


Yup and the survivors of the attacks on Japan suffered greatly from radiation sickness. The Allies even took a lot of time to study the survivors to understand the affects of radiation on the body. No better test subjects then the poor folks that had to suffer a direct attack by a nuke.

In regards to the thread, I'm sure the other countries have had plenty of near misses as well. The Soviets may have( this is just speculation on my part, I don't know one way or the other ) had accidents that did result in detonations. We wouldn't have ever known over in the West.

The fact that the bombs dropped has been common knowledge. The fact that one of the bombs was one step away from wiping that part of the world off the face of the Earth, has only just been released.

I read that there were several Nukes that have gone missing over the years. Doctor Peter Beter mentioned this in his audio letters.

well the story isnt really that new..been known for years its scary stuff nonetheless, there have been something like 60 "incidents" or broken arrows since the late 40s..a bomb was even dropped of the coast of B.C...or it may have come down with the plane which ended up on mt currie?. what is beyond scary about the incident in the op is the fact that it was one failsafe from detonating