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1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash

Coordinates: 35°30′44″N 77°50′47″W / 35.5123°N 77.8463°W / 35.5123; -77.8463
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1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash
One of the Mk 39 nuclear weapons at Goldsboro, largely intact, with its parachute still attached.
Accident
Date24 January 1961
SummaryStructural failure
SiteFaro, Nahunta Township, Wayne County, 12 miles (19 km) north of Goldsboro, North Carolina
35°30′44″N 77°50′47″W / 35.5123°N 77.8463°W / 35.5123; -77.8463
Aircraft typeB-52G
OperatorStrategic Air Command, United States Air Force
Registration58-0187
Flight originSeymour Johnson Air Force Base
DestinationSeymour Johnson Air Force Base
Crew8
Fatalities3
Survivors5

The 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash was an accident that occurred near Goldsboro, North Carolina, on 24 January 1961. A B-52 Stratofortress carrying two Mark 39 nuclear bombs broke up in mid-air, dropping its nuclear payload in the process.[1] The captain ordered the crew to eject, which they did at 9,000 feet (2,700 m). Five men ejected and landed safely. Another ejected but did not survive the landing, and two died in the crash.[2] Controversy continues to surround the event on account of newly declassified information confirming in 2013 long-held, public suspicions that one of the bombs came very close to detonating.

Accident

1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash is located in North Carolina
Accident scene
Accident scene
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North Carolina

The aircraft, a B-52G based at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, was on a 24-hour "Coverall" airborne alert mission on the Atlantic seaboard. The Cold War program was designed to ensure that one third of the Strategic Air Command's fleet of nuclear bombers was airborne at any point in time, so that in the event of a nuclear war, the fleet would not be caught on the ground, and that the airborne aircraft would be able to fly directly to targets in the Soviet Union.

Around midnight on 23–24 January 1961, it rendezvoused with a tanker for mid-air refueling. During the hook-up, the tanker crew advised the B-52 aircraft commander, Major W. S. Tulloch, that his aircraft had a leak in its right wing. The refueling rendezvous was called off, and ground control was 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 pilot reported that the leak had worsened and that 37,000 pounds (17,000 kg) of fuel had been lost in three minutes. The aircraft was immediately directed to return and land at the base in Goldsboro.

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 of it. The captain ordered the crew to eject, which they did at 9,000 feet (2,700 m). Five men ejected and landed safely. Another ejected but did not survive the landing, and two died in the crash.[2] The third pilot of the bomber, Lt. Adam Mattocks, is the only man known to have successfully bailed out of the top hatch of a B-52 without an ejection seat.[3][4] The crew last saw the aircraft intact with its payload of two Mark 39 nuclear bombs on board. The wreckage of the aircraft covered a 2-square-mile (5.2 km2) area of tobacco and cotton farmland at Faro, about 12 miles north of Goldsboro.[5]

The two 2-2.5 megaton[a] MK. 39 nuclear bombs separated from the gyrating aircraft as it broke up between 10,000 and 2,000 feet (3,050 and 610 m). 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.

Bomb recovery

EOD personnel work to recover a buried Mk. 39 thermonuclear bomb that fell into a Faro, NC field in 1961.

The bomb that descended by parachute was found intact, and standing upright as a result of its parachute being caught in a tree. According to Jack Revelle, the bomb disposal expert who was responsible for disarming the device, the arm/safe switch was still in the safe position, though it had completed the rest of the arming sequence.[7][8] The Pentagon claimed at the time 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.[9] Former military analyst Daniel Ellsberg has claimed to have seen highly classified documents indicating that its safe/arm switch was the only one of the six arming devices on the bomb that prevented detonation.[1][9] In 2013, information released as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request confirmed a single switch prevented detonation.[10][b]

The second bomb plunged into a muddy field at around 700 miles per hour (310 m/s) and disintegrated without detonation of its conventional explosives. The tail was discovered about 20 feet (6.1 m) below ground. Parts of the bomb were recovered, including its tritium bottle and the plutonium.[11] According to nuclear weapons historian Chuck Hansen, the bomb was partially armed when it left the aircraft though an unclosed high-voltage switch had prevented it from fully arming.[7] In 2013, ReVelle recalled the moment the second bomb's switch was found. “Until my death I will never forget hearing my sergeant say, 'Lieutenant, we found the arm/safe switch.' And I said, 'Great.' He said, 'Not great. It’s on arm.'” [12]

Excavation of the second bomb was abandoned as a result of uncontrollable ground-water flooding. Most of the thermonuclear stage, containing uranium, was left in situ. The Army Corps of Engineers purchased a 400 feet (120 m) circular easement over the buried component.[13] The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill determined the buried depth of the secondary component to be 180 feet (55 m), plus or minus 10 feet (3.0 m).[11]

Analysis

Lt. ReVelle, speaking to a writer in 2011 of the bomb that nearly detonated, said: “As far as I’m concerned we came damn close to having a Bay of North Carolina. The nuclear explosion would have completely changed the Eastern seaboard if it had gone off.”[8] He also said the size of each bomb was 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.[12]

In 2013, investigative journalist Eric Schlosser published a book, Command and Control, in which he presented a declassified 1969 document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. In the report, entitled "Goldsboro Revisited," written by Parker F. Jones, a supervisor of nuclear safety at Sandia National Laboratories, Jones says that "one simple, dynamo-technology, low voltage switch stood between the United States and a major catastrophe," and concludes that "The MK 39 Mod 2 bomb did not possess adequate safety for the airborne alert role in the B-52."[14]

Legacy

In July 2012, the state of North Carolina erected an historical road marker in the town of Eureka, 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the crash site, commemorating the crash under the title "Nuclear Mishap."[15] The memorial lists the names of the three aircrew who died in the accident: Sergeant Francis Roger Barnish (35), Major Eugene Holcombe Richards (42), and Major Eugene Shelton (41).

See also

Further reading

  • Hansen, Chuck (1988). US Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History. Aerofax, Incorporated. ISBN 0517567407.
  • Dobson, Joel (2011). The Goldsboro Broken Arrow. Lulu Press (Self published). ISBN 1257869523.

Notes

  1. ^ Some sources like Ralph Lapp say they were 24 megatons, but Hansen has stated that this is definitely an error, possibly caused by a decimal point being dropped. The U.S. has never fielded a 24 megaton weapon[6]
  2. ^ There is some uncertainty as to which of the two bombs was closest to detonation, as different sources contradict one another over this point.

References

  1. ^ a b Barry Schneider (1975). "Big Bangs from Little Bombs". Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: 28. Retrieved 13 July 2009. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  2. ^ a b "Bombs Over Goldsboro". This Month in North Carolina History (January 2008). Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  3. ^ Mattocks, Adam (8 February 2011). "Personal interview". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ Yancy, N. (26 January 1961). "Life-Death Story of Flight Told". Greensboro News & Record.
  5. ^ "AF Form 14 Report of Aircraft Accident". 24 January 1961. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ Hansen, Chuck (1990). "Ooops!". Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. Vol 46 (8 ed.): 43. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  7. ^ a b "Nuclear Mishap in Goldsboro". Broken Arrow: Goldsboro, NC (2000). Archived from the original on 18 June 2005. Retrieved 14 June 2005. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ a b Sharon, Keith (27 December 2012). "When two nukes crashed, he got the call (Part 2 of 2)". Orange County Register (California). Retrieved 21 September 2013.
  9. ^ a b Gary Hanauer (1981). "The Pentagon's Broken Arrows". Mother Jones Magazine: 28. Retrieved 13 July 2009. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  10. ^ Pilkington, Ed (20 September 2013). "US nearly detonated atomic bomb over North Carolina – secret document". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  11. ^ a b Hardy, Scott (2005). "The Broken Arrow of Camelot: An Analysis of the 1961 B-52 Crash and Loss of the Nuclear Weapon in Faro, North Carolina". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. ^ a b "A CLOSE CALL- Hero of 'The Goldsboro Broken Arrow' speaks at ECU". East Carolina University. Retrieved 21 September 2013. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)
  13. ^ Deed Book 581, Wayne County (NC) Courthouse: p. 589–91. 13 October 1962. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  14. ^ "Goldsboro Revisited," The Guardian, 20 September 2013, accessed 20 September 2013.
  15. ^ Shaffer, Josh (2 July 2012). "Shaffer: In Eureka, they've found a way to mark 'nuclear mishap.'". News and Observer. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
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