Nuclear accident at Goldsboro

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Mark 39

During the nuclear accident at Goldsboro on January 24, 1961, two hydrogen bombs were dropped uncontrollably in Goldsboro , North Carolina when a bomber crashed . One of these bombs almost detonated, the other crashed on the ground, releasing fissile materials into the environment.

Course of events

Between January 23 and 24, 1961, at around midnight, a US Air Force Boeing B-52 G hit a tanker to be refueled in the air. The crew of the tanker saw that the B-52 was losing kerosene from a fuel tank in the wing . Refueling was canceled and the ground station informed. This instructed the B-52 to circle off the coast until a large part of the kerosene was used up, and then to land. When the B-52 arrived offshore, the pilot reported that the leak had increased and that he had lost 17 tons of fuel from the wing tank within three minutes. He was instructed to fly directly towards Seymour Johnson Air Force Base . When the B-52 was about 3000 m above sea level, it was no longer controllable due to the one-sided weight distribution. The pilot instructed the crew to parachute out. Two men of the crew died in the crash. The third pilot, Lt. Adam Mattocks, is the only crew member who has ever managed a successful emergency exit from the top hatch of a B-52 without an ejector seat. When the crew last saw the B-52, the two 'Mark 39' hydrogen bombs, each with an enormous explosive power of 2 to 4 megatons of TNT, were still on board. The aircraft broke apart at an altitude of 1,000-2,000 feet (300 to 600 m) prior to impact; in the process, the bombs detached themselves from the tumbling wreck. The parachute of one of the bombs opened, so it landed relatively undamaged (see photo).

According to some statements, this bomb almost detonated - only one of four safety devices was still intact. According to other information, a nuclear explosion - especially with full explosive power of the secondary fusion stage - was excluded because several elements in the chain of ignition and safety devices worked as intended and the bombs used to create the physical conditions for the nuclear chain reactions before they were released Several crew members should have armed independently of each other, which was not the case.

The other bomb bored deep into the ground in a swamp area, shattered and could only be partially recovered.

See also

Similar accidents occurred in Spain in 1966 and in Greenland in 1968 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ B-52 crash in North Carolina: USA narrowly escaped atomic bomb disaster. In: Spiegel Online . September 21, 2013, accessed January 22, 2017 .
  2. ^ Ed Pilkington: US nearly detonated atomic bomb over North Carolina - secret document. In: theguardian.com. November 11, 2016, accessed January 22, 2017 .
  3. ^ AF Form 14 Report of Aircraft Accident of January 24, 1961.
  4. ↑ Goldsboro- 19 Steps Away from Detonation , Michael H. Maggelet on "Nuclear Weapons Accidents- The Broken Arrow Blog", English language, accessed on January 26, 2019
  5. ↑ Benjamin Maack: Nuclear weapons: In search of the lost bombs. In: Spiegel Online . November 13, 2008, accessed January 22, 2017 .

Coordinates: 35 ° 29 '34.9 "  N , 77 ° 51' 33.3"  W.