When we Almost Nuked the Carolinas
Part of Heroes and Hiccups: True Stories about Nuclear Weapon Risks
Not once, but twice
In 1958, a U.S. bomber was en route to the UK when a pilot noticed an issue with the bomb’s storage system. When a crewmember went to check on it, he accidentally pulled the emergency release lever, dropping the nuclear bomb on Mars Bluff, South Carolina. Luckily, it didn’t go off.
Just three years later, a bomber crashed over Goldsboro, North Carolina, dropping two nuclear bombs. One of the bomb’s parachutes failed to deploy, causing its arming sequence to trigger. A single safety switch prevented the bomb’s detonation.
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When Yeltsin Reached for the Nuclear Briefcase
