NUCLEAR BOMBS DROP AFTER B52G BREAK-UP
Eureka, North Carolina (JFK+50) Just after midnight on January 24, 1961, two nuclear bombs were dropped three miles south of Eureka*, North Carolina. It was not the work of the Soviet Union, but a nearly catastrophic accident.
A United States Air Force B52G Stratofortress** was on a training mission when, during mid-air refueling, a fuel leak was detected. The bomber began to dump fuel in order to make a safe landing when it exploded at 10,000 feet.
Two Mark 39 nuclear bombs*** fell to the ground. Although neither detonated, one came "damn close." If just that one bomb had exploded, 60,000 people would have been killed and the entire Eastern seaboard of the United States would have been threatened by radioactive fallout.
Since this was a "Top Secret" mission, there were very few people who knew how close we had come to "nuking North Carolina."
JFK+50 NOTE
According to Michael H. Maggelet & James C. Oskins, authors of "The Declassified History of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Accidents," these Mark 39s were set up in such a way that their secondary stages would not have ignited in this incident.
*Eureka is located in Wayne County, NC within the Goldsboro Metro area of the Eastern part of the state. The town is 40 miles SE of Raleigh-Durham.
**B52G Stratofortress replaced the Boeing B-47 Stratojet which followed the famous B-29 Superfortress of WWII fame.
***Mark 39s were 3.8 megaton thermonuclear weapons weighing 6500 to 6750 pounds each & 11 feet in length. They were in service from 1957 to 1966.
