WI: US accidentally nukes North and South Carolina

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_Mars_Bluff_B-47_nuclear_weapon_loss_incident

On March 11, 1958 a U.S. Air Force Boeing B-47E-LM Stratojet from Hunter Air Force Base operated by the 375th Bombardment Squadron of the 308th Bombardment Wing near Savannah, Georgia, took off at approximately 4:34 PM and was scheduled to fly to the United Kingdom and then to North Africa as part of Operation Snow Flurry.[4][5] The aircraft was carrying nuclear weapons on board in the event of war with the Soviet Union breaking out. Air Force Captain Bruce Kulka, who was the navigator and bombardier, was summoned to the bomb bay area after the captain of the aircraft, Captain Earl Koehler, had encountered a fault light in the cockpit indicating that the bomb harness locking pin did not engage. As Kulka reached around the bomb to pull himself up, he mistakenly grabbed the emergency release pin. The Mark 6 nuclear bomb dropped to the floor of the B-47 and the weight forced the bomb bay doors open, sending the bomb 15,000 ft (4,600 m) down to the ground below.[6]

Two sisters, six-year-old Helen and nine-year-old Frances Gregg, along with their nine-year-old cousin Ella Davies, were playing 200 yards (180 m) from a playhouse in the woods that had been built for them by their father Walter Gregg, who had served as a paratrooper during World War II. The playhouse was struck by the bomb. Its conventional high explosives detonated, destroying the playhouse, and leaving a crater about 70 feet (21 m) wide and 35 feet (11 m) deep. Fortunately, the fissile nuclear core was stored elsewhere on the aircraft. All three girls were injured by the explosion, as were Walter, his wife Effie and son Walter, Jr. Seven nearby buildings were damaged. The United States Air Force (USAF) was sued by the family of the victims, who received US$54,000, equivalent to $441,405 in 2015.[4][2][3] The incident made national and international headlines.[7][8] The crater is still present today, although overgrown by vegetation, and is marked by a historical marker; however, access to the site is limited because it is located on private property with no public access road



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash

The aircraft, a B-52G, was based at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro. Around midnight on January 23–24, 1961, the bomber rendezvoused with a tanker for aerial refueling. During the hook-up, the tanker crew advised the B-52 aircraft commander, Major Walter Scott Tulloch, that his aircraft had a fuel leak in the right wing. The refueling was aborted, 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 Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.

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 pilot in command 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.[3] 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.[4][5] 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 (19 km) north of Goldsboro.[6]

The two 3-4 megaton[a] MK. 39 nuclear bombs separated from the gyrating aircraft as it broke up between 1,000 and 2,000 feet (300 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.

What would be the result of accidentally nuking South Carolina in 1958 and North Carolina in 1961?
 
Well.

That's one way to get a Confederate surrender.

Seriously, though, the effects would be devastating, and maybe the nuclear arms race even slows down significantly.

EDIT: Though I find it hard to believe that the North Carolina incident would ever happen if South Carolina was nuked first. We'd be more careful and have better safety measures in place.
 

Saphroneth

Banned
The 1961 one is particularly concerning - look at the date!
That's only four days after the inauguration, Kennedy's still settling in, and then a nuclear explosive goes off where the fallout plume includes Washington.
 
This is definitely one way to see diplomacy for reductions for the creation and testing of nuclear weapons many years before it happened. Imagine dozens of square miles of those states zoned off to the public for decades because if nuclear fallout and radiation. An entire region of the state that can never be developed for decades because of this.
 
Well.

That's one way to get a Confederate surrender.

Seriously, though, the effects would be devastating, and maybe the nuclear arms race even slows down significantly.

EDIT: Though I find it hard to believe that the North Carolina incident would ever happen if South Carolina was nuked first. We'd be more careful and have better safety measures in place.

damnit you stole my response
 
Imagine dozens of square miles of those states zoned off to the public for decades because if nuclear fallout and radiation. An entire region of the state that can never be developed for decades because of this.

And also massive deathtolls. The Mark 6 had a bigger blast yield than the Little Boy.
 
I'm fairly sure there have been two previous threads on this in the past year.


WI:Nuclear weapons go off by accident (Multi-page thread 1 2 3)
torten
January 28th, 2015 06:09 PM


WI: The B-52 Crash At Goldsboro Detonates It's 2 Nuclear Bombs
Nicholander
September 24th, 2014 10:32 AM

WI: North Carolina Gets Nuked
Gass3268
June 13th, 2014 09:53 AM


WI: Goldsboro bomb's 4th safety mechanism had failed
Lord General Mihalic
January 30th, 2014 09:39 PM


US H-bombs itself
Gimleteye
October 7th, 2013 05:01 PM


WI: Nuclear explosion over North Carolina (Multi-page thread 1 2)
Zoidberg12
September 22nd, 2013 09:41 PM

AH: The Goldsboro Atom Bomb Detonates
Grouchio
September 21st, 2013 10:07 AM
 
This is definitely one way to see diplomacy for reductions for the creation and testing of nuclear weapons many years before it happened. Imagine dozens of square miles of those states zoned off to the public for decades because if nuclear fallout and radiation. An entire region of the state that can never be developed for decades because of this.

It would be more like Hiroshima than Chernobyl. The fallout would be gone within a few months. The yield and fallout would be greater, but the radiation won't last forever.
 

Saphroneth

Banned
It would be more like Hiroshima than Chernobyl. The fallout would be gone within a few months. The yield and fallout would be greater, but the radiation won't last forever.
If it ground burst (IIRC Hiroshima was air burst) there'd be a lot of fallout. I think ground bursts produce the really nasty kind of fallout, the stuff which has half-lives in the decade zone.
 
If it ground burst (IIRC Hiroshima was air burst) there'd be a lot of fallout. I think ground bursts produce the really nasty kind of fallout, the stuff which has half-lives in the decade zone.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were both airbursts. The only thing comparable to Goldsboro potential yield and detonation height wise (I think cratering a coral atoll can count as a kind of groundburst) would be the Castle Bravo test in 1954 that delivered a significant fallout plume to the Pacific downwind, including an unfortunate Japanese fishing boat.

It would be more like Hiroshima than Chernobyl. The fallout would be gone within a few months. The yield and fallout would be greater, but the radiation won't last forever.

I think aspects of both, but more like Chernobyl long term. A multimegaton ground burst would see the combined effects of Hiroshima and Chernobyl writ large, and an order of magnitude more severe than either. The ground zero will be dangerous for a very long time.
 
I think aspects of both, but more like Chernobyl long term. A multimegaton ground burst would see the combined effects of Hiroshima and Chernobyl writ large, and an order of magnitude more severe than either. The ground zero will be dangerous for a very long time.
Probably not as bad as Chernobyl, actually - whilst it's a ground burst, there's a lot less fission products about. Reactor accidents are bad because you're talking about industrial quantities of fission products, which have a long decay period. Weapons don't actually have much in an absolute sense, and the fallout decays quite quickly by comparison, so the long-term problems aren't as bad.
 
But, there are bomb safety mechanisms that keeps that from happening unless it's triggered.

All you get, bwahaha, is nice irradiation from the radioactive stuff.
 

Saphroneth

Banned
But, there are bomb safety mechanisms that keeps that from happening unless it's triggered.

All you get, bwahaha, is nice irradiation from the radioactive stuff.

That's the thing - on this occasion, all BUT ONE of them actually triggered. The bomb pretty much thought it was armed.

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.
 
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