North Carolina’s Broken Arrow
There has been a decent amount of news coverage, lately, dedicated to the two nuclear weapons that were lost off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. Marginal Revolution even made mention of the event. I thought it would be a good occasion to revisit a story I originally wrote for my first blog, “Tar Heel State Online” and carried over to the old Xanga version of “Lockjaw’s Lair” but never got around to posting here.
It was just after midnight on January 24, 1961. A B52G Stratofortress (one of the greatest airplanes ever to cast a shadow on this fine Earth, IMHO) suffered structural failure in its right wing near Faro, NC. The plane carried two MK39 hydrogen bombs.
The two weapons were jettisoned from the plane. One parachuted safely to the ground, receiving minimal damage. The other plummetted to Earth, partially breaking up on impact. Part of the weapon, however, was never found. The lost portion was the uranium-containing part, as well. Crews dug to a depth of 50 feet in the boggy field, but could never retrieve the warhead. To this day, the lost weapon continues to lie in this field.
Radioactivity tests have come up negative, and the Air Force has purchased an easement on the property to prevent anyone digging. If you’d like to read further on the case of the lost warhead, check out this link.
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