US nearly detonated an atomic bomb over North Carolina-secret document

[Lord of Planar]

My apologies, I have been admonished by moderators that my thread title must exactly word for word match the sources title.

Yes, that is a requirement. Could it also be a probable indication the story is hype...

 

[Lord of Planar]

I'm sorry, but you're wrong. See, I watched the great John Travolta film "Broken Arrow," so I know how nuclear weapons work.

LOL...

I saw that too. But did you see The Manhattan Project?

The Manhattan Project Official Trailer #1 - John Lithgow Movie (1986) HD - YouTube

Now I have also had classified briefing on such things. I worked in the nuclear theater when I was in the military for six years.

 

[Montecresto]

Yes, that is a requirement. Could it also be a probable indication the story is hype...

If you mean that in fact it wasn't one switch away from detonation then yes, sure.

 

[Lord of Planar]

If you mean that in fact it wasn't one switch away from detonation then yes, sure.

No, I mean because the writer of the article was either stupid, or made things up.

If the bomb was going to explode on accident, it would have been from the shock of hitting the ground. That clearly means it wouldn't be "over" the land, city, or what ever. For maximum effect, these bombs are designed to trigger in the air, above their target.

I simply cannot stand to read BS from sites like the guardian, common dreams, etc. because of this complete lack of professional journalism. The mainstream journalists are bad enough, but these whacho sites seriously cross ethical lines of honesty regularly.

Now...

If the switch had manages to somehow short on impact as well, and the detonation explosive went off, it still would not have been a nuclear explosion. That same impact would have misaligned detonation explosives, which must go off precisely to compress the sub-critical mass to a critical mass. Chances are, the core would still remain intact, and at worse, it would have been a dirty bomb. Not a megaton range explosion.

 

[Capster78]

The reason it was probably never a big deal was because that low voltage switch was probably a safety pin installed on the bomb to prevent this sort of thing from happening. You can drop a bomb from 50,000 feet and it will not go off unless the safety switches are uninstalled. Not really much news to see here, just some anti-government/military garbage.

 

[Montecresto]

No, I mean because the writer of the article was either stupid, or made things up.

If the bomb was going to explode on accident, it would have been from the shock of hitting the ground. That clearly means it wouldn't be "over" the land, city, or what ever. For maximum effect, these bombs are designed to trigger in the air, above their target.

I simply cannot stand to read BS from sites like the guardian, common dreams, etc. because of this complete lack of professional journalism. The mainstream journalists are bad enough, but these whacho sites seriously cross ethical lines of honesty regularly.

Now...

If the switch had manages to somehow short on impact as well, and the detonation explosive went off, it still would not have been a nuclear explosion. That same impact would have misaligned detonation explosives, which must go off precisely to compress the sub-critical mass to a critical mass. Chances are, the core would still remain intact, and at worse, it would have been a dirty bomb. Not a megaton range explosion.

Well thanks for your expertise on that Lord.

 

[Fisher]

No, I mean because the writer of the article was either stupid, or made things up.

If the bomb was going to explode on accident, it would have been from the shock of hitting the ground. That clearly means it wouldn't be "over" the land, city, or what ever. For maximum effect, these bombs are designed to trigger in the air, above their target.

I simply cannot stand to read BS from sites like the guardian, common dreams, etc. because of this complete lack of professional journalism. The mainstream journalists are bad enough, but these whacho sites seriously cross ethical lines of honesty regularly.

Now...

If the switch had manages to somehow short on impact as well, and the detonation explosive went off, it still would not have been a nuclear explosion. That same impact would have misaligned detonation explosives, which must go off precisely to compress the sub-critical mass to a critical mass. Chances are, the core would still remain intact, and at worse, it would have been a dirty bomb. Not a megaton range explosion.

Ironically enough, I just spoke with a retired AF pilot about this who used to fly nukes around during this same time frame. He said more or less the same thing but for a different reason. He said they had an arming component that had to be physically inserted into the bombs before they could have nuclear yields and that component was always in the cockpit under the control of the pilot. He told me how much the component weighed but I forget exactly--I think he said about 50 pounds, but made it sound like it was not some token little part. They were prohibited from inserting that component into the bomb anytime they were over the US.
So, unless this was a different type of nuke, I am skeptical this was as close to a full-yield explosion as the story implies.

 

[Lord of Planar]

Ironically enough, I just spoke with a retired AF pilot about this who used to fly nukes around during this same time frame. He said more or less the same thing but for a different reason. He said they had an arming component that had to be physically inserted into the bombs before they could have nuclear yields and that component was always in the cockpit under the control of the pilot. He told me how much the component weighed but I forget exactly--I think he said about 50 pounds, but made it sound like it was not some token little part. They were prohibited from inserting that component into the bomb anytime they were over the US.
So, unless this was a different type of nuke, I am skeptical this was as close to a full-yield explosion as the story implies.

That physical insert part is some info I'm not aware of. It's probably true. I do know it is next to impossible for one of these to accidentally go off. They are designed to survive being shot out of the air, direct impacts, etc.

 

[Fisher]

That physical insert part is some info I'm not aware of. It's probably true. I do know it is next to impossible for one of these to accidentally go off. They are designed to survive being shot out of the air, direct impacts, etc.

He said that arming insert was the reason another plane--I think it was a B-50 he said--was able to drop two nukes into a river in Canada without having them detonate when the plane had lost a couple of its engines and was unable to maintain altitude with the weight of the bombs on board. I think he said it was the St. Lawrence river. He said Canada was none to happy about it nonetheless.

For whatever it was worth, the Major said that he was certain had there been a nuclear explosion, the USAF would have found someone else to blame because back then it was policy to deny everything related to nuclear programs and policies and accidents involving nukes officially just didn't happen. I snickered because I think blowing the eastern seaboard into the stratosphere might would have robbed them of plausible deniability on that one.

 

[Deuce]

That's why they're redundant.

And why we have more than one safety!











teehee