Another H-Bomb Lost

January 24, 1961:

1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash: A bomber carrying two H-bombs breaks up in mid-air over North Carolina. The uranium core of one weapon remains lost. The aircraft, a B-52G, was on a 24-hour "Coverall" airborne alert mission on the Atlantic seaboard. Around midnight on January 23/24, 1961, it rendezvoused with a tanker for mid-air refuelling. During the hook-up, the tanker crew advised the B-52 captain, Major W.S. Tulloch, that his aircraft had a leak in its port wing fuel cell. The refuelling was broken off, and ground control 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 captain reported that leak had worsened and that 37,000 pounds (17,000 kg) of fuel had been lost in 3 minutes. The aircraft was immediately directed to land at Seymour Johnson Air 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. The captain ordered the crew to eject, which they did at 9,000 feet (2,700 m). The crew last saw the aircraft intact with its payload of two Mark 39 nuclear weapons onboard.
The two nuclear weapons separated from the gyrating aircraft as it broke up between 10,000 feet (3,000 m) and 2,000 feet (610 m). Five of the six 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 feet (30 m) diameter retard parachute. The parachute allowed the bomb to hit the ground with little damage. The wreckage covered a 2-square-mile (5.2 km²) area of tobacco and cotton farmland at Faro, near Goldsboro.
According to former military analyst Daniel Ellsberg, he saw highly classified documents indicating that the pilot’s safe/arm switch was the only one of the six arming devices on the bomb that prevented detonation. The Pentagon claims that there was no chance of an explosion and that two arming mechanisms had not activated. A United States Department of Defense spokesperson told United Press International reporter Donald May that the bomb was unarmed and could not explode.L ater, however, it was found that both bombs were fully functional. Of the Air Force statement that a) there were two bombs, b) they were unarmed, c) they were both recovered, and d) there was no danger: only the part about being two bombs was true.

Damn, we were lucky the U.S. didn't blow up the damn world back in the '60s.  And we're worried about Iran?