11. A B-47 accidentally dropped a nuclear bomb on South Carolina
On March 11, 1958, a USAF B-47E bomber was flying as part of a squadron of four from Hunter Air Force Base, Georgia, to an unspecified location in England on a classified mission code-named Operation Snow Flurry designed to simulate a mock bombing scenario. Whilst over South Carolina, at 3:53pm and an altitude of 15,000 feet, the flight navigator/bombardier conducted a safety check on a MK-6 nuclear bomb’s locking harness and inadvertently pushed the emergency release lever. The weapon crashed through the bomb bay doors and entered free fall.
The bomb landed approximately 6.5 miles east of Florence, South Carolina, in Mars Bluff, and detonated upon impact. Without it’s fissile core, removed for safety reasons, the bomb’s 7,600lbs of high explosives resulted in a crater 70 feet wide and 30 feet deep. Landing in the garden of Mr. Walter Gregg, the explosion damaged several local properties, including the town’s church, and injured Mr. Gregg and five members of his family in addition to other residents. Following the incident Air Force crews were ordered to “lock in” nuclear bombs on all flights, increasing the potential dangers from a plane crash but reducing the possibility of future accidental drops.