Not long after World War II ended, the Cold War began. Threats were made, battle lines drawn and Americans were under constant fear of nuclear war. Little did many people know that a nuclear explosion almost happened right off the coast of Georgia…and it wasn’t from the Russians!
When we watch TV reruns from the 1950s of Leave it to Beaver, Father Knows Best, The Honeymooners and others we see a simple and overall happy world. But lurking in the international shadows was a real threat of total devastation from nuclear war with Russia.
It was a time for preparation. Preparation in the hopes that if we had some type of notice, we could duck and cover and hopefully survive nuclear war. Little did we know that if we were close enough to see an explosion there would be no survival, only incineration dust shadows of where we once stood.
And that brings us back to the nuclear explosion that almost happened off the Georgia coast.
The night of February 5th, 1958 was just another training exercise for Colonel Howard Richardson and the crew of a B-47 bomber from Homestead Air Force Base. They were simulating an actual bomb run with a 7,600-pound nuclear bomb in their payload.
Suddenly, at 2am, another jet, an F-86, smashed into the bomber. As the bomber plummeted 18,000 feet Richardson knew he had to act fast. With the payload he was carrying, a safe landing would be extremely dangerous. He had to eject the bomb.
Surely, if the bomb exploded in the ocean, it would be better than at another air force base on land nearby. The crew requested permission, and it was granted. The bomb was dropped from 7,200 feet somewhere off the coast of Tybee Island. The crew watched for an explosion, and luckily for residents of Tybee Island and the Georgia coast, there was none.
The crew managed to land the plane at nearby Hunter Army Airfield without incident and to this day, the bomb has never been found.
Since the event, some sources describe the bomb as a fully functional nuclear weapon. Others, like the U.S. Air Force, maintain that the nuclear capsule had been removed before the flight.
Whatever the case, if the bomb were live and had exploded, the possible blast effects would have included a fireball with a radius of 1.2 miles and thermal radiation causing third degree burns for ten times that distance.
Just another frightening tale from Stories, Secrets & Sagas.
