US Air Force Bomber Accidentally Drops Atomic Bomb into Backyard of Carolina Home but Did not Detonate into Mushroom Cloud
(Photo : Keystone/Getty Images)
The Boeing B-47 Stratojet in flight over Mount Rainier, Washington

In 1958, the US air force bomber accidentally dropped an atomic bomb right into a family's backyard in South Carolina, leaving a crater. Fortunately, there was no nuclear explosion that would have been most unlucky.

What caused the accident was the navigator of the B-47 bomber, who pulled the release handle of the mechanism holding. He was trying to look for a handhold while moving inside the plane.

When the B-47 dropped a 30-kiloton bomb on a family residence

The Gregg Family, with six members living in Mars Bluff, South Carolina, reported the Daily Mail when the bomb's detonator cratered their yard.

On March 11, it created a 50-feet wide and 30-feet deep hole, showing a powerful impact that damaged the house, injured the family, and killed their chickens. It was one in a million that an atomic explosion could have happened when the US air force bomber accidentally dropped an atomic bomb on the family's backyard.

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Inside the plane, the crew was in terror that they accidentally dropped the Mark 6 bomb and waited for a horrific mushroom cloud. There was nothing but the bursting impact that caused an explosion that concussed the family.

The Gregg family saved from the Mark 6 atomic bomb

Walter Gregg, the head of the family, recalls that day on March 11 at 4:00 pm that his daughters, Helen, 6, Francis, 9, with their cousin Ella Davies, 9, were playing in the playhouse then went to the yard on the house's side.

They were saved because they were able to leave in the impact zone of the bomb about 19 minutes before. Precisely at the moment later, a Mark 6, 30-kiloton A-bomb fell from 15,000-feet into the playhouse where the kids were playing, cited American Heritage in 2000.

Several speculations about the bomb's explosive core were about, and one is it was taken out of the bomb casing or kept in the plane. The damages by the TNT explosive detonator caused more than the descent, which started the chain reaction.

Walter added that he saw the debris caused by the explosion and chunks of soil, which struck and damaged his house and building from the blast.

Walter told Rense in 2003 that he relates working in the workshop to make benches with Walter Jr. His wife, Effie, was caught inside the house.

The dad said the explosion caused the soil to kick up, and it was hard to see 10-feet ahead. During the interview, he was already 82. He thought a plane had crashed too.

The day was unbelievable, Gregg added. Everything was crazy and indescribable too.

Ground crews struggled to secure the bomb due to time limit

This B-47 was part of the operation Snow furry, which prepared the crew for nuclear war. The team was going to the UK for a bombing run. Things were not going as planned too.

Those securing the Mark 6 into the harness had a time limit to put it in place on the ground. The Airforce practiced a time limit to sling it and lock a pin to secure it;

After the accident, it did not stop the US from flying with nukes, cited The Daily Beast, but increased overflights in 1960. The government wanted to settle when a US air force bomber accidentally dropped an atomic bomb on a South Carolina residence. The Greggs initially declined but was resolved later after two years.

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