This nation came perilously close to thermonuclear disaster, as explained here:
http://www.theguardian.com/wor...-north-carolina-1961
If you want a thorough account of the Goldsboro broken arrow, get the only really comprehensive book on the subject, written by a former Strategic Air Command officer. It will send chills down your spine:
http://www.thegoldsborobrokenarrow.com/
"How close was it to exploding? My opinion is d a mn close. You might now have a very large Bay of North Carolina if that thing had gone off." Dr. Jack ReVelle, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer who deactivated both thermonuclear bombs in 1961."
Amazon has it:
From one Amazon.com review:
"I vaguely remember hearing about the accident soon after it happened in 1961, but I never delved into it until the Air Force brought me to the B-52 unit at Seymour Johnson AFB in 1979. Since then, I've read many newspaper and other articles about the accident, too often including much misinformation and sensationalism. This book is the most compehensive and complete work on the subject that I have seen. It does an outstanding job of explaining the national policies and procedures of the time with respect to the handling of nuclear weapons. It humanizes the air crewmen and acquaints the reader very well with them. It explains the aircraft's many strenghts and its few weaknesses in great detail. It reveals the in-flight breakup of the aircraft so well that the reader can almost feel and hear it and vividly imagine trying to pull that ejection trigger or get to an open hatch before it's too late to get out. The reader can sense the third pilot's horror as he tries to escape the twisting, turning, rolling, shattered aircraft, and in a final desparate act, flings himself downward through the open hatch that is normally above the pilot's seat - an act that produces a miracle in itself - the successful exit from a B-52 in flight through an upward excape hatch without an ejection seat. It relates the Air Force's extensive efforts to recover the aircraft and the bombs and details the analysis of the bombs' internal systems to explain how there nearly could have been a nuclear detonation and clearly states why there was not. It also dispels much of the misleading information and sensationalism that have prevailed for the last fifty-one years. The author's open-mindedness, his search for the truth and the recent declassification of certain government documents have resulted in this outstanding historical account of the accident."
Fair play disclosure: The author has been a close friend of mine for over 50 years. Even if that were not the case, I would still recommend this book. It got a bunch of 5-star reviews on Amazon.com. Its a goodie.
