1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:09,119 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,160 Speaker 1: a show that shines a light on the ups and 4 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:17,120 Speaker 1: downs of everyday history. I'm Gay Bluesier, and in this 5 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:21,120 Speaker 1: episode we're talking about one of the scariest close calls 6 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:24,319 Speaker 1: of the twentieth century, the time when the U. S 7 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:29,560 Speaker 1: military dropped an atomic bomb right in one family's backyard. 8 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: The day was March eleventh, in the Air Force b 9 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 1: Fort Bomber mistakenly dropped a nuclear weapon on a rural 10 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: farmhouse in mars Bluff, South Carolina. The bomb landed in 11 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: the woods behind the home of railroad conductor Walter greg. 12 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:01,600 Speaker 1: He and his wife, their three aldren, and a visiting 13 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 1: niece were injured in the blast, but amazingly, they all survived. Luckily, 14 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 1: for the Greg's and for the eastern half of the 15 00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 1: United States, the nuclear bomb in question wasn't carrying a 16 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:19,640 Speaker 1: radioactive payload when it was dropped. By now, you're probably 17 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: wondering why the US Air Force was flying a nuclear 18 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:27,480 Speaker 1: warhead over South Carolina at the time. The country was 19 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: on high alert for a potential nuclear attack from the 20 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:35,280 Speaker 1: Soviet Union. To maintain readiness and a moment's notice. The 21 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:39,120 Speaker 1: military kept at least one nuclear armed bomber in flight 22 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:43,480 Speaker 1: at all times. On the afternoon of March eleven, the 23 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: BT responsible for the Mars Bluff incident was in the 24 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: middle of one such training exercise. It was called Operation 25 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 1: snow Flurry, and the mission was to fly in atomic 26 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:58,960 Speaker 1: bomb on a practice run from the Hunter Air Force 27 00:01:59,040 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 1: Base in Savannah, Georgia, to the United Kingdom. Missions like 28 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:08,359 Speaker 1: this obviously posed considerable danger to civilians below, but the 29 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,360 Speaker 1: thread of a Soviet strike made them worth the risk, 30 00:02:11,760 --> 00:02:14,959 Speaker 1: at least in the eyes of the military. The crew 31 00:02:15,040 --> 00:02:18,360 Speaker 1: of the B forty seven bomber consisted of three men, 32 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:23,320 Speaker 1: the pilot, Captain Carl M. Koehler, the co pilot Captain 33 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 1: Charles S. Woodroffe, and the navigator, Captain Bruce M. Kolka. 34 00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 1: Their cargo that day was a twenty kiloton Mark six 35 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,560 Speaker 1: nuclear weapon, and even more powerful bomb than the one 36 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:41,399 Speaker 1: dropped on Nagasaki. As the plane flew over South Carolina, 37 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:44,800 Speaker 1: a red fault light began to flash in the cockpit. 38 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:48,440 Speaker 1: It indicated that the locking pin on the bomb harness 39 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,799 Speaker 1: was malfunctioning and would need to be relocked manually. This 40 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:56,440 Speaker 1: was easier said than done, as accessing the cargo bay 41 00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: midflight required the entire plane to be d pressure rised 42 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:03,440 Speaker 1: and all of the airmen to put on oxygen masks. 43 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 1: The navigator, twenty nine year old Bruce Kolka, was sent 44 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,960 Speaker 1: to check out the problem, but he didn't actually know 45 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:14,200 Speaker 1: where the locking pin was located on the bomb harness. 46 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:17,280 Speaker 1: He thought it might be near the top of the structure, 47 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:20,320 Speaker 1: so he grabbed ahold of the harness and pulled himself 48 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: up onto the bomb. Unfortunately, the handhold that Colca happened 49 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:29,360 Speaker 1: to grasp turned out to be the emergency release lever. 50 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 1: He watched in terror as the massive bomb beneath him 51 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: dropped from its harness and collided with the closed doors 52 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: in the floor of the plane. For a brief, tense moment, 53 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:46,120 Speaker 1: nothing happened, and Colka just sat there straddling a three 54 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:49,320 Speaker 1: ton bomb in a scene straight out of Doctor Strange Love. 55 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: Then all of a sudden, the bombay doors gave way. 56 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:07,280 Speaker 1: Kulka was able to scramble free in time, but there 57 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: was no stopping the bomb. It plunged more than fifteen 58 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: thousand feet, landing almost directly on a children's playhouse in 59 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:20,280 Speaker 1: the Gregg family's backyard garden. It's unclear why the accident 60 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:24,360 Speaker 1: didn't result in a nuclear explosion. The Air Force later 61 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: claimed there was never any danger of an atomic blast, 62 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 1: seemingly implying that the bomb's plutonium core had been stored 63 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: separately in a different part of the plane. The other 64 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,919 Speaker 1: option is that the payload was indeed loaded into the 65 00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:42,520 Speaker 1: bomb and that had just failed to detonate, a frightening 66 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:45,599 Speaker 1: prospect and not one the military would be likely to 67 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: admit even if it were true. In either case, the 68 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: bomb may not have been armed with a fission core, 69 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:55,359 Speaker 1: but it was still packed with more than six thousand 70 00:04:55,440 --> 00:05:01,239 Speaker 1: pounds of conventional explosives. The resulting blast flat nearby trees, 71 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 1: totaled both of the family's vehicles and destroyed their house, 72 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: which stood just about a hundred yards away from where 73 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: the bomb had landed. The force of its impact turned 74 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:16,839 Speaker 1: Greg's garden into a massive muddy crater, one that measured 75 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:21,280 Speaker 1: roughly twenty five ft deep and over fifty feet wide. 76 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,839 Speaker 1: Witnesses later reported a mushroom cloud of dust and debris 77 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:28,800 Speaker 1: that could be seen in the sky from miles around 78 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:33,280 Speaker 1: in all directions. The entire Gregg family was home when 79 00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: the bomb went off around four thirty pm. They felt 80 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,800 Speaker 1: the house fall off its foundation and watched as gaping 81 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:45,160 Speaker 1: holes opened in the roof and walls. Despite the wide 82 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:49,760 Speaker 1: scale destruction, Walter and his family sustained only minor injuries, 83 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:53,039 Speaker 1: and the only fatalities that day were a few free 84 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: range chickens. Walter Gregg remained remarkably upbeat about his family's 85 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:02,520 Speaker 1: near death experience. After being assured that the military would 86 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:07,080 Speaker 1: cover all the damages, Gregg jokingly said, quote, I've always 87 00:06:07,120 --> 00:06:09,680 Speaker 1: wanted a swimming pool, and now I've got a hole 88 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:14,039 Speaker 1: for one at no cost. It's worth noting, though, that 89 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:18,520 Speaker 1: Walter Gregg was reportedly awarded just thirty six thousand dollars, 90 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:22,200 Speaker 1: which wasn't enough to rebuild his house or replace his 91 00:06:22,279 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 1: family's lost possessions. On the somewhat bright side, the Gregg 92 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 1: family later appeared on the game show I've Got a 93 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: Secret And Wouldn't you Know It? No one on the 94 00:06:32,200 --> 00:06:35,360 Speaker 1: panel was able to guess that an atomic bomb had 95 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:38,919 Speaker 1: fallen in their back yard. Within a few hours of 96 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:42,240 Speaker 1: the Mars Bluff incident, Air Force police set up a 97 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:46,400 Speaker 1: two mile perimeter around the blast site. They also informed 98 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:49,120 Speaker 1: the local press that the community was in no danger 99 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:54,159 Speaker 1: of radioactive exposure, saying, quote, there was not enough radioactivity 100 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: present to make a Geiger counter click. As for the 101 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:01,279 Speaker 1: three man crew of the B forty seven, they were 102 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 1: hastily reassigned to an overseas mission for the next several years. 103 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: It's upsetting to think about military officers fumbling a nuclear weapon, 104 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:13,680 Speaker 1: which is why it's tempting to assume it was a 105 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:18,720 Speaker 1: one time mistake. However, unplanned bomb drops were in all 106 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:22,800 Speaker 1: too common occurrence during the Cold War era. The lost 107 00:07:22,920 --> 00:07:28,320 Speaker 1: bombs that fell during these unscheduled drops were nicknamed broken arrows, 108 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:31,120 Speaker 1: and more than a dozen of them were recorded throughout 109 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties. In fact, less than 110 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:39,520 Speaker 1: three years after the close call in Mars Bluff, another 111 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:44,000 Speaker 1: nuclear weapon was dropped by accident, just one stayed over 112 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 1: in Goldsboro, North Carolina. In that incident, a B fifty 113 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:54,160 Speaker 1: two bomber malfunctioned in mid air, releasing two hydrogen bombs 114 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:58,560 Speaker 1: on an unsuspecting community. It proved to be another instance 115 00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: of exceedingly good luck, as neither bomb detonated, although one 116 00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:08,280 Speaker 1: came unnervingly close. There's still a lot the public doesn't 117 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:12,440 Speaker 1: know about these nuclear near misses, including the true number 118 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 1: that occurred. One way to potentially get to the bottom 119 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:19,840 Speaker 1: of it could be to go around and count the craters, because, 120 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: at least in the case of the Mars Bluff incident, 121 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:26,800 Speaker 1: the crater was never filled in. It's severely overgrown, but 122 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 1: it's still there, just off South Carolina Highway seventy six. 123 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:35,000 Speaker 1: There's a historical marker and access sign posted at the 124 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: impact site, but it is on private property, so visitors 125 00:08:39,120 --> 00:08:42,280 Speaker 1: should still ask the current owners for permission before checking 126 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:45,520 Speaker 1: it out. After you've had your fill of staring at 127 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:47,560 Speaker 1: a hole in the ground, you can head over to 128 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: the Florence County Museum, where several bomb fragments from the 129 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:56,120 Speaker 1: incident are still on display. The shrapnel was generously donated 130 00:08:56,160 --> 00:08:59,800 Speaker 1: by the Gregg family, who apparently preferred not to have 131 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:03,960 Speaker 1: souvenir to remember the day by. I can't imagine why not. 132 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:09,920 Speaker 1: I'm gay, Bluesier, and hopefully you now know a little 133 00:09:09,960 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. Before we 134 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:17,360 Speaker 1: close the show, I have an important announcement to make 135 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 1: effective today. The show is moving to a five episode 136 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:24,839 Speaker 1: per week schedule. That means there won't be any new 137 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:29,840 Speaker 1: episodes for Saturday's or Sunday's for the foreseeable future. It 138 00:09:29,880 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 1: wasn't a decision we made lightly, but for the sake 139 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:36,439 Speaker 1: of a healthy work life balance, it's a necessary change. 140 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:39,840 Speaker 1: That's because it's just me and Chandler making the show, 141 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:42,840 Speaker 1: and delivering a new episode every day of the year 142 00:09:43,320 --> 00:09:46,360 Speaker 1: is a tall order for just two people, so in 143 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:49,640 Speaker 1: the name of quality over quantity, we're gonna keep this 144 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:53,679 Speaker 1: a strictly weekday affair for the time being. The upside 145 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:56,120 Speaker 1: is that with a lighter load to bear, we'll be 146 00:09:56,160 --> 00:09:58,680 Speaker 1: able to keep making new episodes of the show for 147 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:03,160 Speaker 1: years to come, so stick with us as always. You 148 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:06,520 Speaker 1: can keep up with the show by following us on Twitter, Facebook, 149 00:10:06,559 --> 00:10:10,760 Speaker 1: and Instagram at t d I HC Show, and if 150 00:10:10,760 --> 00:10:14,240 Speaker 1: you have any comments, concerns, or suggestions, feel free to 151 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:17,240 Speaker 1: send them my way at this day at I heart 152 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:21,600 Speaker 1: media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show, 153 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:24,560 Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening. I'll see you back 154 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:27,559 Speaker 1: here again soon for another day in History Class.