There’s Two Nuclear Bombs in My Backyard!

6 min read

Hi everyone, I’m Rick Barron, your host, and welcome to my podcast, That’s Life, I Swear

Jack ReVelle, a US Air Force officer, played a critical role in preventing a catastrophic nuclear disaster during the Cold War. Unfortunately, his efforts to save the day would haunt him for the next 50 years, not to mention it would shorten his life.

Let’s jump into this

On January 24th, 1961, a B-52 bomber carrying two Mark 39 hydrogen bombs was flying over the town of Goldsboro, North Carolina, when it lost control and crashed. 

B52. Courtesy of: Insider

In what is now known as the Goldsboro incident, the B52 encounter problems that escalated in quick fashion. It had a fuel leak in one of its wings. As it was coming in for a landing, the wing broke off and the plane crashed.

Why does this matter?

For 50 years, from 1961 to 2011, the information of the incident was kept a secret. The Air Force had acknowledged the incident, but said there was realistically no chance of the bombs going off. What else was kept secret during that time was Jack Revelle’s illness years later, that stemmed from his recovering the volleyball-sized radioactive orb, which was the core of a hydrogen bomb. The orb that Jack carried close to his chest that night, exposed him to massive amounts of radiation. Because of his oath he took when joining the service, he kept his word and revealed nothing about what happened that day. Unfortunately, the Air Force did not keep their word.

Mark-39 Nuclear Bomb. Courtesy of National Museum of the US Air Force

The night when all hell almost broke lose

As the bomber broke apart and heading to the ground to crash, two thermonuclear bombs on board fell out. One of the bombs, fell slowly thanks to its parachute having deployed, and drifted down gently to the ground, coming to rest against a tree. The crash was a disaster in itself, but even more terrifying was that the two bombs could be fully armed, each with a yield of 3.8 megatons. 

Mark-39 Nuclear Bomb resting against tree. Courtesy of: History F Yeah

Five things to know

1.     What does ‘a yield of 3.8 megatons’ mean? The bombs were about 250 times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima

2.     Had the bombs exploded, it would’ve have caused a fireball that was 30 times hotter than the sun, plus killing tens of thousands of people 

3.     The blast wave would’ve leveled everything within a 17-mile-wide radius called the “kill zone”, around the blast site

4.     The winds would’ve blown the fallout of the blast far north impacting cities such as Washington D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City

5.     In short, the entire Eastern North Carolina land area would have been permanently uninhabitable

When Jack ReVelle arrived with his team, the first priority was to find the two bombs and disarm them asap. ReVelle was a nuclear weapons specialist, and knew that disarming the bombs would not be easy, has they had complex arming and firing mechanisms, and any mistake could trigger an explosion. The stakes were incredibly high, and failure was not an option.

The first bomb was found resting against a tree, with its parachute fully deployed. There was some good luck that made the situation a little less hectic with this bomb. It behaved precisely as a nuclear weapon was designed to behave in warfare: its parachute opened, its trigger mechanisms engaged, and only one low-voltage switch prevented the bomb from going off. Once the first bomb was completely disarmed, it was loaded onto the back of a flatbed truck and hauled away to Texas. 

The weather that day made for challenging conditions. Jack and his team were working in a muddy field, in freezing temperatures, with limited equipment. But they had no choice but to proceed. 

As the crew hunted for the second bomb, they came across a pile of metal wreckage that gave them pause to think the second bomb in the farm field was buried deep in the ground.

Jack asked for a long wooden stick, like a broom handle, to poke into the wet ground. The reason: He didn’t want to touch metal with metal, and cause a spark that might cause an explosion. Someone found a wooden rod from the back of a truck cab, and Jack started poking around in the mud. He determined that the debris was from the second bomb, and quickly called in the heavy excavators to start digging a large hole. 

The hole had to be deep enough and wide enough not to hit the bomb embedded in the ground.

Jack’s team worked around the clock to disarm both bombs. They overcame numerous obstacles, including faulty tools and difficult access to the bombs' internal mechanisms. Eventually, they succeeded and found the explosive part of the bomb. Jack climbed down into the large hole and carried out the radioactive orb, and other systems that would have armed the bomb. 

So why didn’t the bombs go off when they hit the ground? Both bombs had what was called an arm/safe switch. The bomber crew would’ve disarmed the safe switch to make the bombs activated. As for the first bomb, the arm/safe switch was still in the "safe" position. It was discovered that the second bomb in the hole was switched to "armed". The force of the impact armed the weapon but it failed to detonate. Why? It was never determined. 

Something to note here. The night Jack arrived with his team, the only protection he was wearing that night were military fatigues and a pair of gloves. The contents that he carried out of the muddy hole was highly radioactive and he held it close to his chest.

Fast forward to 2011, and we find Jack was starting to get sick, the same year that the 1961 crash was declassified.  A few years before, his doctor thought he had anemia. That didn’t make sense to Jack, who’d always considered himself a healthy, high-energy guy. But the doctor confirmed it, then sent him off for further blood tests. Those tests led his doctors to diagnose him with Myeloid Dysplastic Syndrome (MDS), a precursor to leukemia. Those same doctors told him that Jack’s radiation exposure over his years in the Air Force, likely caused the disease.

Some items to note about Jack’s military career:

1.     He was exposed to Agent Orange while serving in the Vietnam War

2.     His background as a nuclear weapons specialist lead him to deal with various nuclear incidents, including a fire in New Jersey in 1960 that destroyed a nuclear warhead and spread radiation around the base  

3.     After he disarmed the bombs noted in this story, he was sent to hydrogen bomb testing at Christmas Island in the Pacific, where he was exposed to about two dozen detonations as part of Operation Dominic during 1962

Being exposed to all this radiation, did overtime, lead to Jack’s ongoing visits in 2018, every two weeks to the doctors, for blood transfusions due to his body not making enough red blood cells.

Jack asked the doctor about his life expectancy. The doctor gave him about three years. When asked how he might die, the doctor told him, most likely in his sleep.

In 2014, the Veterans Administration denied Jack further insurance coverage to pay for his treatment because, in their words, there was no direct connection between his exposure to radiation and his sickness, while serving his country. 

In April 2019, Jack’s lawyer went before the Board of Veterans Appeals in San Diego to plead his case. Months went by and nothing happened. In February 2020, the final decision was rendered, granting Dr. ReVelle his benefits. It had taken four years of work, and 10 months of waiting after their appeal, but Jack had won. The good news was great, but it came too late.

Jack eventually needed to go to an assisted living facility for long term care, as his wife Brenda and daughter, Karen, could no longer care for him. On January 26, 2020 a caretaker was making the rounds and stopped by Jack’s room. “Hi, Jack, how we doing today?” There was no reply. He died during his sleep.

Jack and his daughter, Karen. Courtesy of: NPR

Jack and his team didn’t get much attention for what he and his team did that rainy day in January of 1961. The fact that he had to petition and fight for medical coverage due to his exposure to radiation while in the military was insulting. He took an oath to this country and in the end, the military establishment turned a blind eye to their oath.

Jack during Jack in his final days. Courtesy of: Register

What can we learn from this story? What’s the take away?

The Goldsboro incident was a chilling reminder of the dangers of nuclear weapons, and the critical importance of safety and expertise in handling them.

A nightmarish crisis was averted thanks to Jack Revelle and his teams’ efforts. The incident serves as a testament to the courage and professionalism of the men and women who serve to prevent disasters, and who keep their oath. It’s a shame that our country could not have done the same for Jack.

Well, there you go. That's life, I swear.

For further information regarding the material covered in this episode, I invite you to visit my website, which you can find on either Apple Podcasts/iTunes or Google Podcasts, for show notes calling out key pieces of content mentioned and the episode transcript.

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