The location of the North Carolina nuclear bomb that was never recovered is a farm field near Faro, a small community about 12 miles north of Goldsboro in Wayne County. Part of a 3.8-megaton Mark 39 thermonuclear weapon has sat underground there since January 24, 1961, when a U.S. Air Force B-52 broke apart in midair and dropped two hydrogen bombs on rural North Carolina. One bomb was recovered. The other was only partially recovered, and the piece left behind is estimated to lie roughly 180 feet below the surface.1National Archives Prologue Blog. Brush With Catastrophe
Where the Site Is
The impact point sits in farmland near the Nahunta Swamp, about ten miles northeast of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.2North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Nuclear Mishap F-70 You can spot it from above: an unusual patch of trees in the middle of a cultivated field, with discolored soil visible in satellite imagery marking where the military dug in 1961.3WRAL. Atomic Bomb Missing in ENC for 62 Years
The federal government bought the land immediately around the impact point in 1962 for $1,000 and holds a permanent easement over a 400-foot-radius circle.4Our State. 1960s Atomic Bomb Goldsboro Within that circle, no one may dig. Farmers still work the surrounding fields, but they are restricted to a depth of five feet.5National Geographic. Remembering the Night Two Atomic Bombs Dropped on North Carolina
The only official commemoration is a North Carolina historical marker, F-70, titled “Nuclear Mishap.” It stands at the intersection of NC 111/222 (Main Street) and SR 1058 (Faro Road) in the town of Eureka, roughly three miles from the actual crash site. Erected by the North Carolina Office of Archives and History in 2012, the marker reads: “B-52 transporting two nuclear bombs crashed, Jan. 1961. Widespread disaster averted; three crewmen died 3 mi. S.”6Historical Marker Database. Nuclear Mishap Marker7NC Markers. F-70 Nuclear Mishap
What Was Recovered and What Was Not
The two bombs that fell from the B-52 landed in very different conditions. The first weapon’s parachute deployed, and it came to rest upright in a tree line, largely intact. A crane lifted it out.8Spectrum News. Unprecedented Disaster Averted 63 Years Ago
The second bomb’s parachute failed. It hit the muddy field at an estimated 700 miles per hour and drove itself deep into the waterlogged ground.4Our State. 1960s Atomic Bomb Goldsboro First Lieutenant Jack ReVelle, a 25-year-old munitions expert, led the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team that spent eight winter days excavating the hole.9StoryCorps. The Man Who Disabled Two Hydrogen Bombs Dropped in North Carolina At about 40 feet down, his team pulled out 92 detonators, the conventional explosive lenses, and the uranium-235/plutonium-239 core, which ReVelle called “the pit.” He described it as round, roughly the size of a volleyball, and heavy. “As I carried it up out of that hole, I remember thinking, ‘Don’t drop it,'” he later said.10East Carolina University. A Close Call
What the team never found was the weapon’s “secondary” stage, the thermonuclear fusion component containing highly enriched uranium. Groundwater kept flooding the pit, and further excavation became impossible. The military filled the hole back in and walked away. To keep the operation quiet, officials told the public the digging was a search for a missing aircraft seat.4Our State. 1960s Atomic Bomb Goldsboro That secondary is the piece still buried near Faro today.
Is the Site Dangerous?
The Department of Defense states there is no detectable radiation or hazard at the site.11Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. A Piece of History North Carolina conducts periodic groundwater tests in the area, and those tests have consistently shown no contamination.2North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Nuclear Mishap F-70 The federal easement and the five-foot digging limit on surrounding fields remain in force. Residents in the area occasionally still turn up fragments of the B-52’s fuselage in the dirt.5National Geographic. Remembering the Night Two Atomic Bombs Dropped on North Carolina
How the Bombs Got There
The aircraft was a B-52G Stratofortress with the call sign “Keep 19,” assigned to the 4241st Strategic Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. It was flying a routine 24-hour airborne patrol along the Eastern Seaboard, part of the Cold War practice of keeping nuclear-armed bombers in the air at all times. It carried two Mark 39 Mod 2 thermonuclear bombs, each weighing about 10,000 pounds with a yield of 3.8 megatons, roughly 260 times the Hiroshima bomb.4Our State. 1960s Atomic Bomb Goldsboro12The Guardian. US Nearly Detonated Atomic Bomb Over North Carolina
During aerial refueling over South Carolina, the crew spotted a fuel leak in the right wing. The bomber held offshore east of Wilmington for about two hours while the crew prepared to return to base. On approach, the damaged right wing failed structurally, and the aircraft broke apart at roughly 8,000 feet. Both bombs separated from the plane. Of the eight crew members, five ejected and survived; three were killed.2North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Nuclear Mishap F-7013NC ANCHOR. Bombs Over Goldsboro
The crash came close to a detonation. A 1969 Sandia National Laboratories report by engineer Parker F. Jones, declassified in 2013 after a Freedom of Information Act request by journalist Eric Schlosser, concluded that “one simple, dynamo-technology, low voltage switch stood between the United States and a major catastrophe.”12The Guardian. US Nearly Detonated Atomic Bomb Over North Carolina14Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog. The Final Switch – Goldsboro 1961 On the first bomb, seven of eight arming interlocks activated during the fall; only the crew-controlled ready-safe switch, still in “safe,” prevented a 3.8-megaton explosion.2North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Nuclear Mishap F-70 On the buried bomb, the impact had rotated the arm/safe switch to “armed,” but the crash also destroyed the switch’s contacts, so the firing circuit could not complete.15National Security Archive. Analysis of the Safety Aspects of the MK 39 MOD 2 Bombs When the EOD team dug it out on the fifth day, ReVelle’s sergeant told him: “Lieutenant, we found the arm/safe switch.” ReVelle replied, “Great.” The sergeant said, “Not great. It’s on arm.”10East Carolina University. A Close Call
Had the weapon detonated at the surface near Faro, analysts estimate it would have flattened every structure within a four-mile radius and produced a lethal zone extending about eight and a half miles, with thermal radiation reaching roughly 15 miles.10East Carolina University. A Close Call One estimate using 1961 population figures projected about 28,000 deaths.16Stanford University. 1961 Goldsboro B-52 Crash Instead, the fusion stage settled into the mud, the military gave up trying to reach it, and it has stayed there ever since.