# Mislaid Atom Bombs. Updates? Hey, Georgia Dopers!!! **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 4, 2000, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847 "2000-02-04T02:52:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/1 "2000-02-04T02:52:00Z")
Over the years, I have read several accounts of a US army Air Corps bomber crashing in the mouth of the Savannah River in Georgia. Allegedly, it was carrying 2 “Little Boy” class atomic bombs. This happened in the late 1940’s. Part of the plane was found, but not the bombs. Any updates or recent developments on this one? Are the authorities still putting up the posters describing the bombs around the Savannah area? Is there a reward? Savannah Dopers, please reply!!! * * * With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince. With science, you can turn a frog into a Ph.D, and you still have the frog you started with. ---
**Author:** ![Surgoshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Surgoshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surgoshan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/2 "2000-02-04T06:22:00Z")
::sniff sniff:: this to me has the foul reek of an urban legend. In the 40s, I don’t think the US had two little boys to spare that it could let them crash without being found. Also, those little boys were big, I’m talking massive. Little only in terms of detonation strength and relative to other bombs, I think. * * * I sold my soul to Satan for a dollar. I got it in the mail. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/3 "2000-02-04T06:37:00Z")
Savannah is a beautiful city, not least of which because its my hometown. The story you are reffering too, I have always assumed was an urban myth as well. Then about a year ago I saw a show on WW2 on The History Channel (my fave network) . . . I do not remember the exact title of the show, but there was a part of it about that a-bomb at the bottom of the Savannah River ! ITS TRUE !! The reason the military has never tried to fish it out is that it would almost certainly explode. In the meantime not much is said about it, I guess they hope people forget it. Somewhere someone has proof of this story, I wish i had more than just a memory of an old tv program. I guess if the river turns green and its not mid-March, better get the hell away from there. * * * All rights reserved, all wrongs revenged. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/4 "2000-02-04T06:54:00Z")
Atomic bombs, huh? And all along I thought it was the inbreeding. Just kidding. I visit the town several times a year and never tire of it. I do have the story about the bombing in a book. If no one else finds a source, I’ll dig it out. BTW, something similar happened in SC. The town of Mars Bluff was bombed with an atomic bomb. They recovered that one, though. ---
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/5 "2000-02-04T07:46:00Z")
> [@](#): > > ITS TRUE !! The reason the military has never tried to fish it out is that it would almost certainly explode. In the meantime not much is said about it, I guess they hope people forget it. I’m not buying the reason for not recovering. Atom bombs are very stable - i.e. they don’t go off unless you want them to. I’ve heard of accidentally dropped bombs or crashed bombs, but I seriously doubt that the US military would leave a nuke sitting about. ---
**Author:** ![funneefarmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@funneefarmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funneefarmer)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/6 "2000-02-04T10:15:00Z")
Is this it ? Sounds much later than WW II. Don’t know how reliable the site is. From… [http://hempwine.com/alleycat/nukes.html#bombs](http://hempwine.com/alleycat/nukes.html#bombs) “5 February 1958 A B-47 collided with another jet and a hydrogen bomb was accidentally dropped, never to be recovered, in the ocean off Savannah, Georgia.” ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/7 "2000-02-04T12:14:00Z")
You know, in retrospect it may have been one of those “Weapons of War” shows that George C. Scott hosts, it may not have been WW2 but later - cold war times. Sorry, I know the info is vague, but having always heard the story as a kid, I definetely remember being surprised when I heard it was true. The proof is out there . . . ---
**Author:** ![falcon2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dbc845/32.png) [@falcon2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/falcon2)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/8 "2000-02-04T14:36:00Z")
> [@](#): > > You know, in retrospect it may have been one of those “Weapons of War” shows that George C. Scott hosts This sound right, I have read about this incident in a book “Future fire : weapons for the apocalypse” I think. It had a chapter “Broken Arrows, Bent spears,Rusted swords,Faded Giants.” It was all about nuclear accidents, and this is a section I clearly remember. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/9 "2000-02-04T16:58:00Z")
[This site](http://www.milnet.com/milnet/cdiart.htm) gives details of 32 nuclear weapons accidents and includes the Savannah River and SC incidents. Interesting reading. 1958 was a hell of a year. ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/10 "2000-02-04T17:03:00Z")
beatle - thanks for the URL. I’m going to be spending some time here - fascinating reading! ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2000, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/11 "2000-02-05T06:53:00Z")
If its burried in mud and water its perfectly safe surely? Fuck it, they’ve plenty more where that came from. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Raven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@The\_Raven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Raven)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/12 "2000-02-04T19:09:00Z")
Hey, there’s a reason that I don’t drink the water around here… Actually, the smell of the paper mill upriver has more to do with it than old atomic bombs lying around…though most people I talked to around here claim its ‘mostly harmless’. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/13 "2000-02-04T22:55:00Z")
According to the websight mentioned above, the bomb that landed in Georgia had no nuclear material in it, so there was possability of a nuclear blast. Still, there could have been a nasty HE blast if the detonators had gone off. Also, a friend of the family used to work in the U.S. Army’s missle corp. He says he had a “Broken Arrow” alert once. A component of a missle went missing during maintenance. It turns out that the repair guy went on lunch, and took the part with him :rolleyes:, so there was never any real threat. * * * –It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/14 "2000-02-04T22:57:00Z")
Oops. Make that “ **no** possability of a nuclear blast.” ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/15 "2000-02-04T23:10:00Z")
Reading the CDI article again, it sounds like my friend’s story was either a “Bent Spear” or “Dull Sword” incident. It depends on if the misplacemnent of the part was considered a significant incident or not. * * * –It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats. ---
**Author:** ![Dirty\_Devil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Dirty\_Devil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dirty_Devil)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2000, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/16 "2000-02-04T23:21:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Surgoshan: > [BAlso, those little boys were big, I’m talking massive\*\* What do you mean by massive? I’ve seen pictures of both Fat Man and Little Boy, and, IIRC, they look to be a little smaller than a Volkswagon Bug. That may be big compared to some other conventional bombs of the time, but they weren’t anything to write home about. Am I missing something? ---
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2000, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/17 "2000-02-05T11:37:00Z")
The site you linked to is interesting, beatle, but this is curious: > [@](#): > > **No. 5, November 10, 1950/B-50/Over Water, Outside United States > Because of an in-flight aircraft emergency, a weapon containing no capsule of nuclear material was jettisoned > over water from an altitude of 10,500 feet. A high-explosive detonation was observed.** > > CDI: There is no record of recovery of this nuclear weapon. The incident report clearly states “no nuclear material”, so it is not a nuclear weapon which is in need of recovery. Also, the HE detonation destroyed most of the HE, so there isn’t much left to recover. Is the bold stuff meant to indicate the ‘official party line’ while the ‘CDI’ section indicates what really happened? I’m a little confused, especially with this: > [@](#): > > **No. 7, July 27, 1956/B-47/Overseas Base > A B-47 aircraft with no weapons aboard… rash[ed] inot [sic] a storage igloo containing several nuclear weapons. No capsules of nuclear materials were in the > weapons or present in the building.** > … > “It is possible that a part of Eastern > England would have become a desert” had the TNT exploded and showered radioactive materials over a wide area, said a > now retired Air Force general who was in the U.K. at the time. “It was a combination of tremendous heroism, good > fortune and the will of God,” said a former Air Force officer who was on the scene. If there were no nuclear materials, then the contamination scenario is not possible. Does anyone understand what this site is trying to say? > [@](#): > > Plutonium-239, an isotope used to fuel atomic bombs has a half-life of 24,400 years and remains poisonous for at least half > a million years. [why CDI chose to mention this does not make sense…the nuclear material capsule contains the critical > mass of enriched fuel - MILNET] It appears even MILNET sees this odd interjections of unnecessary scary-sounding sentences by the CDI. Are they just trying to frighten people? After reviewing the site, I found the following geniunely disturbing accidents: \ \ **No. 6, March 10, 1956/B-47/Mediterranean Sea** \Two capsules of weapons grade nuclear material missing over the Mediterranean. \ **No. 11, January 31, 1958/B-47/Overseas Base** \A weapon in strike configuration involved in a crash and burned. Contamination risk, no detonation risk apparent(?) \**No. 14, November 4, 1958/B-47/Dyess Air Force Base [Abilene,] Texas** \Contamination risk from crash + HE detonation \**No. 17, July 6, 1959/C-124/Barksdale Air Force Base [Bossier City,] Louisiana** \Contamination risk from crash & fire \ **No. 18, September 25, 1959/P-5M/Off Whidbey Island, Washington** \Tactical nuke lost (presumably with nuclear material. \**No. 20, June 7, 1960/BOMARC/McGuire Air Force Base, [near Trenton,] New Jersey** \Contamination risk after fire. \ **No. 21, January 24, 1961/B-52/Goldsboro, North Carolina** \Nuclear material lost in a bog. \**No. 26, December 8, 1964/B-58/Bunker Hill (now Grissom) Air Force Base, [Peru,] Indiana** \Contamination risk after aircraft fire. \ **No. 28, December 5, 1965/A-4/At Sea, Pacific** \Nuclear weapon (presumably “fully-loaded”) lost at sea. \ **No. 29, January 17, 1966/B-52/KC-135/Palomares, Spain** \Contamination after HE detonation of two nukes. \ **No. 30, January 21, 1968/B-52/Thule, Greenland** \Contamination after crash. \ So, I count three or four missing nukes, plus a handful of subs probably with nukes lost on both the US and Soviet side (Scorpion, Thresher, Soviet “Glomar Explorer” sub…) and 7 contamination events. Not a bad record considering how many nukes were running around in those days. The subs are close to lost forever, mostly being very deep, so I don’t worry they’ll be the source of a terrorist nuke anytime soon. Now what I’m really worried about is nukes from the former USSR falling into terrorist hands… ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2000, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/18 "2000-02-05T21:16:00Z")
Not bad. But what is the current status of the Savannah River Device? Is it true that the Feds have posters out offering a reward? * * * With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince. With science, you can turn a frog into a Ph.D, and you still have the frog you started with. ---
**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2000, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mislaid-atom-bombs-updates-hey-georgia-dopers/6847/19 "2000-02-06T16:43:00Z")
Daniel, you’ve gotta follow [beatle’s link](http://www.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/005428.html). Here is a small quote about the Savannah river incident to intrigue you to go to the link. When you do, you’ll probably see why I didn’t include it in my list of actually worrisome events. > [@](#): > > **The weapon was jettisoned into the water several miles from the mouth of Savannah River (Georgia) in Wassaw Sound off Tybee Beach.**