On February 5, 1958, four years before the Cuban Missile Crisis, a USAF F-86 fighter jet collided with a B-47 bomber carrying a 7,600-pound Mark 15 nuclear bomb. To protect the aircrew from a possible detonation in the event of a crash, the bomb was jettisoned in the waters off Tybee Island near Savannah, Georgia. The incident came at the height of the Cold War, in which Cuba would later be strategically used by the Soviet Union to threaten the US due to its proximity to the coastal state of Florida.
Had the USSR developed earlier ties, it may well have used the event as an excuse to retaliate.
However, it was revealed during Amazon Prime’s “Phenomenon” series how the indent was brushed under the carpet.
The narrator of the 1999 series explained: “On the morning of February 5, 1958, Savannah unexpectedly finds itself party to an Air Force recovery operation.
“Off shore, a Navy destroyer prowls the Atlantic waters while Army and Navy personnel comb the beaches and surrounding marshland.
A nuclear bomb dropped near Cuban waters (Image: GETTY)
The event occured near the US coast (Image: GOOGLE)
The fact that it’s in the Savannah river does pose a bit of concern
“They drag the waters near the Savannah beach and divers from rubber boats search along the river bottom.
“On February 12, seven days after the accident, the Air Force finally issues a press release.”
The series went on to explain how another accident overshadowed the embarrassment and allowed the US to bury the problem
It continued: “The story emphasises that the jettisoned object presents no risk to the community and that it is completely harmless.
“On March 11, another nuclear bomb falls from yet another SAC B-47.
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The event occured four years before the Cuban Missile Crisis (Image: WIKI)
“The TNT portion explodes on impact, blasting a crater 75 feet wide and 35 feet deep.
“This event completely overshadows the Savannah story.
“After searching only three square miles of coastal waters over a period of two months, the military informs the press that the search is at an end.”
Stephen Schwartz, senior fellow at the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists revealed why the bomb could still pose a threat.
He explained: “The fact that it’s in the Savannah river does pose a bit of concern.
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A B-47 was carrying nuclear weapons (Image: GETTY)
A figher jet smashed into the bomber (Image: GETTY)
“I mean it’s not sitting out somewhere where it’s not populated.
“I don’t know exactly what was going through the government’s mind.
“All we have to go on are the few memos that we’ve been able to obtain, the ones that have been declassified.
“They suggest they did everything they could and in the interest of cost-effectiveness that it wasn’t worth the effort.
“It was just a nuclear weapon, after all, they could always get more.”
Stephen Schwartz said the bomb is concerning (Image: AMAZON)
It was not the last embarrassment for USAF, though.
On January 17, 1966, a B-52G USAF bomber collided with a KC-135 tanker during a refuelling mission at 31,000 feet over the Mediterranean Sea.
During the crash, three MK28-type hydrogen bombs headed for land in the small fishing village of Palomares in Almeria, Spain.
Worse still, the explosives in two of the weapons detonated on impact, contaminating the surrounding area of almost one square mile with plutonium.
The fourth sunk off the coast of Spain and was recovered three months later.