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This Day in History Class is a production of I Heart

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Radio. Hello

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and welcome to This Day in History

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Class, a show that shines

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a light on the ups and downs

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of everyday history. I'm

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Gay Bluesier, and in this episode

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we're talking about one of the scariest

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close calls of the twentieth century,

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the time when the U. S military

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dropped an atomic bomb right

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in one family's backyard. The

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day was March eleventh, in

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the Air Force b Fort Bomber

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mistakenly dropped a nuclear weapon

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on a rural farmhouse in mars

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Bluff, South Carolina. The

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bomb landed in the woods behind

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the home of railroad conductor Walter

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greg. He and his wife,

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their three aldren, and a visiting

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niece were injured in the blast, but

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amazingly, they all survived.

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Luckily, for the Greg's and for

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the eastern half of the United States,

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the nuclear bomb in question wasn't

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carrying a radioactive payload

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when it was dropped. By now,

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you're probably wondering why the US

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Air Force was flying a nuclear warhead

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over South Carolina at

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the time. The country was on high alert

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for a potential nuclear attack from

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the Soviet Union. To maintain

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readiness and a moment's notice. The

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military kept at least one nuclear

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armed bomber in flight at all times.

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On the afternoon of March eleven, the

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BT responsible for the

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Mars Bluff incident was in the middle

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of one such training exercise.

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It was called Operation snow

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Flurry, and the mission was to

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fly in atomic bomb on a practice

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run from the Hunter Air Force Base

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in Savannah, Georgia, to the United

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Kingdom. Missions like this

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obviously posed considerable danger

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to civilians below, but the thread

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of a Soviet strike made them worth

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the risk, at least in the eyes of the military.

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The crew of the B forty seven bomber

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consisted of three men, the

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pilot, Captain Carl M. Koehler,

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the co pilot Captain Charles

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S. Woodroffe, and the navigator, Captain

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Bruce M. Kolka. Their

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cargo that day was a twenty kiloton

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Mark six nuclear weapon, and

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even more powerful bomb than the

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one dropped on Nagasaki. As

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the plane flew over South Carolina,

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a red fault light began to flash

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in the cockpit. It indicated

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that the locking pin on the bomb harness

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was malfunctioning and would need to be relocked

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manually. This was easier

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said than done, as accessing the

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cargo bay midflight required

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the entire plane to be d pressure rised

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and all of the airmen to put on oxygen

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masks. The navigator,

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twenty nine year old Bruce Kolka, was

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sent to check out the problem, but he

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didn't actually know where the locking

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pin was located on the bomb harness.

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He thought it might be near the top of the structure,

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so he grabbed ahold of the harness and pulled

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himself up onto the bomb. Unfortunately,

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the handhold that Colca happened

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to grasp turned out to be the emergency

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release lever. He watched

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in terror as the massive bomb

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beneath him dropped from its harness

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and collided with the closed doors

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in the floor of the plane. For

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a brief, tense moment, nothing

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happened, and Colka just sat there

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straddling a three ton bomb in

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a scene straight out of Doctor Strange

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Love. Then

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all of a sudden, the bombay

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doors gave way. Kulka

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was able to scramble free in time,

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but there was no stopping the bomb. It

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plunged more than fifteen thousand

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feet, landing almost directly

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on a children's playhouse in the

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Gregg family's backyard garden. It's

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unclear why the accident didn't result

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in a nuclear explosion. The

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Air Force later claimed there was never

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any danger of an atomic blast,

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seemingly implying that the bomb's plutonium

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core had been stored separately in

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a different part of the plane. The

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other option is that the payload was

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indeed loaded into the bomb and

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that had just failed to detonate, a

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frightening prospect and not one

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the military would be likely to admit even

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if it were true. In either

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case, the bomb may not have been

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armed with a fission core, but it

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was still packed with more than six thousand

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pounds of conventional explosives.

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The resulting blast flat nearby

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trees, totaled both of the family's

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vehicles and destroyed their house, which

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stood just about a hundred yards away

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from where the bomb had landed. The

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force of its impact turned Greg's

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garden into a massive muddy

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crater, one that measured roughly

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twenty five ft deep and over

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fifty feet wide. Witnesses

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later reported a mushroom cloud of

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dust and debris that could be seen in

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the sky from miles around in

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all directions. The

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entire Gregg family was home when

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the bomb went off around four thirty pm.

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They felt the house fall off its

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foundation and watched as gaping

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holes opened in the roof and walls.

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Despite the wide scale destruction,

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Walter and his family sustained only

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minor injuries, and the only fatalities

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that day were a few free range

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chickens. Walter Gregg

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remained remarkably upbeat about

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his family's near death experience. After

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being assured that the military would cover

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all the damages, Gregg jokingly

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said, quote, I've always wanted

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a swimming pool, and now I've got a hole

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for one at no cost. It's

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worth noting, though, that Walter Gregg

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was reportedly awarded just thirty six

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thousand dollars, which wasn't

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enough to rebuild his house or replace

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his family's lost possessions.

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On the somewhat bright side, the Gregg

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family later appeared on the game show I've

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Got a Secret And Wouldn't you Know It?

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No one on the panel was able to guess

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that an atomic bomb had fallen

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in their back yard. Within

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a few hours of the Mars Bluff incident,

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Air Force police set up a two

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mile perimeter around the blast site.

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They also informed the local press that

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the community was in no danger of radioactive

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exposure, saying, quote, there

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was not enough radioactivity present to

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make a Geiger counter click. As

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for the three man crew of the B forty

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seven, they were hastily reassigned

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to an overseas mission for the next

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several years. It's

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upsetting to think about military officers

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fumbling a nuclear weapon, which

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is why it's tempting to assume it was a one

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time mistake. However, unplanned

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bomb drops were in all too common

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occurrence during the Cold War era.

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The lost bombs that fell during

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these unscheduled drops were

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nicknamed broken arrows, and

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more than a dozen of them were recorded throughout

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the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties.

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In fact, less than three years

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after the close call in Mars Bluff,

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another nuclear weapon was dropped

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by accident, just one stayed

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over in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

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In that incident, a B fifty

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two bomber malfunctioned in mid air,

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releasing two hydrogen bombs

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on an unsuspecting community.

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It proved to be another instance of

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exceedingly good luck, as

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neither bomb detonated, although

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one came unnervingly close.

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There's still a lot the public doesn't know about

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these nuclear near misses, including

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the true number that occurred. One

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way to potentially get to the bottom of it

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could be to go around and count

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the craters, because, at least in

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the case of the Mars Bluff incident, the

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crater was never filled in. It's

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severely overgrown, but it's still

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there, just off South Carolina

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Highway seventy six. There's

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a historical marker and access sign

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posted at the impact site, but

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it is on private property, so visitors

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should still ask the current owners for permission

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before checking it out. After

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you've had your fill of staring at a hole in

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the ground, you can head over to the Florence

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County Museum, where several bomb

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fragments from the incident are still on

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display. The shrapnel

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was generously donated by the Gregg

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family, who apparently preferred

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not to have souvenir to remember

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the day by. I can't imagine

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why not. I'm

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gay, Bluesier, and hopefully

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you now know a little more about history

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today than you did yesterday.

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Before we close the show, I have an important

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announcement to make effective

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today. The show is moving to a five

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episode per week schedule. That

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means there won't be any new episodes

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for Saturday's or Sunday's for

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the foreseeable future. It

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wasn't a decision we made lightly, but

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for the sake of a healthy work life balance,

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it's a necessary change. That's

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because it's just me and Chandler making

9:39

the show, and delivering a new episode

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every day of the year is a tall

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order for just two people, so

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in the name of quality over quantity,

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we're gonna keep this a strictly weekday

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affair for the time being. The

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upside is that with a lighter load to bear,

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we'll be able to keep making new episodes

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of the show for years to come, so

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stick with us as

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always. You can keep up with the show by

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following us on Twitter, Facebook, and

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Instagram at t d I HC

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Show, and if you have any comments,

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concerns, or suggestions, feel

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free to send them my way at this day

10:16

at I heart media dot com.

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Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show,

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and thanks to you for listening. I'll

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see you back here again soon for another

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day in History Class.