B-47 crash
FEB 05, 2015
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.030891
On this day in 1958, during a simulated combat mission above the waters off Savannah, Georgia, a B-47 bomber collided with an F-86 fighter. The bomber was carrying a single Mk 15 thermonuclear bomb at the time. The fighter pilot ejected before his plane crashed. The bomber could still fly but it was also likely to crash. Although the bomber would eventually land safely, the crew released the bomb into the ocean to avoid the risk of a detonation. The bomb did not explode. Fifty-seven years later, the bomb’s location remains unknown.
Date in History: 5 February 1958
© 2015. American Institute of Physics