The Atomic Bomb Crater in Mars Bluff, South Carolina

Not too many families had a nuclear bomb dropped in their backyard, and survived. The Gregg family of Mars Bluff, South Carolina, was one of them. On March 11, 1958, a group of four U.S. Air Force Boeing B-47E-LM took off from Hunter Air Force Base in Savannah, Georgia. They were heading to England to take part in a mission called Operation Snow Flurry, where they would perform mock bomb drops. This was a time when the Cold War was in full swing, and Air Force bombers, such as the ones taking part in Operation Snow Flurry, were issued a MK 6 nuclear bomb each that were to be carried onboard in case the planes needed to activate during an emergency wartime situation. Photo credit: DTMedia2/Wikimedia The nuclear weapons were secured in place by a locking pin that could be inserted and removed either manually or by a pneumatically powered catch. By regulation, however, the locking pin was to be out for landing and takeoff and reinserted only at 5,000 feet. Earlier that day, during pre-flight check the loading crew ran into some trouble while trying to set the locking pin and had to use a hammer to complete the pin engagement. The men then hurriedly completed their pre-flight checklist. They had to be finished by 10:30 AM or points would be docked for the mission. During their haste, they failed to run through the pin engage/disengage cycle. Before taking off the copilot Captain Charles Woodruff disengaged the locking pin from the nuclear weapon, as the regulation required, and took off to join three other B-47s for a formation flight to Europe. When the B-47 reached an altitude of 5,000 feet, the co-pilot reached down and operated the lever to re-insert the pin. The re-insertion failed and a warning light lit up to notify them of the problem. Woodruff continued to work on the locking lever unsuccessfully for five minutes as the B-47 climbed to 15,000 feet.