LogFAQs > #964125984

In 1961, an American jet carrying atomic bombs crashed and came thiiiiis close to accidentally nuking a town in North Carolina.

On January 23rd 1961, a Boeing B-52 jet carrying two nuclear bombs, failed and broke apart in mid-air over Goldsboro, North Carolina dropping the bombs in the process. The pilot in command, Walter Scott Tulloch, ordered the crew to eject at 9,000 ft (2,700 m). Five crewmen successfully ejected or bailed out of the aircraft and landed safely; another ejected, but did not survive the landing, and two died in the crash.
Information declassified in 2013 showed that one of the bombs came close to detonating, with three out of the four required triggering mechanisms having been activated.