A Hydrogen Bomb Was Accidentally Dropped off the Georgia Coast Due to a Bomber and Fighter Colliding in 1958

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Noel Joshua Hadley

RB-47H U.S. Air Force Museum National Security Journal Image

A B-47 Bomber and an F-86 Fighter Collided, and a Hydrogen Bomb Was Lost 

The notion of lost, missing, or stolen weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)—chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) alike—has unsurprisingly been the subject of many a fictional thriller story.

During the Cold War, you had bestselling novels from iconic authors like Clive Cussler and Tom Clancy (may they both R.I.P.), e.g., “Vixen 03” by the former and “The Sum of All Fears” by the latter. In the post-Cold War era, we’ve had movies like “Broken Arrow” starring Christian Slater and John Travolta (not to mention one of the earliest cinematic depictions of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber).

B-36J Bomber National Security Journal Photo

B-36J Bomber National Security Journal Photo. Image Credit: Harry J. Kazianis

(Yes, “The Sum of All Fears” was also made into a major motion picture, but I’m loath to acknowledge that celluloid butchery of Mr. Clancy’s masterpiece.)

Now for the scary part: on more than one occasion, the U.S. military lost WMDs on more than one occasion back during the Cold War…and on more than one of those occasions, the weapons still haven’t been recovered to this day!

One such incident occurred way back in 1958 in the skies over Georgia (Jimmy Carter’s home state, that is, not Joseph Stalin’s birth country).

Technical Background

Before we get into the crux of the scary story itself, here’s a quick rundown of the weapons (nuclear and conventional alike) involved therein…

—Mark 15 hydrogen bomb, Serial No. 47782: 100 times more powerful than the “Little Boy” atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945, this device weighed 7,600 pounds (3,400 kilograms), including 400 pounds (181 kilograms) of high explosives and an undisclosed amount of enriched uranium. It was capable of producing a fireball with a radius of 1.2 miles (1.93 kilometers) and causing severe structural damage and third-degree burns for ten times that distance.

—Boeing B-47 Stratojet, Tail No. 51-2349: This was America’s first jet-powered medium bomber, and it gained some additional degree of fame for being flown by legendary actor Jimmy Stewart, both in his real-life second career as a U.S. Air Force Reserve officer and in his fictitious lead role in the 1955 movie “Strategic Air Command.”

A front view of four nuclear free-fall bombs on a bomb cart. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

A front view of four nuclear free-fall bombs on a bomb cart. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

—North American F-86 Sabre, Tail No. 52-10108: A warbird that needs no introduction to military aviation history buffs, this was the jet fighter that proved to be the game changer in the aerial phase of the Korean War, putting the U.S. Air Force jet jocks on equal footing with the Soviet-designed MiG-15 fighter jet.

The Incident

At 2:00 a.m. on February 5, 1958 (when Dwight David Eisenhower was President of the United States), a B-47  flown by Col. Howard Richardson out of Homestead Air Force Base (now known as Homestead Air Reserve Base), Florida, for a simulated combat mission, collided with an F-86 flown by Lt. Clarence Stewart.

The young lieutenant failed to see the B-47 on the radar and descended into it. This caused the left wing of the fighter to be torn off and damaged the bomber’s tanks.

Lt. Stewart (no relation to the aforementioned Brig. Gen. Jimmy Stewart) safely ejected, with his parachute landing near Estill, South Carolina, ten miles (16 km) north of his stricken Sabre jet’s crash site east of Sylvania, Georgia.

B-36 Bomber National Security Journal Photos

B-36 Bomber National Security Journal Photos. Image Credit: National Security Journal.

As for the wounded Stratojet, Col. Richardson was able to regain control of it at 20,000 feet (6,100 m).

However, the good colonel and his two crewmates were concerned the bomb would break loose from the belly of their bomber and potentially detonate upon landing, so he jettisoned the bomb into waters around Wassaw Sound—a body of water bordering Tybee Island, Georgia—before safely landing at Hunter Air Force Base (now Hunter Army Airfield) outside of Savannah.

The Aftermath

Naturally, the U.S. government felt a compelling sense of urgency to find the jettisoned nuke, so accordingly, a U.S. Navy team of 100 personnel was dispatched, equipped with handheld sonar, and conducted cable sweeps in search of the bomb immediately following the accident.

However, the USN team was unsuccessful in their search and ceased their efforts on April 16.

Yet another effort to find the nuke in 2004 proved equally unsuccessful.

Since then, the missing weapon has become a local legend amongst the residents of the area, who refer to it as the “Tybee bomb.”

That local legend acquired an outright urban legend theme, via unproven rumors that the bomb was retrieved by a Soviet submarine.

Akula-Class Russian Submarine

An aerial stern-on view of the Russian Northern Fleet AKULA class nuclear-powered attack submarine underway on the surface. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

For his part, retired USAF pilot Derek Duke conducted his own search in 2004 and initially thought he’d hit pay dirt, detecting high radiation 7-10 times higher than normal one mile offshore Tybee, but this was later concluded to be due to naturally occurring radioactive minerals (“NORM;” obviously not to be confused with Norm from the “Cheers” TV sitcom).

So, why is there no renewed effort on the government’s part to find the Tybee bomb?

Well, there’s a lack of sense of urgency: a 12 April 2001 USAF report concluded that if the bomb were still intact, the explosive in the bomb would pose no hazard.

That same year, a hydrographic survey of Wassaw Sound revealed that the bomb was buried under five to 15 feet of silt.

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About the Author: Christian D. Orr

Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (with a concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He is also the author of the newly published book “Five Decades of a Fabulous Firearm: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Beretta 92 Pistol Series.”

Sacred Scripture

Acts 28 ends abruptly and that’s never sat right with me. With the inclusion of Acts 29, we are given a nice well-rounded finale to Luke’s biography and some interesting closure to Pontius Pilate as well. Join me as I continue my Lost Books of the Bible series on YouTube, reading from Acts 29, 3 Corinthians, and the Phoenix of Tertullian.

You can read along with these texts and more on our Sacred Scripture page. 

IN the summer of 2019, I was seated in the wine cellar of a walled Medieval town high above the Dordogne Valley of France, not far from Sarlat-la-Canéda, making phone calls, writing reports. I have given this story in other places and it appears as though you’re about to hear it again. Rob Skiba is a name you that you might be familiar with. Though he had made a name for himself as a Nephilim researcher, more recently Rob had taken a dive into the deep end of the pool via flat earth research. The recorded interviews I conducted between he and Rick Hummer, a fellow flat earth investigator and close friend of his, was published while still occupying that very wine cellar. Read all about it. Chicago Is Not a Mirage.

Word quickly spread. Within a few short weeks, dozens of flat earth researchers began accepting my invite for a private interview, if not a series of interviews. From a 17th-century tower built by King Louis XIV, and with a stunning view of the Alps, I sat down with Robbie Davidson, founder of the Flat Earth International Conferences, conducting multiple sessions. While staying in Dumfries, Scotland, David Weiss agreed to take part in the interviews, as did Bob Knodel of Globebusters. There were others. But when I asked the interviewees to discuss the moments that shaped their lives, among the many PSYOPs, false flag attacks, and hoaxes that were discussed, only these men committed commentary to the false 9/11 narrative.

The resulting recordings ballooned into The Unexpected Cosmology, a book which became a website and was even intended as an anthology. And of course, the following discourse was originally a chapter. It was Walt Disney who stated, “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.” Those sentiments remain applicable here as well. American Sensationalism: The 9/11 Interviews was always intended to be expanded upon with the inclusion of new researchers. So I’m sorry to say the project became stagnant during the Covid-19 psychodrama. I took a break to tackle other projects. We lost Rob Skiba. Rob offered hours of private conversation regarding his life but we never got around to the big one. 9/11. It was in the cards. Sadly, Bob Knodel died soon afterwards. Voices are being squeezed from an entire generation. Gnosis passes with them.

In the aftermath, the FE community became fractured. People began going their separate ways. Robbie Davidson, among a noted few others who were interviewed for the project, got up and left the movement altogether. It is not my intent to erase his or the contributions of others if only brief. They came, they went, their testimonies remain.

The original vision may have hit roadblocks but it is not forgotten. I expanded this paper a few years later to include testimony from author Pauly Hart, a dear friend of mine. I had wanted to continue that trend every year thereafter but you know how it goes. For the 25th anniversary of the attack I have redirected my efforts to its first large scale expansion, including Andrew Hoy and Darrin Geisinger into the mix. Perhaps others will lend their experiences to the recorder in time.

The following is their report.

Read the 9/11 Interviews

Watch the Interviews