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The United States Air Force accidentally nuked a cow (sort of).

posted by LockeProposal on HistoryAnecdotes

In 1957, a hydrogen bomb fell out of an Air Force bomber near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Turbulence had caused the navigator to grab the bomb release mechanism to keep from falling. The nuclear portion of the bomb didn’t explode, but the conventional portion did, creating a crater twelve feet deep and twenty-five feet across. The only casualty was a cow.

The Air Force wouldn’t confirm this accident until 1981, when they said only minor radioactivity was detected at the site. Though the military refused to say, it’s thought the bomb had an explosive yield of 10 megatons, or about 625 times that of the Hiroshima bomb.

Source:

Stephens, John Richard. “Official Documents.” Weird History 101: Tales of Intrigue, Mayhem, and Outrageous Behavior. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2006. 39. Print.

Further Reading:

Thermonuclear weapon / Hydrogen bomb / H-Bomb

United States Air Force / USAF

Albuquerque, New Mexico

>In 1957, a hydrogen bomb fell out of an Air Force bomber near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Turbulence had caused the navigator to grab the bomb release mechanism to keep from falling. The nuclear portion of the bomb didn’t explode, but the conventional portion did, creating a crater twelve feet deep and twenty-five feet across. The only casualty was a [cow](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/CH_cow_2_cropped.jpg). >The Air Force wouldn’t confirm this accident until 1981, when they said only minor radioactivity was detected at the site. Though the military refused to say, it’s thought the bomb had an explosive yield of 10 megatons, or about 625 times that of the Hiroshima bomb. __________________________________ **Source:** Stephens, John Richard. “Official Documents.” *Weird History 101: Tales of Intrigue, Mayhem, and Outrageous Behavior*. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2006. 39. Print. __________________________________ **Further Reading:** [Thermonuclear weapon / Hydrogen bomb / H-Bomb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermonuclear_weapon) [United States Air Force / USAF](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Air_Force) [Albuquerque, New Mexico](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albuquerque,_New_Mexico) [Cattle / Cow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle)

5 comments

[–] jobes 5 points (+5|-0)

It still boggles my mind that we had the ability to wipe cities off of the face of the earth with a single bomb 70+ years ago.

Good story, thanks for posting it!

[–] LockeProposal [OP] 2 points (+2|-0)

Anytime - so glad you enjoyed it!

[–] PhunkyPlatypus 1 points (+1|-0)

So I'm a little confused.

The nuclear warhead wasn't detonated but the conventional explosives detonated?

Maybe it's too early in the day and I'm not fully awake yet

But hydrogen bombs use a smaller atomic bomb as their primary explosive and not conventional explosives. That combined with a radioactive release and the large crater seems to indicate that an explosion in the kiloton range took place.

Am I missing something here?

[–] LockeProposal [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

I'm no expert, but by conventional I believe they always mean non-nuclear. Good point about the smaller atomic bomb, though. That's worth Googling after class.

[–] PhunkyPlatypus 1 points (+1|-0)

Now that I'm a bit more awake. I think they still use a conventional explosion to kick start the atomic trigger.

Those can produce quite a large boom by themselves and would lead to radioactive release of the two nuclear cores.