More than 50 years after a 7,600lb (3,500kg) nuclear bomb was dropped in US waters following a mid-air military collision, the question of whether the missing weapon still poses a threat remains.
In his own mind, retired 87-year-old Colonel Howard Richardson is a hero responsible for one of the most extraordinary displays of aeronautic skill in the history of the US Air Force.
I well remember this, as I was a nineteen year-old in Savannah, Georgia when it occurred, and it was off the coast of Savannah that the bomb was lost. There have been several searches over the years as technology improved, but no luck so far.
I question however, the premise that a B-47 could fly from Homestead to any point in Russia, er… the Soviet Union. Too far, and the plane was too small and too limited in range, Thats why the B-47 is a footnote in history while its contemporary, the B-52, remains a mainline bomber to this day.
Bill Lewis.. I am sure the B-47 was capable of in-flight refuling
It is my understanding that the bomb had been located off Tybee Island in about 15 ft of water by a lone individual who had been on a long hunt for it. I believe he has some military connection and that it was found recently… i.e. in the past 10 yrs..? In fact, there was a PBS program about some of these missing nucs.