MISSING NUKE STILL UNDERWATER IN GEORGIA?
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MISSING NUCLEAR BOMB DROPPED IN 1958 STILL UNDERWATER IN WASSAU SOUND OFF GEORGIA COAST?
Bomb Update
Paul Rea
www.wsav.com/top3.shtml
A team from the Pentagon will be in Savannah tonight in preparation for their investigation of the Tybee bomb. Government documents show a weapon was dropped into Wassau sound in 1958 and never recovered. Other documents suggest the weapon is still there and may be dangerous.
The air force is bringing a nuclear engineer and other technical personnel. And we have learned that the team may include someone from the air force nuclear weapons and counter proliferation agency.
As to what they will be doing we understand they will begin tomorrow morning with a fly over of Wassau sound. From there they will head to a meeting with the US Navy, the army corps of engineers and the Skidaway Institute. That meeting will not be open to the public.
Members of congressman Kingston's staff will there but the press is being excluded.
They will be talking about where the bomb might have landed and just what has happened to the sea floor in that area in the last 42 years.
Congressman Kingston tells me he will also have questions about some of the documents that say the bomb is a complete weapon. The air force says those documents are wrong, hopefully we will get something to back up that claim tomorrow..
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Editorial: Old bomb, new questions
www.savannahmorningnews.c...-offset=1&
Savannah Morning News
THESE ARE fair questions: Is the nuclear bomb that was dropped from a U.S. Air Force bomber into Wassaw Sound in 1958 still out there off the Georgia coast? If so, is it dangerous? Does it need to be recovered?
The story about the bomb, which was jettisoned from a B-47 bomber after colliding with an F-86 jet fighter during a training exercise, has long been part of local lore. On Sept. 17, it will be part of a documentary on The Learning Channel. That means more Americans will know what happened.
U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, whose district includes coastal Georgia, naturally wants to know what risks, if any, remain. He said the Air Force has finalized its research and confirmed that the 42-year-old bomb is not "nuclear-capable." That sounds comforting.
However, Derek Duke, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, cites a
1966 Defense Department report that included the bomb on a list of missing nuclear bombs. He said even if the bomb wasn't set to detonate, it could still contain harmful radioactive material.
Mr. Duke's interest in the bomb isn't purely scientific. He runs an underwater recovery company and wants the government to pay him $1 million to locate the bomb.
Still, his concern shouldn't be considered purely mercenary. The public knows considerably more now about the risk of radiation than it did four decades ago. Georgians deserve to know what sort of hidden dangers may remain. The Air Force should provide full and honest answers.
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Web posted Tuesday, November 7, 2000
www.savannahmorningnews.c...-offset=3&
Air Force checking out story of bomb dropped off Tybee
By Noelle Phillips
Savannah Morning News The Air Force insists an old bomb dropped off the coast of Tybee Island in 1958 is not a nuclear threat.
Still, it's sending representatives to Savannah Wednesday to meet about the old ordnance.
The airmen will be from the Air Force's Nuclear Weapons and Counter Proliferation Agency, said Maj. Cheryl Law, a public affairs officer who also will make the trip. Once in Savannah, the group will fly in a Black Hawk helicopter over Wassaw Sound and then meet with people from the Army Corps of Engineers, departments of Energy and Interior and Skidaway Institute of Oceanography.
"It's just to gather facts about the weapon," Law said.
The meeting at the Army Corps of Engineers downtown building is closed to the public.
The Air Force maintains that documents prove the weapon does not contain radioactive material since it was not a fully loaded bomb, Law said. However, it once held 400 pounds of TNT to detonate the weapon, she said.
The Air Force is looking into the weapon since U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., requested an investigation. U.S. Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga. also asked Secretary of Defense William Cohen to look into it.
A B-47 bomber jettisoned the weapon over Wassaw Sound in February 1958 after it collided with an F-86 fighter jet during a training exercise. Military officials gave the bomber pilot permission to drop the weapon after he could not safely land the plane with it on board.
Navy, Air Force and Army crews searched for the bomb for 11 weeks but never found it. Arthur Arsenault, a retired Navy officer who oversaw the search, said the task was difficult.
"They changed the point of impact every couple of weeks on us, which made it difficult," Arsenault said.
It was 2 a.m. when the pilot dropped it, and he didn't have an exact location over the water. On top of that, the cold water made search conditions tough and search technology was limited.
"Frankly, we spent most of our time looking for a hole," he said.
Today, the search could be equally as tough if the Air Force decides to hunt for the bomb. Factors that could affect the bomb's location are whether it stayed in one piece, the depth of water where it was dropped, and the altitude the pilot was flying when he released it.
Clark Alexander, an associate professor at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, said the ocean floor constantly changes because of strong tidal currents. If the bomb is intact, it could be covered in sand.
"There's been plenty of sand movement over the last 40 years," Alexander said.
Military reporter Noelle Phillips can be reached at 652-0366 or phillips@s....
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NEWS
FROM CONGRESSMAN JACK KINGSTON FIRST DISTRICT, GEORGIA
1034 LONGWORTH HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON, D.C. 20515
202-225-5831
Committee on Appropriations
For Immediate Release
September 7, 2000
KINGSTON PUSHES AIR FORCE RESEARCH ON STATUS OF LOST BOMB
Air Force says 42-year-old bomb is not nuclear-capable
www.house.gov/kingston/pr000907_bomb.htm
WASHINGTON, D.C. - U. S. Representative Jack Kingston (R/Ga.-1) has pushed the U. S. Air Force to answer newly raised questions about the status of a bomb that may still lie somewhere on the ocean floor off Wassau Sound, which is off the coast of Savannah, Georgia. The bomb was jettisoned 42 years ago, when the Air Force plane carrying the bomb, experienced a mid-air collision with another Air Force plane during a training mission. The Air Force said at the time the bomb was not nuclear-capable. However, former military and civilian personnel have since questioned that. Today [Thursday, September 7, 200 , after careful review of all data, the Air Force confirmed that the bomb’s carcass is not nuclear-capable, which Kingston says is “relieving news.”
“We began working closely with the Air Force immediately after I learned about the potential existence of the old bomb in July,” said Congressman Kingston. “The most important task was to confirm as soon as possible if the bomb was or was not nuclear-capable, and to look at renewing efforts to find it,” Kingston continued. “We now want to know if the Air Force thinks it’s still out there, if it’s dangerous, and if they need to search for it. I’ve asked the Air Force to review a proposal from an underwater recovery company that has the technology to conduct a new search, and they are evaluating it on an expedited basis. We are now awaiting their response to the feasibility of searching for the bomb’s carcass, which may be very deeply buried or have even drifted far out to sea years ago.”
“I want people to know that we’ll continue to work closely with the Air Force to bring final resolution to any remaining questions, such any environmental impact or any potential danger the bomb’s carcass might still have if it is somewhere still off the Georgia coast,” Kingston said. Even without a nuclear core, such bombs still contain explosive material.
The issue of the bomb still lying in coastal waters is soon to get a more public spotlight as a part of a larger episode of The Learning Channel’s “Best Kept Secrets” documentary series, due to air September
17.
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