Florence County Museum remembers 66th anniversary of atomic bomb’s accidental landing in Mars Bluff

FLORENCE COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — Today is the 66th anniversary of when an atomic bomb was accidentally dropped in the Mars Bluff area.

According to a release by the Florence County Museum, it is called the Mars Bluff A-bomb, and it was dropped on March 11, 1958, when a group of four B-47E planes took off from Hunter Air Force Base in Savannah, Georgia in route to England.

Shortly after takeoff, the co-pilot of the third B-47E plane pulled a lever to engage a locking pin in the plane’s bomb harness that ensured the bomb was secure during the flight, according to the release.

The co-pilot reported that a light was on, indicating the locking pin of the bomb harness did not engage. The pilot sent flight navigator, Bruce Kulka to inspect the problem and fix it, the release said.

Kulka was a short man and attempted to pull himself up on top of the bomb to inspect its locking harness. In his attempt, Kulka accidentally grabbed the bomb’s emergency release mechanism which released the bomb, the release said.

When the bomb met the earth, it dropped near the home of Walter “Bill” Gregg, which is 6.5 miles east of Florence in Mars Bluff, the release said.

The impact instantly created a 50×70-foot crater that was 25 to 30 feet deep. The bomb’s detonation leveled nearby pine trees and virtually destroyed the Gregg residence, shifting the house off of its foundation, the release said.

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Taylor Ford is a digital journalist for News13. She joined the News13 team in January 2023. Taylor is a Florence native and covers the Pee Dee out of News13’s Florence Bureau. Read more of Taylor’s work here.

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