North Carolina nearly nuked.

Well, Bravo Oralloy.
At least you've engaged. The problem is that you're still farting around in the shallow end.

Care to look at "fuzing" and "arming?"

I note that Sandia felt that the B41 and B53 had the same vulnerability!
I remember that during the Clinton Administration there was a big push to incorporate ENDS into the B53. I guess now I know why.

2) For either bomb to have been armed as a viable weapons would have been completely contrary to USAF SOP (and common sense) as aircraft never armed weapons over the US mainland. Established fact.

3) For either bomb to have been armed as a viable weapons would have been completely contrary to USAF SOP (and common sense) as aircraft never armed weapons until they were given go-codes and were en-route to their assigned target which only have happened in time of war. Established fact.

4) We also know that for the bombs to have been armed (assuming that the three conditions above had been fulfilled) then it would have required multiple, sequential, deliberate operations by more than one member if the crew to do so. Established fact.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_nuclear_accidents

September 18, 1980 – At about 6:30 p.m., an airman conducting maintenance on a USAF Titan-II missile at Little Rock Air Force Base's Launch Complex 374-7 in Southside (Van Buren County), just north of Damascus, Arkansas, dropped a socket from a socket wrench, which fell about 80 feet (24 m) before hitting and piercing the skin on the rocket's first-stage fuel tank, causing it to leak. The area was evacuated. At about 3:00 a.m., on September 19, 1980, the hypergolic fuel exploded. The W53 warhead landed about 100 feet (30 m) from the launch complex's entry gate; its safety features operated correctly and prevented any loss of radioactive material. An Air Force airman was killed and the launch complex was destroyed.[59]

Nah, I think you've got this horribly wrong and I find it a bit odd that you are prepared to accept, at face value, Parker F. Jones' facetious parody of a report in the face of expert opinion and evidence to the contrary.

Here are some thoughts from another site:
1) For either bomb to have been armed as a viable weapons would have been completely contrary to USAF SOP (and common sense) as aircraft never took of or landed with armed weapons. This aircraft was attempting to land. Established fact.

2) For either bomb to have been armed as a viable weapons would have been completely contrary to USAF SOP (and common sense) as aircraft never armed weapons over the US mainland. Established fact.

3) For either bomb to have been armed as a viable weapons would have been completely contrary to USAF SOP (and common sense) as aircraft never armed weapons until they were given go-codes and were en-route to their assigned target which only have happened in time of war. Established fact.

4) We also know that for the bombs to have been armed (assuming that the three conditions above had been fulfilled) then it would have required multiple, sequential, deliberate operations by more than one member if the crew to do so. Established fact.

5)We know, because the official documents specifically say so, that one weapon was going through the fuzing processes. It was not armed.. If it had been armed when it left the aircraft (which it wasn't, for the reasons above) AND the fuses had failed to detonate the weapon as instructed, the salvage fuse would have detonated the bomb on impact.
The weapon was therefore not armed.

If anyone disagree with any of that, let me know as I'm keen to establish any facts and correct any misunderstandings.

I'm no particular cheerleader for the USAF, DoD or nuclear weapons, but this was a non-story, shilled about by the likes of the BBC and its print arm at The Guardian which are both organisation which despise the USA and revel in every opportunity to sneer at their perceived image of reckless cowboys playing with dangerous toys.

Since Sandia's fear was that this bomb came close to being armed unintentionally as the bomber broke apart, this point about intentional arming does not seem to have a lot of relevance.

"came close to being armed unintentionally"

I almost throw my netbook through the TV screen as right now the author of the Command and Control book is doing an interview on public TV and claiming we almost lost the state of Arkansas due to a fire/explosion in a missile silo!!!!!!

No external fire/explosion of any kind can set off a nuclear explosion of such a warhead period and the fact that this fool can claimed otherwise without challenge on public TV is annoying.

Why did not Public TV have someone interviewing him that knew enough on the subject not to allowed him to put out fantasies without being challenge?

Here is the accident that this fool and or conman claimed could have cause the lost of the state of Arkansas.

Quote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_nuclear_accidents

September 18, 1980 – At about 6:30 p.m., an airman conducting maintenance on a USAF Titan-II missile at Little Rock Air Force Base's Launch Complex 374-7 in Southside (Van Buren County), just north of Damascus, Arkansas, dropped a socket from a socket wrench, which fell about 80 feet (24 m) before hitting and piercing the skin on the rocket's first-stage fuel tank, causing it to leak. The area was evacuated. At about 3:00 a.m., on September 19, 1980, the hypergolic fuel exploded. The W53 warhead landed about 100 feet (30 m) from the launch complex's entry gate; its safety features operated correctly and prevented any loss of radioactive material. An Air Force airman was killed and the launch complex was destroyed.[59]

oralloy wrote:

#4 was completely wrong.

Really.

Got a link for that Oralloy

This whole non-story relies entirely on inflation of those terms.

I'm happy to get into the detail

but I suspect that's not your thing;

judging by your ability to dismiss expert opinion such as Michael Margaret.

There's been quite a lot of nuclear weapon accidents. Some a lot more recently than this. Still a loose nuke somewhere in Georgia buried in the mud.