A trailer for next week's NCIS showed the photo -- for a half-second -- of the bomb shown at the end of this article. Are NCIS story consultants reading Jaxonia? Watch... let us know your opinion!
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Lighthouse at Tybee Island
If you google Tybee Island you get a couple of nice, touristy pages promoting one of the South's premier vacation spots -- bed and breakfasts, vacation rentals, summer festivals. But google Tybee Island 'bomb' and you get some pretty scary stuff!
On February 5, 1958, the United States Air Force lost a 7,600-pound (3,400 kg) Mark 15 hydrogen bomb in the waters off Tybee Island near Savannah, Georgia, USA. The bomb was jettisoned to save the aircrew during a practice exercise after the B-47 bomber carrying it collided in midair with an F-86 fighter plane. Following several unsuccessful searches, the bomb was presumed lost somewhere in Wassaw Sound off the shores of Tybee Island.
Starting on February 6, 1958, the Air Force 2700th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Squadron and 100 Navy personnel equipped with hand held sonar and galvanic drag and cable sweeps mounted a search. On April 16, 1958 the military announced that the search efforts had been unsuccessful. Based upon a hydrologic survey, the bomb was thought by the Department of Energy to lie buried under 5 to 15 feet (2 to 5 m) of silt at the bottom of Wassaw Sound.
In 2004, retired Air Force Colonel Derek Duke claimed to have found the possible resting spot of the bomb. He and his partner located the spot by trawling the area in their boat with a Geiger counter in tow. The Air Force released its report in June 2005, which stated that high radiation measurements are from naturally occurring radioactive materials, and that the location of the bomb is still unknown.
Something to worry about besides sharks!
'The bomb' -- just in case you're snorkeling this summer.**(Originally published 4/10)
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