Two Cold War accidents that nearly turned Eastern England radioactive
The first nuclear near-miss at RAF Lakenheath, an American airbase in Suffolk, England, took place on 27 July 1956.
According to a top-secret US government telegram at the time: ‘Preliminary exam by bomb disposal officers says a miracle that one Mark-6 with exposed detonators sheared didn't go.’
“Firefighters rushing to the scene were, according to historian Jim Wilson, met with a convoy of cars packed full of American women and children frantically trying to get away from what they thought was impending doom.
According to one report one airman dashed from the gates of the base to get a taxi, and told the driver: ‘Go anywhere, just get away from here!’”