On at least four occasions, the bridgewire detonators of Mark 6 atomic bombs fired when the weapons were improperly removed from aircraft. They were training weapons, and nobody got hurt. But with the new sealed-pit weapons, that sort of mistake would cause a full-scale nuclear detonation. At least half a dozen times, the carts used to carry Mark 6 bombs broke away from the vehicles towing them. During one incident, the cart rolled into a ditch; had it rolled in another direction, a classified report noted, “a live Mk6 weapon” would have “plunged over a steep embankment.” Dropping a nuclear
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