The bomb, which did not have its fissile nuclear core installed at the time of the accident, impacted with the ground, and its conventional high explosives detonated.

[1][2] On March 11, 1958, a U.S. Air Force Boeing B-47E-LM Stratojet from Hunter Air Force Base operated by the 375th Bombardment Squadron of the 308th Bombardment Wing near Savannah, Georgia, took off at approximately 4:34 PM and was scheduled to fly to the United Kingdom and then to North Africa as part of Operation Snow Flurry.

While attempting to insert a steel pin through the shackle, which would prevent the weapon from falling should the electrical lock release, Kulka inadvertently caused the weapon to unhook, and the Mark 6 nuclear bomb fell onto the bomb bay doors of the B-47, forced the doors open, and fell out of the plane at 15,000 ft (4,600 m) of altitude.

[6] The exact location of the bomb's impact was in the woods behind the house of a railroad conductor, Walter Gregg, who had served as a paratrooper during World War II.

Other children in the area collected "jagged chunks of shiny metal" (debris from the bomb), most of which was later retrieved by Air Force police.

Air Force technicians cordoned off the area and checked for radioactive contamination from the unenriched uranium tamper of the weapon.

The final decontamination was carried out by representatives of the United States Atomic Energy Commission and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

[8][6] The Gregg family sued the United States Air Force (USAF), and received $54,000 (equivalent to $570,270 in 2023) some five months after the accident.

[1][3] Following the accident, steps were taken to more securely fasten nuclear weapons while aboard US aircraft, so that it was more difficult to jettison them, accidentally or intentionally.