Broken Arrow: Goldsboro, North Carolina
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First Things First: It Did Happen
Just after midnight on 24 January 1961, a B-52G Stratofortress bomber stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, NC, broke up in mid-air and crashed 12 miles north of the base near the cross-roads of Faro, NC.

The aircraft ejected two hydrogen bombs as it fell.

Official Word
Below is the Pentagon's brief narrative of the incident, a copy of which was provided this project by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (hereafter SIPRI or Stockholm Institute):

During a B-52 airborne alert mission structural failure of the right wing resulted in two weapons separating from the aircraft during aircraft breakup at 2,000 - 10,000 feet altitude. One bomb parachute deployed and the weapon received little impact damage. The other bomb fell free and broke apart upon impact. No explosion occurred. Five of the eight crew members survived. A portion of one weapon, containing uranium, could not be recovered despite excavation in the waterlogged farmland to a depth of 50 feet. The Air Force subsequently purchased an easement requiring permission for anyone to dig there. There is no detectable radiation and no hazard in the area.
The above narrative, with other official accounts of nuclear-weapons accidents, was entered into the Congressional Record by Louisiana Senator Bennet Johnston on 3 August 1992, and is available by key-word search through the 102nd Congress query page on the Thomas Server.
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Last Updated: 4 December 2000