In 1968, a B-52 Bomber Crashed (With 4 Super Lethal Nuclear Weapons Onboard That 'Exploded')

[DemolitionMan]

Matthew Gault

Throughout the 1950s and ’60s American bombers carrying nuclear weapons crisscrossed the globe, ready at a moment’s notice to fly into the heart of Russia and bomb it back to the stone age. Strategic Air Command — a now defunct branch of the U.S. Air Force — commanded this airborne alert force.

It was once the pride of the American military. For more than a decade, SAC bombers were no more than 15 minutes from nuking Russia. But the shifts on the bombers were long — sometimes more than 24 hours — and keeping such an alert force ready was taxing on pilots and crew.

There were many accidents.

In 1958, a B-47 carrying a nuke collided with an F-86 Sabre in the skies above Savannah, Georgia. The B-47 jettisoned its nuclear payload into the Atlantic Ocean. Authorities never recovered the bomb.

Months later, another B-47 dropped its nuke over South Carolina when a bomb technician aboard accidentally activated the emergency release. The bomb’s conventional explosives detonated and destroyed a nearby house.

In 1966, a B-52 crashed in Spain, spilling the nuclear guts of two bombs onto nearby farms. After the accident, Spain halted nuclear-armed American planes from passing through its air space.

Those were bad, but SAC and its airborne alert survived them. Then, in 1968, a B-52 crashed near Thule Monitoring Station in Greenland and spilled its payload all over the ice. It was one disaster too many, and it signaled the end of America’s airborne alert program … and Strategic Air Command’s prestige.

After World War II and through the ’50s, SAC worked to put more nukes on more planes. In a nuclear war, it seemed, victory would go to the aggressor. America wouldn’t throw the first nuke, but it wanted to make sure it was ready to strike back hard if Moscow dropped the bomb.

SAC soon reasoned that it could shave time off its bombing strategy if it had bombers in the air 24 hours per day, seven days a week. It may seem insane now, but it happened. In 1960, the flying branch began Operation Chrome Dome.

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/1968-b-52-bomber-crashed-4-super-lethal-nuclear-weapons-18746

[Smokin Joe]

This one? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_Tybee_Island_mid-air_collision

And (just for fun)https://medium.com/war-is-boring/did-obama-try-to-nuke-south-carolina-47a24113755

[DemolitionMan]

This one? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1958_Tybee_Island_mid-air_collision

And (just for fun)https://medium.com/war-is-boring/did-obama-try-to-nuke-south-carolina-47a24113755

Many of these bombs contain Permissive Action Links. Its a number of safety switches that prevent an accidental nuclear explosion. They are all coded. In a missile silo two people must agree to launch providied they have the proper codes. In a bomber they have several people that must agree to drop a bomb


The film "WarGames" shows a fictional action of a Permissive Action Scenario at a missile silo


www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjRyu5vjRy0

[Smokin Joe]

M of these bombs contain Permissive Action Links. Its a number of safety switches that prevent an accidental nuclear explosion. They are all coded. In a missile silo two people must agree to launch providied they have the prooper coder. In a bomber they have several people that must agree to drop a missile.

The film "WarGames" shows a fictional action of a Permissive Action Scenario

M of these bombs contain Permissive Action Links. Its a number of safety switches that prevent an accidental nuclear explosion. They are all coded. In a missile silo two people must agree to launch providied they have the prooper coder. In a bomber they have several people that must agree to drop a missile.

The film "WarGames" shows a fictional action of a Permissive Action Scenario at a missile silo


www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjRyu5vjRy0

That was after the one that landed in NC, iirc.

[DemolitionMan]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRDLd2u14Ig

B-52 Stratofortress receives command to drop atomic bomb

[DemolitionMan]

That was after the one that landed in NC, iirc.

Then the codes worked. There was no explosion. If all the saftey features(codes) failed then the bomb would have definitely detonated.

[DemolitionMan]

Then the codes worked. There was no explosion. If all the saftey features(codes) failed then the bomb would have definitely detonated.

On September 1980, a Titan 2 missile exploded when a socket wrench struck the skin of the missile causing a massive explosion. It killed one airman when it exploded. The Titan 2 missile was a "city killer" with a 9 megaton warhead. With all the saftey features in place it did not detonate. They made a Amazon DVD documentary called "Command And Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety".

[Smokin Joe]

Then the codes worked. There was no explosion. If all the saftey features(codes) failed then the bomb would have definitely detonated.

Three of the four failed. http://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb475/

A recently declassified report by Sandia National Laboratory, published today by the National Security Archive, provides new details on the 1961 Goldsboro, North Carolina, nuclear weapons accident. Both multi-megaton Mk 39 bombs involved in the mishap were in the "safe" position. Yet the force of the crash initiated mechanical actions that normally required human intervention. In both cases, the "fuzing sequence" had begun: an important step toward arming a nuclear bomb. Weapon 1, the one that came closest to detonation, landed intact, but by the time Weapon 2 hit the ground, it was in the "armed" setting because of the impact of the crash. The arming switch that had prevented Weapon 1 from detonating was in itself highly vulnerable. The Goldsboro incident is an alarming example of the great danger inherent in nuclear accidents.

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash

[DemolitionMan]

On September 1980, a Titan 2 missile exploded when a socket wrench struck the skin of the missile causing a massive explosion. It killed one airman when it exploded. The Titan 2 missile was a "city killer" with a 9 megaton warhead. With all the saftey features in place it did not detonate. They made a Amazon DVD documentary called "Command And Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety".

This was one causes of the missile to be retired.

[DemolitionMan]

Three of the four failed. http://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb475/
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash

But the last one prevented the explosion and worked,right? If it did not we would not be writing about it. We would be writing about how South Carolina is now a crater polluted with radiation.

[Smokin Joe]

But the last one prevented the explosion and worked,right? If it did not we would not be writing about it. We would be writing about how South Carolina is now a crater polluted with radiation.

Yep. A miss is as good as a mile, but that tested the setup beyond most folks' comfort zone.

[DemolitionMan]

Yep. A miss is as good as a mile, but that tested the setup beyond most folks' comfort zone.

This proves that it works. For a very long time( for about 20 years) the PAL was “00000000.”

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/11/nearly-two-decades-nuclear-launch-code-minuteman-silos-united-states-00000000/