1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash

[Klaus]

This was on list I saw today of most consequential things that *almost* happened that no one knows about. I imagine this is one of many almost misses in which we came close to nuking ourselves into oblivion due to sheer stupidity.

1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash - Wikipedia

 

[SID297]

Yeah, that was a big oops.

 

[Weather Man]

This is the one that should scare you. There were many many protocols violated getting those warheads out of the bunker and on that plane. It was a complete and utter breakdown of the process and scared the living crap out of everyone in the military and civilian chain that it happened.

On 29 August 2007, a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown for more than three hours across several states last week, prompting an Air Force investigation and the firing of one commander, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.

The plane was carrying Advanced Cruise Missiles from Minot Air Force Base, N.D, to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a Defense Department policy not to confirm information on nuclear weapons.

 

[VegasMichael]

Here's a scary little list of near misses: List of military nuclear accidents - Wikipedia

 

[VenomousDSG]

Remember hearing about this year's ago, but the "one of the bombs came close to detonating" story is complete bullshit. Those things have to go through a pretty elaborate method to be armed and detonated.

 

[CobraBob]

That's one big goof that made the news. Makes one wonder how many didn't make the news. This one, at the time, was HUGE.

 

[Booky]

Here's one that not too many people know of, but I remember because Minot, ND is my home town:

On 29 August 2007, six AGM-129 ACM cruise missiles, each loaded with a W80-1 variable yield nuclear warhead, were mistakenly loaded onto a United States Air Force (USAF) B-52H heavy bomber at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and transported to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. The nuclear warheads in the missiles were supposed to have been removed before the missiles were taken from their storage bunker. The missiles with the nuclear warheads were not reported missing, and remained mounted to the aircraft at both Minot and Barksdale for 36 hours. During this period, the warheads were not protected by the various mandatory security precautions for nuclear weapons.

2007 United States Air Force nuclear weapons incident - Wikipedia


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[zak88lx]

This is an interesting broken arrow incident from the 1950's involving a US B-36 bomber and a Mark IV atomic bomb in Canada.

'Broken Arrow': When the First U.S. Atomic Bomb Went Missing

 

[RES0574]

You should read "Command and Control" by Eric Schlosser.

 

[Uncle Meat]

Remember hearing about this year's ago, but the "one of the bombs came close to detonating" story is complete bullshit. Those things have to go through a pretty elaborate method to be armed and detonated.

You are 100% correct.

U.M.

I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.

 

[Gpcalero]

Here's a scary little list of near misses: List of military nuclear accidents - Wikipedia

I read this list and the scariest ones are those that the nuclear bombs are just sitting on the bottom of the ocean or ones where we don't know where they ended up. Labeled accident as a probable front for an illegal exchanging of nuclear materials/weapons? YIKES.

I had no idea there were this many accidents. Very interesting.

 

[LightningLou]

Must be why Seymour Johnson always had the nickname Shady J. when I was in the AF. Stayed there a couple times on base, but never got stationed there luckily as there’s really nothing else to do around there lol.

 

[IronSnake]

This is the coolest, most terrifying thread on SVTp

 

[SAC Man]

This is the one that should scare you. There were many many protocols violated getting those warheads out of the bunker and on that plane. It was a complete and utter breakdown of the process and scared the living crap out of everyone in the military and civilian chain that it happened.

On 29 August 2007, a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown for more than three hours across several states last week, prompting an Air Force investigation and the firing of one commander, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.

The plane was carrying Advanced Cruise Missiles from Minot Air Force Base, N.D, to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of a Defense Department policy not to confirm information on nuclear weapons.

Minot has had more than their fair share of problems. A lot of people have stepped on their peepees up there.

 

[BigPoppa]

Remember hearing about this year's ago, but the "one of the bombs came close to detonating" story is complete bullshit. Those things have to go through a pretty elaborate method to be armed and detonated.

W80 is said to use a class D PAL (permissive action link, 6-digit arming code), but dial-a-yield warheads typically use a class F PAL (12 digits).

 

[SHOdown220]

I'm really surprised I've never heard of this, or maybe I have but never looked into it? That was about a month before my dad was born and my grandparents would have lived reasonably close to that location. Probably within 30 miles. Pretty crazy to think about how that could have altered history

 

[ajaf1656]

You are 100% correct.

U.M.

I.Y.A.A.Y.A.S.

View attachment 1670510

Oh lord, ammo people are a strange bunch. They used to come up to Beale and act all gung-ho. Coming from a reconnaissance squadron, I could never understand them. Haha

 

[SAC Man]

Oh lord, ammo people are a strange bunch. They used to come up to Beale and act all gung-ho. Coming from a reconnaissance squadron, I could never understand them. Haha

They move in mysterious ways. When I was on Guam I drove a fuel truck. Once in a while a BUFF would return from Vietnam with a bomb in the bomb bay. The munitions guys would bring out a couple of mattresses and let it fall on them when the crew opened the bomb bay doors. It always made me nervous as a whore in church to watch but they obviously knew what they were doing.

 

[Silverstrike]

There is only one that scares me to death and that is the Tybee Island incident as they jettison the bomb and it wasn't armed but being dropped there is a very good chance the detonator armed before it hit and sunk in the mud flats around the estuaries that dominate that area of Georgia, and it still has not been found. So that bomb could very well go off if it ever did get penetrated by the salt water and so it slowly corrodes from the inside.

 

[mysteed]

Love this thread and all of its historical goodness.