cancel2 2022
Canceled
Even now fifty years later the US has only just agreed to remove the plutonium contaminated soil in Palomares!! It will cost around £26 million, an exceedingly small price to pay considering what could have happened. This wasn't the only accident to have happened, there were two mark 39 H-bombs bombs dropped over Goldboro, North Carolina in 1961. One of the weapons was fully engaged and, despite denials from the US government, came very close to detonating. There was another one lost in 1958 in the Savannah River, Georgia which has never been recovered, it truly makes you wonder how there wasn't a nuclear catastrophe from all of these 'accidents'.
On January 16 1966, a U.S. B-52 Stratofortress took off from Seymour Johnson Air Force base in North Carolina
Bombers were continually flown on 24-hour missions across the Atlantic, to provide the States' nuclear capability It was a routine mission for the crew but then disaster struck over Palomares, Andalucia, as the aircraft refuelledFour hydrogen bombs plummeted to earth at horrific speeds, which would have killed millions had they exploded. There is nothing routine about flying an aircraft loaded with four hydrogen bombs, each of which is a hundred times more powerful than the bomb which obliterated Hiroshima. But for the seven crew members of the B-52 Stratofortress that took off from Seymour Johnson Air Force base in North Carolina almost exactly 50 years ago, on January 16, 1966, this was very much business as usual.
Their mission was part of a huge operation called Chrome Dome, which had been running for six years and was a vital part of the United States’ nuclear capability. In order to provide the superpower with the constant ability to retaliate in the event of a Soviet atomic strike, bombers were continually flown on 24-hour missions all the way across the Atlantic to the east coast of Italy, before turning back to the States. Because of the length of the mission, the B-52 had to be refuelled in the air four times. After turning around over the Adriatic, the plane headed back to her third refuelling point, where she would link up with a huge KC-135 Stratotanker at 31,000 feet above south-eastern Spain.
Just before 10.30 am on January 17, the planes made their rendezvous. With the two aircraft flying at nearly 500 mph, the refuelling procedure was tricky, but the crews were experienced. At the time, Wendorf was taking a break and the B-52 was being flown by Major Larry G. Messinger, one of the two co-pilots. The operation involved lining up the bomber’s receiving receptacle with a fuel boom being trailed by the KC-135. The tanker’s boom operator noticed that the B-52 was approaching a little fast. ‘Watch your enclosure,’ the operator calmly told the crew of the B-52 by way of warning. If the operator thought the situation was perilous, he would have ordered the bomber to break away, but no such order came. ‘We didn’t see anything dangerous about the situation,’ Messinger recalled. ‘But all of a sudden, all hell seemed to break loose.’ Hell was the right word: the B-52 had overshot and the boom had missed the fuel nozzle in the top of the plane. Instead, the boom had smashed into the bomber with such force that its left wing was ripped off. Fire quickly spread up the fuel-filled boom and ignited all 30,000 gallons of the tanker’s kerosene, causing it to plummet to the ground. Meanwhile, the bomber started to break up, and the crew did their best to get out of the plane using parachutes.
As for the hydrogen bombs, there was nothing that could be done. In less than two minutes, they would be crashing into the Earth at an enormous speed — potentially destroying much of the regions of Andalucia and Murcia. Hundreds of thousands of people could be about to die, and the nuclear fallout would have the capacity to kill millions more all over Europe — not just from radiation poisoning but from cancers for decades to come. Half a century on, we all know that several thousand square miles of Spain were not actually destroyed by a devastating series of thermonuclear explosions. Had such a horrific disaster taken place, then the history of the past 50 years would have been very different.
How chilling to discover, then, that such a scenario did almost happen five decades ago. And the danger was all too real. The nuclear payloads of the four American B28 hydrogen bombs mercifully did not detonate when they landed, even though the conventional explosives in two of the bombs did explode, showering some 500 acres around the fishing village of Palomares with three kilograms of highly radioactive plutonium-239. Despite attempts made at the time by the Americans to clean up the mess, the crash that Monday morning 50 years ago still has ramifications today.
Hunt: Spanish workmen look at wreckage scattered over a hillside as they assist in the search for an atomic weapon missing in the crash of an American nuclear bomber in Palomares
Deadly legacy: American sailors recover one of the H bombs, still wrapped in its parachute, that fell into the sea, in April, four months after the crash
Impact: Despite attempts made at the time by the Americans to clean up the mess, the crash that Monday morning 50 years ago still has ramifications today. Pictured, a sign put up by the Spanish government warns of the radioactive material in the area
Just last October, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry agreed to finalise a deal with the Spanish Foreign Minister that calls upon the U.S. to remove and dispose of some 50,000 cubic metres of earth that remains contaminated.
NUCLEAR NEAR MISSES THROUGH THE DECADES
May 22, 1957: Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico
A cow was killed and residents of Albuquerque terrified when a B-36 aircraft transporting a nuclear bomb from Texas to New Mexico fell through the bomb bay doors from 1,700 feet and detonated, blasting a crater 12 feet deep and 25 feet across. Luckily the nuclear capsule had separated from the bomb and did not explode.
February 5, 1958: Savannah River, Georgia
A B-47 carrying a nuclear bomb collided midair with an F-86 jet during a training flight. The device was jettisoned and fell into the the river and has never been located.
January 24, 1961: Goldsboro, North Carolina
The U.S. government came dangerously close to detonating a nuclear bomb over North Carolina at the height of the Cold War – but was saved by a faulty switch. Two Mark 39 hydrogen bombs – equivalent to 260 times the strength of the Hiroshima device – fell to earth when a B—52 broke apart in mid-flight. One fell harmlessly to the ground, but another went into detonation sequence and seemed primed for detonation - a notoriously faulty switch is all that prevented nuclear fallout from falling as far north as New York City.
March 14, 1961: Yuba City, California
A crippled B-52 carrying a pair of nuclear bombs suffered a loss of pressure at 10,000 feet. The commander stayed aboard to pilot the plane away from Yuba City in California before ejecting at 4,000 feet. The plane crashed but nothing detonated and the bombs were recovered. This raises some awkward questions for the United States, many of which have a direct bearing on the 1,600 inhabitants of Palomares, at least half of whom are British expatriates. In particular, why have the Americans taken so long to clean up the fallout?
On January 16 1966, a U.S. B-52 Stratofortress took off from Seymour Johnson Air Force base in North Carolina
Bombers were continually flown on 24-hour missions across the Atlantic, to provide the States' nuclear capability It was a routine mission for the crew but then disaster struck over Palomares, Andalucia, as the aircraft refuelledFour hydrogen bombs plummeted to earth at horrific speeds, which would have killed millions had they exploded. There is nothing routine about flying an aircraft loaded with four hydrogen bombs, each of which is a hundred times more powerful than the bomb which obliterated Hiroshima. But for the seven crew members of the B-52 Stratofortress that took off from Seymour Johnson Air Force base in North Carolina almost exactly 50 years ago, on January 16, 1966, this was very much business as usual.
Their mission was part of a huge operation called Chrome Dome, which had been running for six years and was a vital part of the United States’ nuclear capability. In order to provide the superpower with the constant ability to retaliate in the event of a Soviet atomic strike, bombers were continually flown on 24-hour missions all the way across the Atlantic to the east coast of Italy, before turning back to the States. Because of the length of the mission, the B-52 had to be refuelled in the air four times. After turning around over the Adriatic, the plane headed back to her third refuelling point, where she would link up with a huge KC-135 Stratotanker at 31,000 feet above south-eastern Spain.
Just before 10.30 am on January 17, the planes made their rendezvous. With the two aircraft flying at nearly 500 mph, the refuelling procedure was tricky, but the crews were experienced. At the time, Wendorf was taking a break and the B-52 was being flown by Major Larry G. Messinger, one of the two co-pilots. The operation involved lining up the bomber’s receiving receptacle with a fuel boom being trailed by the KC-135. The tanker’s boom operator noticed that the B-52 was approaching a little fast. ‘Watch your enclosure,’ the operator calmly told the crew of the B-52 by way of warning. If the operator thought the situation was perilous, he would have ordered the bomber to break away, but no such order came. ‘We didn’t see anything dangerous about the situation,’ Messinger recalled. ‘But all of a sudden, all hell seemed to break loose.’ Hell was the right word: the B-52 had overshot and the boom had missed the fuel nozzle in the top of the plane. Instead, the boom had smashed into the bomber with such force that its left wing was ripped off. Fire quickly spread up the fuel-filled boom and ignited all 30,000 gallons of the tanker’s kerosene, causing it to plummet to the ground. Meanwhile, the bomber started to break up, and the crew did their best to get out of the plane using parachutes.
As for the hydrogen bombs, there was nothing that could be done. In less than two minutes, they would be crashing into the Earth at an enormous speed — potentially destroying much of the regions of Andalucia and Murcia. Hundreds of thousands of people could be about to die, and the nuclear fallout would have the capacity to kill millions more all over Europe — not just from radiation poisoning but from cancers for decades to come. Half a century on, we all know that several thousand square miles of Spain were not actually destroyed by a devastating series of thermonuclear explosions. Had such a horrific disaster taken place, then the history of the past 50 years would have been very different.
How chilling to discover, then, that such a scenario did almost happen five decades ago. And the danger was all too real. The nuclear payloads of the four American B28 hydrogen bombs mercifully did not detonate when they landed, even though the conventional explosives in two of the bombs did explode, showering some 500 acres around the fishing village of Palomares with three kilograms of highly radioactive plutonium-239. Despite attempts made at the time by the Americans to clean up the mess, the crash that Monday morning 50 years ago still has ramifications today.
Hunt: Spanish workmen look at wreckage scattered over a hillside as they assist in the search for an atomic weapon missing in the crash of an American nuclear bomber in Palomares
Deadly legacy: American sailors recover one of the H bombs, still wrapped in its parachute, that fell into the sea, in April, four months after the crash
Impact: Despite attempts made at the time by the Americans to clean up the mess, the crash that Monday morning 50 years ago still has ramifications today. Pictured, a sign put up by the Spanish government warns of the radioactive material in the area
Just last October, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry agreed to finalise a deal with the Spanish Foreign Minister that calls upon the U.S. to remove and dispose of some 50,000 cubic metres of earth that remains contaminated.
NUCLEAR NEAR MISSES THROUGH THE DECADES
May 22, 1957: Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico
A cow was killed and residents of Albuquerque terrified when a B-36 aircraft transporting a nuclear bomb from Texas to New Mexico fell through the bomb bay doors from 1,700 feet and detonated, blasting a crater 12 feet deep and 25 feet across. Luckily the nuclear capsule had separated from the bomb and did not explode.
February 5, 1958: Savannah River, Georgia
A B-47 carrying a nuclear bomb collided midair with an F-86 jet during a training flight. The device was jettisoned and fell into the the river and has never been located.
January 24, 1961: Goldsboro, North Carolina
The U.S. government came dangerously close to detonating a nuclear bomb over North Carolina at the height of the Cold War – but was saved by a faulty switch. Two Mark 39 hydrogen bombs – equivalent to 260 times the strength of the Hiroshima device – fell to earth when a B—52 broke apart in mid-flight. One fell harmlessly to the ground, but another went into detonation sequence and seemed primed for detonation - a notoriously faulty switch is all that prevented nuclear fallout from falling as far north as New York City.
March 14, 1961: Yuba City, California
A crippled B-52 carrying a pair of nuclear bombs suffered a loss of pressure at 10,000 feet. The commander stayed aboard to pilot the plane away from Yuba City in California before ejecting at 4,000 feet. The plane crashed but nothing detonated and the bombs were recovered. This raises some awkward questions for the United States, many of which have a direct bearing on the 1,600 inhabitants of Palomares, at least half of whom are British expatriates. In particular, why have the Americans taken so long to clean up the fallout?
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