← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Alka
Thread ID: 7751 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2003-07-01
2003-07-01 16:57 | User Profile
[url=http://tinyurl.com/fqt8]http://tinyurl.com/fqt8[/url]
** The exhibit, ''Operation Broken Arrow: Nuclear Accident in Palomares,'' opened in May in the provincial capital, Almeria, and will make a tour of Spain. It is the work of Spanish film producer Antonio Sanchez Picon and photographer Jose Herrera, who has been researching the Palomares incident for nearly 20 years. They culled 60 frames from 36 reels of movie film ââ¬â 700,000 frames altogether ââ¬â at the National Archives. The Cold War was in full swing in 1966, and U.S. policy was to keep nuclear-armed warplanes in the air constantly near the Soviet border. Under an accord with the Franco regime, American B-52s had permission to fly over Spain and rendezvous in Spanish airspace with KC-135 tankers. On the morning of Jan. 17, 1966, a routine refueling operation turned disastrous. It is believed the B-52 flew too fast as it approached the tanker from below. The planes collided, killing seven of 11 crew members and raining 100 tons of flaming wreckage over 15 square miles. And the four H-bombs tumbled from the B-52. While one bomb splashed into the sea, the other three hit the ground. None exploded ââ¬â layers of safeguards made that virtually impossible ââ¬â but seven pounds of plutonium 239 were released when two bomb detonators did go off. The three bombs on the ground were found in the first 24 hours. **
An interesting tale of when the USA lost an H-bomb.