The Cold War's Missing Atom Bombs

Spiegel Online ^ | November 14, 2008 | Benjamin Maack

[Free ThinkerNY]

In a 1968 plane crash, the US military lost an atom bomb in Greenland's Arctic ice. But this was no isolated case. Up to 50 nuclear warheads are believed to have gone missing during the Cold War, and not all of them are in unpopulated areas.

It was a little early to be swimming in the Mediterranean that year. But in early March 1966, Manuel Fraga Iribarne, the Spanish information minister at the time, and Biddle Duke, the American ambassador in Madrid, together with their respective families, plunged into the chilly waters off the Costa Cálida. Journalists from around the world had gathered on the beach of the small village of Palomares to report on the two families' spring bathing outing. Their interest would have been surprising, if it hadn't been for the hydrogen bomb lying on the ocean floor only a few kilometers away, a bomb with more than 1,000 times the explosive force of the one that flattened Hiroshima.

Only a few weeks earlier, on Jan. 17, 1966, the worst nuclear weapons incident of the entire Cold War had taken place off Spain's southeastern coast. During an aerial tanking maneuver, an American B-52 bomber and a KC-135 tanking aircraft collided in mid-air at 9,000 meters (29,000 feet), and both planes exploded in a giant fireball over Palomares. There were four hydrogen bombs in the hold of the B-52. One landed, unharmed, in tomato fields near the village. The non-nuclear fuse detonated in two others causing bomb fragments and plutonium dust to rain down on the impact site. The fourth bomb fell into the water somewhere off the coast, burying itself in several meters of silt. But where exactly did it fall?

[PAR35]

The Europeans must be hard up for anti-American stories if they are having to dig this one out of the file cabinet.

[Dan(9698)]

Without electrical power the bomb cannot explode.

If it is buried in silt, it will remain there for a long, long time. Its batteries are run down by now.

[SouthTexas]

Wonder how many they tracked down from the USSR?

[Calpernia]

That all depends how much validity you give Al Qaeda messages.

There were some AQ messages in their eMagazines they released last year(?) that referenced broken arrows.

[Calpernia]

And I believe this referenced nw_arizona_granny just posted on her thread was in the same eMagazine

(UK) MI5 Discover Al-Qaeda Buying Ambulances on Ebay
http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/world/mi5—al-qaeda-ambulances—ebay-suicide-bombers-7222.html

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***Wonder how many they tracked down from the USSR?***

You mean those that went down with the Russian nuclear sub back in the late 1960’s that America tried to secretly raise?

From http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/jennifer.htm

The Hughes Glomar Explorer [HGE] was built in 1973 by Sun Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. for an intricate CIA undertaking. The mission of Glomar Explorer was to raise a Soviet nuclear submarine that had sunk in the Pacific, resting on the ocean floor nearly 17,000 ft. (5,200 m) down. The Soviet Golf-II Class ballistic missile submarine sank on April 11, 1968, approximately 750 miles northwest of Hawaii. Naval intelligence at Pearl Harbor had tracked the submarine and learned of its fate through underwater listening devices. After months of futile searching by Soviet vessels, it became apparent that only the US knew the location of the sunken submarine.

[SouthTexas]

Not really referring to disasters, just the unintentional losses that I’m sure at minimum rivaled, if not totally outweighed, ours.

[BatGuano]

I remember the incident over Spain...I was a SAC pilot at the time.

The bomb cannot/will not explode, period. The high explosives that are part of the bomb may but there will be no nuclear yield.

The bomb mentioned in the article was recovered by “Alvin” the submersible soon after the accident.

Ask yourself this, could it be that the U.S. Air Force would be flying around with nuclear weapons on board that, in the event of an accident, could possibly cause a Nuclear Explosion?

[nw_arizona_granny]

Wow, I am glad you remember where this all started.

I remember the research on the broken arrows, in the Georgia area.

This lost bomb story, was sent to me, several days ago, from several sources, as I recall.

Thanks for tying it into a package.

[nw_arizona_granny]

I found this and posted on my thread earlier today.

http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/radevents/index.html

Database of Radiological Incidents and Related Events
compiled by Wm. Robert Johnston
last modified 8 October 2008
Contents

* Introduction
* Lists
* Links and documents

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http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/radevents/index.html#4

* Database: incidents and events

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[I did not see it listed, still it is an impressive list]

[labette]

That is an interesting side note, almost as interesting as some of the possible explanations for the sinking of K-129.
http://www.submarinebooks.com/RedStar.htm

[Psycho_Runner]

I want one. Is it finders keepers?