What people today fail to appreciate is how hard SAC pushed itself in those days. In ‘61 we lost an average of one B-52 a month, -in training-.
Two days before this incident another B-52 “Felon 22” broke up and went down over a remote area in southeast Utah. It was January 19th, 1961. An airman who was able to bail out and made it to the ground, gathered his parachute around him to try to protect himself from the bitter cold. He froze to death shortly before the rescuers located him.
As he laid freezing under that tree in a wasteland, JFK gave his inaugural speech in DC. This is the “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any challenge,,,,, Ask not what your country can do for you speech”.
The next day this one went down over North Carolina. Today in the USAF crashes are more rare than ever. But in those days, they were out there over the edge, pushing the limits of men and machines. SAC was a national hero, and is sorely missed today.
Gen. Curtis Lemay, and the WWII officer corps were some tough as nails men.
I used to go to church with the head Chaplain of SAC, one Bishop Hopwood. He’d be over 100 years old now, but he passed away at age 98, about 4 years ago.
Given his age, I’d assume he’d of been at the peak of his career in the 1960s.