Idiot? I was trying to make a point!
Posted on 11/11/2008 8:55:24 AM PST by austrian
The United States abandoned a nuclear weapon beneath the ice in northern Greenland following a crash in 1968, a BBC investigation has found.
Its unique vantage point - perched at the top of the world - has meant that Thule Air Base has been of immense strategic importance to the US since it was built in the early 1950s, allowing a radar to scan the skies for missiles coming over the North Pole.
The Pentagon believed the Soviet Union would take out the base as a prelude to a nuclear strike against the US and so in 1960 began flying "Chrome Dome" missions. Nuclear-armed B52 bombers continuously circled over Thule - and could head straight to Moscow if they witnessed its destruction.
Greenland is a self-governing province of Denmark but the carrying of nuclear weapons over Danish territory was kept secret.
'Darker story'
But on 21 January 1968, one of those missions went wrong. We reunited two of the pilots, John Haug and Joe D'Amario, 40 years on to tell the story of how their plane ended up crashing on the ice a few miles out from the base.
In the aftermath, military personnel, local Greenlanders and Danish workers rushed to the scene to help.
Eventually, a remarkable operation would unfold over the coming months to recover thousands of tiny pieces of debris scattered across the frozen bay, as well as to collect some 500 million gallons of ice, some of it containing radioactive debris.
A declassified US government video, obtained by the BBC, documents the clear-up and gives some ideas of the scale of the operation. The high explosives surrounding the four nuclear weapons had detonated but without setting off the actual nuclear devices, which had not been armed by the crew....
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
metal + n = mental.
Glacier Girl (P-38) - recovered from under 200 + feet of ice in Greenland and reflown transatlantic 50 years later.
I knew a guy who was an Air Force electrician (an enlisted man) at that time who had been happily stationed at Tinker AFB, but was suddenly sent up there to look for parts. He spent weeks scouring landside and iceside for Buff debris. He used to sit in the chow hall at meal time with a pouting frown on his face. He noticed another guy who had been doing the same thing for weeks. One day, they made eye contact and burst out laughing.
Pretty grim duty, nonetheless. Think of doing that day-in and day-out for weeks.
About 5 miles out. Come on down to Savannah and have a visit. You’ll enjoy the afterglow!
Why do I have a metal picture of a bunch of Al-Queda nutjobs on dogsleds trying to figure out how to steer?
I was in Boise two summers ago at the Warbirds museum. They happened to be celebrating the recovery of the P-38s in Greenland. Very interesting story. There were a lot of WW2 pilots there that day, including a lady who flew p-38s, if I recall correctly. It was really cool. My daughter was impressed.
for later.
this can be a serious danger to world peace. just remember those “bloody” Eskimo now have “the Bomb” ;-)
Don’t worry, it’ll show up on EBAY one of these days.
If we know we have lost 2, and we are realitively open society. And, we have witnessed many Russian screw-ups (dozens of sub accidents, rockets, etc.) but they don't even want to admit the stuff happening today, how many Russian nukes are spread around the world?
Don’t worry, it’ll show up on EBAY one of these days.
There will also probably be larger fish winning the local fishing tourneys almost forever, eh?
This bomb was lost when its plane was involved in an incident during its airborne SAC alert. We had an airborne fleet of bombers flying race track courses so they would be within reach of targets in the USSR. Curtis Lemay, a true hero, was the general in charge of SAC.
Of course there’s the W54 that fell down an abandoned mine shaft. Idiots.
Been there.. probably fished over it
Afterglow? Darn I thought that was the sunset....
Can you give a little more info, i’m not finding anything relevant by searching.
Thanks.
You will not find much on this incident, it’s highly classified. got to go someones at the door.
This looks like the one he’s talking about:
*October 23, 1975, Yucca Flats, Nevada
A canister containing a nuclear weapon’s fissile core fell 40 feet to the bottom of a shaft during preparations for an underground nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site. The warhead had a yield of less than 20 kilotons. Although the warhead did not detonate and there was no leakage of radioactive material, 11 Nevada Test Site workers were injured. The device was to be detonated as part of a series of underground tests code-named “Peninsula.”
http://www.cdi.org/Issues/NukeAccidents/Accidents.htm
Sounds about right, from what i can tell, thank you.
Idiot? I was trying to make a point!
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