In Error, B-52 Flew Over U.S. With Nuclear-Armed Missiles

Washington Post ^ | September 6, 2007

[starlifter]

An Air Force B-52 bomber flew across the central United States last week with six cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads that were mistakenly attached to the airplane's wing, defense officials said yesterday.

The Stratofortress bomber, based at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, was transporting a dozen Advanced Cruise Missiles to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana on Aug. 30. But crews inadvertently loaded half of them with nuclear warheads attached.

[starlifter]

Makes you wonder...I know the USAF PAO was reading his talking points, but when you think about them, they are indescribably stupid: "...a departure from exacting standards..." sounds like a paperwork mistake.

How can you mistakenly draw six weapons from storage, transport them to the flight line, load them on an airplane, fly them to a different base, then let them sit for 10 hours? All told, I would guess they were unccounted for for at least 15 hours. Four-star heads should roll for this one.

[ModelBreaker]

There’s a big whoops.

[cripplecreek]

I don’t have a military background but I can’t help but wonder how it could happen. I’m assuming the nuclear ordinance is stored separately and under heavy guard.

[tennteacher]

I’m suspicious. If it happened, why was it leaked to the press? Sounds like notification to Ahmadinejad that American nukes are on the move.

But then. . . I’m paranoid.

[Rummyfan]

Where’s General Buck Turgidson when we need him?

[NYFriend]

Good thing they were ferrying them to another base, and not dropping them in Iraq.

No one needs to answer this, but I wonder is these cruise missiles are usually stored with special weapons. If they are in a separate magazine, then it's harder to understand the mistake.

[Allegra]

I’m suspicious. If it happened, why was it leaked to the press? Sounds like notification to Ahmadinejad that American nukes are on the move.

But then. . . I’m paranoid.

I wondered exactly the same thing when I heard about this earlier today.

And I'm not particularly paranoid.

[cherry]

I am like you....I can’t see this being a mistake....maybe there is something up that is being kept very, very quiet....

[CindyDawg]

Well, it sounds like the pilots took just as good of care of them as the regular ones. Nothing happened, thankfully. I would expect that they have already made sure this won’t happen again. I don’t want the media using this opportunity to bash our military.

[Allegra]

Good thing they were ferrying them to another base, and not dropping them in Iraq.

Iraq??? Why on earth would they do that?

[CindyDawg]

Now that’s a thought.

[Red Steel]

How can you mistakenly draw six weapons from storage, transport them to the flight line, load them on an airplane, fly them to a different base, then let them sit for 10 hours? All told, I would guess they were unccounted for for at least 15 hours.

A possible mix-up with ALCM trainers...thought the B52 was headed to the load barn...?

[SpinnerWebb]

Iraq??? Why on earth would they do that?

That's where the biggest concentration of Iranian troops are...

[Yo-Yo]

They were never out of U.S. control.

[Young Werther]

While stationed at Minot I met Major Fugazi who was a Radar Navigator who manned the defensive weapons on a B-52. He had the distinct honor of having survived a B-52 shoot down. The war games actions were ocurring over Pennsylvania and the F-86 that was chasing them had drawn into missile range. The fighter pilot selected Safe on the Safe-Arm switch and when directed pulled the trigger!

The Safe-Arm switch had been repaired and the wires were soldered backwards. The Quality control failed to note the error. The Sidewinder worked perfectly and Gino's B-52 crashed in a swampy area in Pennsylvania. The four nucs in the bomb bay were recovered but....Oops are easy to make, even with nucs.

Four of six crew members survived. The nucs were recovered and the whole thing was minimally covered by the press. Whoever leaked this info should be provided with a nice condo at Leavenworth for the next 20 years!

[Allegra]

That's where the biggest concentration of Iranian troops are...

It's also where the biggest concentration of U.S. troops are as well as thousands of other Americans. I have enough faith left in our government to believe that they would not do that.

[freekitty]

WHOA........

[freekitty]

“How can you mistakenly draw six weapons from storage, transport them to the flight line, load them on an airplane, fly them to a different base, then let them sit for 10 hours? All told, I would guess they were unccounted for for at least 15 hours. Four-star heads should roll for this one.”

I am going to have agree with you on that. Wonder what they were actually doing?

[386wt]

So what if they had nukes aboard. Ya think all those B-52s that I used to see at Mather AFB were empty? How about all those Minutemen missiles underground throughout Montana?

It’s OK that we have live nukes isn’t it?

Thanks Yo-Yo for that great Slim Pickens pic. Now was that movie, Dr. Strangelove or Failsafe? I forget.