The Day We Lost The H-Bomb
Cold war, hot nukes, and the worst nuclear weapons disaster in history.
Written by Filed under History
Navy personnel examine bomb #4. Photo courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories.
On January 17, 1966, a B-52 exploded over Spain while being refueled by a KC-135 tanker, raining debris and a quartet of unarmed Mark 28 nuclear bombs on the coastal farming village of Palomares. Up until the moment the planes broke up, it was a routine U.S. Air Force mission, part of a program that kept nuclear-armed bombers within striking distance of Russia at all times, an effort to deter the Soviet Union from launching a preemptive strike.
Unable to keep the accident a secret, the military scrambled to locate the missing nukes. As it turns out, three of the four bombs came down on land, and two detonated their high explosives, making them—in effect—dirty bombs. The fourth landed in the Mediterranean Sea, where it remained for 80 days before it was located and retrieved.
In the new book “The Day We Lost the H-Bomb” (Ballantine), author Barbara Moran delivers the definitive account of this Cold War-era disaster, which took the lives of seven airmen. Earlier this month, Moran spoke with Failure about the accident, its aftermath, and the latest news from Palomares, where plutonium contamination remains a controversial issue.
Why don’t Americans remember the Palomares incident?
There are two answers, neither of which is totally satisfactory. First, it occurred in Spain and was over with relatively quickly. While it was happening it was front page news. But Americans have short attention spans, especially for things that happen overseas, and people soon moved on to the next thing.
The other issue is that in early 1966 the Vietnam War was heating up. It was a point in time when Americans were worrying less about war with Russia and more about Vietnam.
Nightmare on Elm Street
Umpteenth Time
Soccernomics
Flawless (March/10)
A Brilliant Darkness (February/10)
The End Of Influence (February/10)
