Ever hear of a 2007 USAF nuclear weapons SNAFU ?

The incident was the first of its kind in 40 years in the United States and later described by the media as "one of the worst breaches in U.S. nuclear weapons security in decades."

Those interested - access search engine info titled:
2007 U.S. Air Force nuclear weapons incident.

SERIOUS STUFF - BUT PLEASE DO NOT EQUATE INCIDENT with 1964 Hollywood movies: Dr. Strangelove, or Fail Safe.

quote:

---

SERIOUS STUFF - BUT PLEASE DO NOT EQUATE INCIDENT with 1964 Hollywood movies: Dr. Strangelove, or Fail Safe.

---

What about the 1996 Hollywood movie Broken Arrow?

Was that the one where a B-52 flew from Minot to Barksdale with an active nuke on board?


Greutzmachers -- Goin' commando!

Was that the one that ended up canning Gen. Mosely?

Upon further investigation, I see that it was. My understanding is that an Aggie was the one who signed off on the missles after they were loaded on the plane.

Another Ag was one of the ones who fell asleep with the old code component in Minot's next scandal.

Greutzmachers -- Goin' commando!

quote:

---

Was that the one that ended up canning Gen. Mosely?

---

Another Ag.

Many USAF heads rolled !

Accidents Do Occur.

Check out search engine - 1966 Palomares, Spain - USAF B-52 vs KC 135 tanker mid-air refuling crash.
Four (yea FOUR) MK-28 hydrogen bombs temporarily lost. All four located. Three on land, one located deep in the Mediterranean Sea.
Thank you US Navy and DSV Alvin.

Bomb casings on display - National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, Albuquerque, NM.

All crew on both USAF aircraft - killed.

[This message has been edited by BeBopAg (edited 1/26/2012 2:38p).]

And then there was the nuclear bomb that was dropped on Albuquerque....

North Carolina, too.

I find the ABQ more amusing. One, the spouse was living in ABQ when it happened. Two, it happened when a guy went into the bomb bay, pulled a pin, and the bomb fell out. That's Bugs Bunny level comedy right there.

There were a lot more, BTW. Many unclassified, and I'd be willing to bet many more still classified.

And they still have not found the one in Georgia.

...and then we had to start wearing blues on Monday.

_____________________________
"Guns don't kill people, I kill people."

Canyon...
Wonder if there's a bounty for locating the lost USAF A-bomb in Georgia ?

Also wonder, how long ago did that occur ?

My dad (an AF E-8 nuclear weapons technician) was involved in an "incident" at Incirlik AB,
Adana, Turkey, circa 1960. He was the SRNCO in the unit.

At that time, TAC F-100 units would rotate from US bases to Incirlik for 3-month tours of duty. 24/7, four of the unit's F-100s would be on alert at the end of the runway with pilots aboard and a tactical nuke on board.

The pilots were relieved on a regular basis, but the planes (and their nukes) stayed on alert for several days. FWIW - a oneway sucicide mission if there ever was one.

When the alert planes were replaced, the nukes had to be downloaded and then uploaded to the replacement aircraft (nukes had to be rotated as well, but on a much longer schedule).

My dad's unit (assigned to Incirlik) was responsible for maintaining the nukes, but loading/unloading onto aircraft was the responsibility of the TDY F-100 unit.

One night at 2:00am, my dad was called out to the F-100 alert pad. The local bomb loaders, who were from a unit from Cannon AFB, NM, had
"dropped" a nuke on the tarmac. For reasons I have no clue about, the nuke started making noise, and the loading crew paniced and turned a valve on the nuke. They had armed it - and it REALLY started making a noise - a "tic, tic, tic" noise.

They had armed the nuke and a timer was counting down. The load crew finally got alarmed and called the Command Post, and they called my dad.

My dad arrived on the scene (at 2am +) and had the nuke moved to a a bunker on base. The nuke was armed, but the timer's battery had to drain out before the nuke would be safe. Batteries weren't that great back then, so it didn't take as long as you would think.

FWIW - my dad didn't share this story with me until he had retired 10 years later.

Fast forward to May, 1973. 2Lt Normanag, a weather weenie stationed at Cannon AFB, NM, is being reassigned to Goose Bay, Labrador.

A local moving company shows up at our house to pack up our crap. One of the movers notices all the Turkish stuff in our house (passed down from my parents) and remarks that he was on a TDY from Cannon to Incirlik in 1960. He went on to say he was on a weapons loading crew that dropped a "weapon" during a procedure.

He went on to say some ahole SMSgt came out and really chewed their asses.

That was my dad. True story.









[This message has been edited by NormanAg (edited 1/27/2012 10:46p).]

In one of his short stories, famous aviation writer Richard Bach tells about having to fly some fighter (maybe an F-100) with a live nuke occasionally to maintain proficiency with doing so. He hated it.

Long ago, in Air and Space Smithsonian, there was a hilarious story along the same lines. A guy was flying space available from Alaska to the lower 48. He had bought a huge block of frozen crab meat at the docks, and had visions of re-selling it at his home base.

He got to the aircraft, and was given permission to wedge the package o'crab in the bomb bay, next to a nuclear weapon. He did so, and as he walked back to the terminal, he heard a huge THUNK. The terrified expressions of the VIPs standing at the terminal informed him that he had, in fact, somehow dropped the bomb on the apron.

The crew chief sprinted over to the weapon, put his ear against it, and after a bit signaled the All Clear. Everyone started breathing again.

He was not popular on the eventual flight home. One of the crewmen asked him "Do you do this very often?" He replied "What, fly space available?"

"No. I meant salvo nuclear weapons onto the tarmac."


Don't know if it was a true story, but it was funny.

Bop and frau (8 months pregnant) decided to take a little walk one rare sunny 1967 Sunday afternoon behind our base housing area at Kafertal/Mannheim, Germany.
We get off the beaten path fairly distant away and happened upon a high spiked fence well guarded with well marked OFF LIMITS - AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY SIGNS (English and German).
MP's looked us over very carefully and we fast departed the area.
On checking around I was told not to go near that place again.
Supposedly a artillery nuke storage area (Bop never verified it - and never wanted to).

[This message has been edited by BeBopAg (edited 1/28/2012 3:53p).]

My dad was a MP responsible of Nuclear transportation to and from Ramstein, Germany from '67-'70.

He told me about the time a truck tipped over on with a nuke in it.

Bop in Germany 1964-67; 70-71.

Kraut civilians knew we had nukes all over the place (and most were sorta scared ****less).

But, they were somewhat understanding, knew the military game plan, and the role they had to indirectly play.

If this was the Minot to Barksdale incident. I was in high school in Bossier City (Barksdale). My oldest brother was also being trained to navigate the B-52s at the time at Barksdale. I heard a lot about this incident in local media.

The Minot-Barksdale Incident ?
Did it make the national news.
60 minutes, Fox, CNN ?

quote:

---

Bent Spear

Bent Spear refers to incidents involving nuclear weapons, warheads, components or vehicles transporting nuclear material that are of significant interest but are not categorized as Pinnacle - Nucflash or Pinnacle - Broken Arrow. Bent Spear incidents include violations or breaches of handling and security regulations.

A recent Bent Spear example is the August 2007 flight of a B-52 bomber from Minot AFB to Barksdale AFB which carried six cruise missiles with live nuclear warheads.

---

So yes we are talking about the same incident. I never heard it called bent spear.

quote:

---

The Minot-Barksdale Incident ?
Did it make the national news.
60 minutes, Fox, CNN ?

---

You are the one who started this thread. Shouldn't you know that it involved Minot and Barksdale.

You pulled this quote stright from the article.

quote:

---

The incident was the first of its kind in 40 years in the United States and was later described by the media as "one of the worst breaches in U.S. nuclear weapons security in decades".

---

It is the last sentence in the section labled Incident. It is next to Mosley's picture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_United_States_Air_Force_nuclear_weapons_incident

Did it make CNN and FOX yes. Did it make 60 min. I don't know. I don't watch it that often.

The question was intended to revive memories.

Just don't think it was given much air time or ink to be considered a "major incident".

Just don't know ?

I'm fairly certain it was all over the news.

Bossier City, Louisiana - STRATEGIC LOCALE

"On October 24, 2008 new USAF Secretary Michael Donlet announced the creation of Air Force Global Strike Command. The new command became operational on August 7, 2009. the USAF's intercontinental nuclear missile force was moved from Air Force Space Command to the new command. Barksdale AFB (Bossier City, Louisiana) was selected as the location of the new command headquarters. The new major command is led by a three star general and controls all USAF nuclear-capable bombers, missiles and personnel."

(from Wikipedia titled: 2007 USAF Nuclear Weapons Incident)

[This message has been edited by BeBopAg (edited 2/7/2012 10:04a).]

I've been to Area 51 and I've seen the aliens. Creepy looking, but great conversationalists.

quote:

---

Four (yea FOUR) MK-28 hydrogen bombs temporarily lost. All four located. Three on land, one located deep in the Mediterranean Sea.
Thank you US Navy and DSV Alvin

---

Navy might have found one but we AF guys were TDY from all over Europe to wander through Spain where we found the three.
If seemed like there were more Soviets looking than US personnel.

Bop once heard a story about Spanish communist "civilians" suddenly decending on a certain part of Spain.
Seems the Soviets had a nice bounty on recovery of a USAF A-Bomb.

(Just think of propaganda angle in 1966.)

AF Global Strike Command = SAC Lite. With a 3-star in charge, no less.

My dad was a SAC nuke weapons techniician for 20 years and worked on both bombs and missile RVs. (He retired in 74.)

He once told me that a group in the SAC Command Post knew 24/7 where EVERY nuke bomb/RV was and its status. I suspect they would have known right away if a B-52 left Minot with 4 armed nukes on board.

IMO, when the Cold War ended, it was time to downsize SAC (but keeping it a 4-star billet).

Eliminating SAC altogether was a huge mistake - and IMO the biggest blunder in a long list of blunders made by CSAF Tony McPeak. It was all about the fighter generals getting revenge for having to take a back seat to SAC (and especially Gen Lemay) all those years.

The creation of AF Global Strike Command proves eliminating SAC was a mistake.





[This message has been edited by NormanAg (edited 2/9/2012 9:28a).]

NormanAg. I was stationed at the Air Force "bomb dump" at Morbach Germany in the mid to late 60's. We had conventional and nukes. Was your father ever stationed there?

Morbach is/was near Hahn AB. Both were shut down in due to detente (sp?). We had similar sites at San Mihel France (shut down by France blowhard DeGualle (sp?) and near Aviano Italy.

I wasn't an ordinance guy but did other things that needed to be in low profile places.

No, at during that time he was in SAC stationed at Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, AZ.

He worked on Titan missle RVs there.

I was flying with a former BUFF guy when that Bent Spear went down, and he chuckled about it and all the hysteria it was causing back in the States. According to my amigo, back in the day the USAF routinely (as in almost daily) launched airplanes for hours-long xcty flights with live "crowd pleasers" on board. I wouldn't know- in my entire career, I never saw a live one

BCO- Morbach's still a nifty little burg, in case you ever get the chance to go back- Hahn is misrepresented by EasyJet as "Frankfurt Hahn" to get people to fly from London to Frankfurt.

quote:

---

"Frankfurt Hahn"

---

You are correct about calling the old Hahn AB runway "Frankfurt Hahn". I still remember those 2 hour rides on the old Blue Air Force buses to Rhein-Main in Frankfurt.

I can only imagine the look on some American's face when they arrive in the Hunsrick and discover the rural lifestyle and tractors and honey piles.

I understand the old bomb dump is now a windmill farm. I hope to return someday. I have seen pictures of old Hahn AB on the internet. Horrible weather but the friendships (both German and American)were very warming.

Major Bernard Fisher, who won the first Medal of Honor for his service in Vietnam was stationed there in the 496 Fighter Interceptor Squadron, flying F102's.

quote:

---

According to my amigo, back in the day the USAF routinely (as in almost daily) launched airplanes for hours-long xcty flights with live "crowd pleasers" on board.

---

Oh, yeah. SAC used to keep a certain number of nuclear armed B-52s in the air 24/7/365.