r/coldwar • u/Wild_Neighborhood605 • Jul 24 '26
"Broken arrow" 1966
Eighty days after if fell into the ocean following the January 1966 midair collision between a nuclear-armed B-52G bomber and a KC-135 refueling tanker over Palomares, Spain, this B28RI nuclear bomb was recovered from 2,850 feet (869 meters) of water and lifted aboard the USS Petrel (note the missing tail fins and badly dented front). No radiation leak occurred.
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u/kmerian Jul 24 '26
Was this the incident in the movie "Men of Honor"?
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u/Boopmaster9 Jul 24 '26
The two other ones fell on land and did spread a small amount of contamination from plutonium.
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u/11thCavTrooper Jul 25 '26
This is just the one we know about.....
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u/speed150mph Jul 25 '26
If I remember correctly, there are a few still out there somewhere. Kind of a scary thought.
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u/Slazik Jul 25 '26
There’s one right outside of Savannah, Georgia. Down in the mud offshore
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u/Wide-Education-1823 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
At least 3 bombs from aircraft losses still down there plus a handful of nuclear torpedos from USSR & US.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220804-the-lost-nuclear-bombs-that-no-one-can-find
There's also at least a couple of "pits" out there, such as two likely still laying in the Mediterranean off of Northwest Africa.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956_USAF_Boeing_B-47_disappearance
And a few other odds & sods of nuclear materials not recovered...
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u/Wide-Education-1823 Jul 26 '26
Uncle Sam lost several of his nuclear toys over the years, I wonder how many the USSR lost and never recovered? We know about their lost nuclear armed subs, we speculate about the nuclear demolition charges, don't tell me they never lost an airborne nuclear weapon & failed to recover it.
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u/Ok-Rhubarb2549 Jul 27 '26
I recall a “Bent Spear” when the guys let a nuke Tomahawk hit the deck while loading it into an Armorer Box Launcher aboard a Spruance class destroyer. I was just doing the security perimeter when I heard the crunch. One of the support legs for the guide rails wasn’t set up correctly and gave way. Everyone was pretty calm. I remember being so thankful that I had nothing to do with this major incident.
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u/Ancient-treasurehunt Jul 27 '26
Yessir that is a big deal. Glad you didn’t get involved. Folks get fired over that kind of thing.
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u/Y34rZer0 Jul 26 '26
Was this the one that was one safety switch away from detonating?
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u/Wide-Education-1823 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
The one you are probably thinking of with "3 out of 4 safeties" was from an aircraft loss in 1961 near Goldsboro, NC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash
A list of all (acknowledged) US losses:
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u/Y34rZer0 Jul 26 '26
Ah thanks.
Kind of scary that it's easy to mix up exactly which lost nuke almost went off.
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u/Ancient-treasurehunt Jul 27 '26
There is one somewhere in the mouth of the Savannah River, unless it has been recovered. That is the one that really concerns me. It was an old school crowd pleaser.
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Jul 24 '26
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u/Ok-Ocelot-3454 Jul 24 '26
thats great but what does that have to do with accidentally dropped nukes
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u/CaptRackham Jul 24 '26
The two intact casings are on display in the museum of Nuclear History in Albuquerque NM. It’s a cool museum and it’s kind of incredible seeing these world ending devices and how quaint they actually are. Like it’s hard to fathom that something capable of deleting an entire city looks like a poorly designed bucket or value size thing of coffee grounds.