Some time back there was a thread about the H-bomb lost off of Tybee Island, GA. The media seems to "rediscover" this incident every few years and there will be several articles published before dropping back off of the screen. Anyway, as I was working on my free-fall nuke site I thought I would put together a quick rundown of known Broken Arrow incidents, or more properly "Pinnacle Broken Arrow". Broken Arrow is best described as the loss, destrucion, or damage to a nuclear warhead which does not create the danger of nuclear war. For the moment I did not not include loss, or damage in ICBM explosions and the loss of a of two nuke tipped Mk 45 torpedoes aboard the USS Scorpion.

Broken Arrow Incidents

A/C Date Location Weapon Event Fate of weapon(s)
B-29 April 11, 1950 Kirtland AFB Mk 4 Controlled flight into terrain Destroyed
B-29 August 5, 1950 Travis AFB Crashed on landing Destroyed
B-50 July 13, 1950 Stall crash Destroyed
B-50 December 10, 1950 Bomb jettisoned Destroyed
B-36 February 13, 1950 Pacific Bomb jettisoned Destroyed
B-36 May 22, 1957 Kirtland AFB Mk 17 Accidental jettison Destroyed
B-47 March 10, 1956 Mediterranean 2 X ? Aircraft disappeared over the Med Lost
B-47 November 11, 1957 Accident on takeoff recovered damaged
B-47 January 31, 1958 Crash on takeoff Destroyed
B-47 February 2, 1958 Tybee Beach, GA Weapon jettisoned following a midair collison. Lost
B-47 March 11, 1958 Florence, SC Accidental jettison Destroyed
B-47 November 4, 1958 Crash on takeoff Destroyed
B-47 November 26, 1958 Fire while a/c was standing armed alert Destroyed
B-52 October 15, 1959 Hardinsberg, KY 2 X ? Collision with tanker Both recovered, one damaged
B-52 January 24, 1961 Goldsboro, NC 2 X ? Broke up inflight One recovered
B-52 March 14, 1961 Uba City, CA 2 X ? Fuel starvation Both recovered
B-52 January 13, 1964 Cumberland, MD 2 X ? Broke up inflight Both recovered
B-52 January 17, 1966 Palomares, Spain 4 X Mk28-RI Collision with tanker
2 recovered,2 destroyed
B-52 January 21, 1968 Thule, Greenland 4 X Mk28-RI Crashed on landing Destroyed
B-58 December 8, 1964 Bunker Hill AFB 4 X B-43, 1 X W-39 Taxi accident Destroyed
F-100 January 18, 1959 PACAF Mk 7 Caught Fire during fueling Destroyed
A-4 December 5, 1965 Pacific 1 X ? Aircraft rolled from deck of carrier Lost


These are all fairly well documented. Makes one wonder what incidents the USSR had.

The list was added to this site while I was adding details and correcting the inevitable errors.

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Nukes/Nukes.html



CB

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Desrt_Wings.html

... I want to report some broken links. I am looking for Mk43 references for my current project (Monogram B-58) and two of your pictures are not accessable. Any chance you could fix these? Thanks.

DWA

Thanks for pointing those out, thought I had checked them but must have missed a few.. I have been looking at code for the past two days and am ready to go blind! I also added some content.

CB

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Desrt_Wings.html

... is great for showing the way stenciling was applied.

DWA

Or does your list just end with the only published data?

At least one incident each with the B-50, B-36 and B-47 was due to mechanical problems that forced the crew to jettison a weapon. The B-52 has been far more reliable and I could find no reference on Broken Arrow with FB-111s, B-1s, or B-2s. Another reason was that as ICBMs came online there was not as much of a need to stand airborne alert ("Chrome Dome"), or even fly with nukes aboard. Specialized training "shapes" were also introduced for use in loading and flying. On the other hand there have been some Bent Spear incidents like the recent one where six nuke warheads flew cross country without anyone being aware of their absence from the stockpile. I have a hard time imagining that loss of control happening with SAC. In short I would not be surprised if there have been zero Broken Arrow incidents in since 1968.

One thing I have forgotten to research is the damage or destrucion of nukes aboard crashed transport aircraft.

CB

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Desrt_Wings.html

I was an SP at Kincheloe AFB MI in 1973-4 (can't remember the date) when we had an alert and high speed taxi of the alert B-52s. First one down the runway lost it's gear and began to burn with nukes on board. I was in Combat Control Center when we notified SAC HQ of the incident and a broken arrow was initiated. Don't know the status of the weapons, but the fire was out very quickly, so they were probably recovered by MMS. It might be in the history books somewhere.

Always glad to meet up with another U.P. survivor!

I was the copilot on Stan/Eval crew S-02 when the incident you're remembering took place, if my timing is in sync with yours. It happened to one of the regular squadron crews, but didn't sort out as a Broken Arrow when all the dust settled.

Because the weapons weren't lost, destroyed, or damaged, I believe it went down as either a "Dull Sword" or "Bent Spear." The fire fighters were able to extinguish the flames well before the aircraft was significantly damaged, but because it started out as a fire involving a loaded aircraft, it was initially handled as a "Broken Arrow."

Been back to the Kinch lately? My wife and passed through during the summer of 2006, and what used to be the base is now a sprawling complex prison complex of several Michigan prisons of various security levels. There's a Wal-Mart in the Soo, but the old portion of the downtown where Montgomery Ward's and the Sears catalog store are long gone. There's a small museum on the same road as Frank and Jim's Pizza (still there!) that has base memorabilia in display.

FrankB
Kincheloe, Jan 73-Sep 77 (last bomber guy to leave...I think)

You're memory's probably better than mine. I got off duty before everything settled. You're right about being a UP survivor. I went back in 1984 to visit, and saw the remnants of the base. Haven't been back since. I retired as a Captain in he Fayetteville Police force in 04, and am now a professor of criminal justice at a small college. I still have an Uncle living in Rudyard. Do need to go back again once more. Do you remember Antlers in the Soo? Would love one of their burgers.

We were known to haul various nukes/nuke components in our C-124C Douglas "Racers". One day circa 1967 while mid-Atlantic, laden with white goodies, we were musing what the monetary loss to the USA would be if we had to ditch our 20 year-old, oil-smeared, prop-swinging Shakey in The Pond. We guesstimated that this gran-mal Broken Arrow would be equivalent to the Enterprise sinking........

Phil

One on July 28, 1957 when two nukes were deep sixed off of Delaware when a Shakey had engine issues. The second was a fire that consumed a C-124 at Wrigh-Patt Oct 11, 1965.

CB

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Desrt_Wings.html

Hi Phil,

Were all the special weapons you saw white? Any other type of markings, such as cradle markings or stenciling? Most published pictures are of test weapons or maybe even loading dummies and probably with non-standard markings, or at least show very few markings if any at all. I'm particularly interested in the Mk41 25MT monster to go in a 1/144 B-52F conversion I'm slowly working on.

I know I'm asking you to really rack your brain cells to remember colors and markings of cargo (very special cargo), but it never hurts to ask!

Cheers,
Don
Ex-SAC Peacekeeper Missileer Puke
400th SMS, 90th BMW

SAC: To err is human, to forgive is not SAC's policy.

We also carried a load of "birdcages" one time, that is, Plutonium (I assume) in individual lead cylinders, surrounded by protective 3/4" tubing sections (thus, the term "birdcage").

Phil

A couple of years ago. Of course they figured it out once they landed in Barksdale.

Clifford,

Your site is truely excellent and good info to have available. You list several B-47 take off crashes in 1958. I recall two take off crashes of B-47s from March AFB, one in the evening which crashed about a mile north of the end of the runway and another which crashed during a MITO in about 1962. The evening crash I cannot remember the year but it might have been one of those listed in 1958. The 1962 (maybe 63) crash was an alert bird so should have been armed with nukes. I also recall two other 'broken arrow' incidents where I guess there were problems or accidents involved in the ground transportation of weapons and did not involve aircraft themselves. I agree it would be interesting to one day know of all the incidents with the USSR, China, France and the UK.

Keep up the good work.

Wayne

Just wanted to expand on the Fairfield-Suisun AFB crash. general Travis was in this aircraft. The Aircraft experienced
Multiple engine problems and was trying to return to RWY 21 but could not maintain flying speed with 2 engines. She was carrying Nuclear shapes to Guam.
This was in response to the Korean war.
General Travis was in this aircraft and was killed. The Travis AFB museum website has a great article on this.
Just wanted to expand a little
Scott

great site on a subject not often talked about

I do have a modeling question, related to it

has any company molded a MK-7 in 1/72?

I know that Belcher has it available in 1/48, complete with the cart, but can't recall any in 1/72,,,sure would look great on a Banshee or Fury, or Skyraider

Unfortunately all versions are pretty well overlooked. There are the Fat Man and Little Boy in the Academy B-29 kits, B-43s with the Italeri B-58 kit and somebody (Italeri? Hasegawa?) has a B-61. Other than those I can think of none in 72nd. And I agree, a Mk-7 is needed!

CB

http://www.angelfire.com/dc/jinxx1/Desrt_Wings.html

Also, Ozmods have resin B-61s and AGM-69s and I believe the Trumpeter RA-5C has B-43s and Mk-57s.

And upcoming, Spectre Resin (Wolfpak Decals) have announced a line of Special Weapon models. The first three are:

MK-17 for the B-36
MK-39 for the B-47 and B-52
B28RI for the B-47 and B-52


Cheers,

Haydn

I need to get a B-58 model, then, for my "USN Collection", lol,,,,it has so many side trips to USAF already, one more plane to get bombs won't hurt (and 4 J-79's for engine dio's)

also, just an FYI, the Trumpeter Vigilante has what is labeled as MK-28 and MK-43 (2 of each), but, they are really MK-28 and MK-57's (very easy to tell they are -57's when you compare the size and shape to the -28's)

oh well, back to my plan of getting the Belcher MK-7 and cart to use as patterns for my own 1/72 scratch building

thanks, guys