Summary 6 nuclear weapons were lost and not recovered, generating different outcomes, including explosions and contaminants. Broken Arrows, such as the 1959 Hardinsburg B-52 crash, represent nuclear incidents without starting wars. Cleanup efforts after 1966 Palomares and 1968 Thule Air Base accidents ensured minimal radioactive material contamination.
While no nuclear weapons have been used in anger since World War Two, at least six nuclear weapons known about have been lost by the United States and never recovered (a number likely much higher, given the lack of Soviet/Russian transparency). Since 1950, there have been 32 nuclear weapon incidents known as "Broken Arrows" (many with nuclear-carrying B-52s). According to atomicarchive.com, "A Broken Arrow is defined as an unexpected event involving nuclear weapons that result in the accidental launching, firing, detonating, theft, or loss of the weapon."
1 1959 Hardinsburg B-52 crash B-52F collided mid-air with two nuclear weapons
Date:
15 October 1959
Nuclear bomb type:
3.8-megaton Mark 39 nuclear bombs
Outcome:
Both nukes recovered
In 1959, a US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress with the tail number 57-0036 collided with a KC-135 Stratotanker during mid-air refueling. All four crew on the tanker were killed, along with four of the eight crew on the B-52. The B-52 was from the 4228th Strategic Wing based at Columbus Air Force Base. The B-52 broke up mid-air while flying at 32,000 feet over Hardinsburg, Kentucky.
Photo: Staff Sgt. Jocelyn Rich | Wikimedia Commons
The B-52's two unarmed nuclear weapons were recovered intact, although one had been partially burned and damaged. Fortunately, there was no dispersion of nuclear material or other contamination over the site.
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1 2 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash A B-52 broke up mid-air while carrying two nuclear bombs
Date:
24 January 1961
Nuclear bomb type:
3.8 megaton Mark 39 nuclear bombs
Outcome:
Bombs mostly recovered except for one portion
In 1961, a B-52 suffered structural failure in the right wing and broke up mid-air. This resulted in the aircraft's two 3.8 megaton Mark 39 nuclear bombers separating from the B-52 and plummeting down to earth. One bomb parachute deployed, and the bomb received little impact damage.
Photo: US Department of Defense
The other bomb broke up upon impact, but no explosion occurred. A portion of one weapon (containing uranium) couldn't be recovered despite excavation in the waterlogged farmland to a depth of 50 feet. There is no detectable rotation in the area. Five of the crew successfully ejected or bailed out and survived. One ejected but died, and another two died in the crash.
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4 3 1961 Yuba City B-52 crash A B-52 crashed near Yuba City after running out of fuel
Date:
14 March 1961
Nuclear bomb type:
3.8-megaton Mark 39 Mod 2 bombs
Outcome:
Bombs recovered
Again, in 1961, a B-52 bomber apparently suffered an uncontrolled decompression, forcing it to descend to 10,000 feet. This caused its fuel consumption to increase, and it failed to rendezvous with the tanker in time and subsequently ran out of fuel. The crew ejected safely, and the gliding zombie B-52 then crashed 15 miles west of Yuba City in California.
Photo: Trevor MacInnis | Wikimedia Commons
While the nuclear weapons were torn away from the aircraft upon impact, the bombs fortunately did not explode as the bomb's safety features worked. One fireman did perish (with more wounded) in a road accident while responding to the crash. There was no nuclear contamination from the incident.
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4 1964 Savage Mountain B-52 crash A winter storm tore off the vertical stabilizer causing the B-52 to crash with two bombs
Date:
13 January 1964
Nuclear bomb type:
B53-0 Y1 nuclear bombs
Outcome:
Bombs recovered mostly intact
In January 1964, a B-52D was flying from Westover Air Force Base in Massachusetts to its home base at Turner Air Force Base in Georgia. The B-52's vertical stabilizer broke off during winter storm turbulence causing the aircraft to crash. Of the five crew on the bomber, only the pilot and co-pilot survived (two more crew ejected but died of exposure due to the freezing conditions after landing).
Photo: Senior Airman Tristan Biese | 2nd Bomb Wing | US Air Force
The crash site was in an isolated and mountainous, wooded area with new snow soon covering the wreckage. The two bombs were found "relatively intact in the middle of the wreckage" and recovered.
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1 5 1966 Palomares B-52 crash A B-52G carrying four nuclear bombs collided mid-air over Spain
Date:
17 January 1966
Nuclear bomb type:
B28FI Mod 2 Y1 thermonuclear (hydrogen) bombs
Outcome:
bombs recovered, two bombs partially exploded, causing slight contamination
For the second time, a B-52 carrying nuclear bombs collided with a KC-135 tanker, this time over Palomares in Spain. Only four of the eleven crew members of the two aircraft survived. The B-52G bomber was carrying four nuclear weapons. Of these, one was recovered on the ground, and another was recovered at sea after extensive searching lasting two and a half months.
Photo: US Air Force
The other two bombs' high non-nuclear explosive materials exploded on impact and released some radioactive materials. The US then undertook a major cleanup operation, removing around 1,400 tons of slightly contaminated soil to the US for storage. Area contaminated was around 0.77 square miles.
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3 6 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash A cabin fire forced a B-52's crew to eject and it then crashed into sea ice
Date:
21 January 1968
Nuclear bomb type:
B28FI thermonuclear bombs
Outcome:
Conventional explosion, recovery of radioactive materials
Greenland's Thule Air Base was an important US airbase in the Arctic during the Cold War. In 1968 a B-52 bomber suffered a cabin fire that forced the crew to eject and abandon the stricken aircraft before they could land it at the Thule Air Base. Six ejected safely, but one lacking an ejection seat was killed while attempting to bail out.
Photo: US Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Christopher Boitz
The B-52 then crashed into the sea ice in North Star Bay, Greenland seven miles southwest of Thule AB. The bomb's conventional explosives detonated on impact and caused the nuclear payload to rupture and disperse over the area. After a four-month cleanup operation, normal readings were sampled in the area.