The plane crash over Palomares (Spain) occurred on January 17, 1966, when an American B-52 strategic bomber with a thermonuclear weapon on board collided with the KC-135 tanker during refueling in flight. The disaster killed 7 people and lost four thermonuclear bombs.
Three of them were found immediately, the fourth - only after more than two months of searches.
Episode Palomares - one of those incidents as a result of which the face of our planet could change beyond recognition. More precisely, the southeastern part of the Mediterranean coast of Spain could turn into a radioactive desert.
During the Cold War, the US Air Force Strategic Aviation Command conducted Operation Chrome Dome, in which a number of strategic bombers carrying nuclear weapons were constantly in the air and ready to change course at any time and strike at predetermined targets on the territory of the USSR. Such patrolling allowed, in the event of the outbreak of war, not to waste time preparing the aircraft for departure and significantly shorten its path to the target.
On January 17, 1966, the B-52G Stratofortress bomber (serial number 58-0256, 68th bomber wing, commander of the ship Captain Charles Wendorf) took off from the Seymour-Johnson airbase (USA) for another patrol. On board the aircraft were four B28RI thermonuclear bombs (1.45 Mt). The plane was supposed to make two refueling in the air over the territory of Spain.
During the second refueling at about 10:30 local time at an altitude of 9500 m, the bomber collided with the KC-135A Stratotanker tanker aircraft (serial number 61-0273, 97th bomber wing, ship commander Major Emil Chapla) in the area the fishing village of Palomares, municipality of Cuevas del Almansora.
In the crash, all four crew members of the tanker, as well as three crew members of the bomber, were killed, the remaining four managed to eject.
A fire that broke out forced the crew of a strategic bomber to use an emergency discharge of hydrogen bombs. Four of the seven crew members of the bomber managed to leave it. After that, an explosion occurred. Due to the design features of the emergency dropping of bombs, they had to go down to the ground by parachute. But in this case, only one bomb opened the parachute.
The first bomb, whose parachute did not open, crashed into the Mediterranean Sea. Then they searched for her for three months. Another bomb, in which the parachute opened, descended into the bed of the Almansor River, not far from the coast. But the greatest danger was posed by two bombs, which crashed to the ground at a speed of more than 300 kilometers per hour. One of them is next to the house of a resident of the village of Palomares.
A day later, three lost bombs were found on the coast; the initiating charge of two of them was triggered by hitting the ground. Fortunately, opposite volumes of TNT exploded asynchronously, and instead of compressing the detonation radioactive mass, they scattered it around. The search for the fourth unfolded on the territory of 70 sq. km. After a month and a half of intense work, tons of debris were removed from under the water, but there was no bomb among them.
Thanks to the fishermen who witnessed the tragedy, on March 15, the site of the fall of the ill-fated cargo was established. The bomb was found at a depth of 777 m, above a steep bottom crevice.
At the cost of superhuman efforts, after several slips and breaks of the cables, on April 7, the bomb was raised. She lay at the bottom for 79 days 22 hours 23 minutes. After another 1 hour and 29 minutes, specialists neutralized her. It was the most expensive rescue operation at sea in the 20th century, costing $ 84 million.
There was an explosion of TNT inside one of the bombs, which did not lead to detonation and explosion of the plutonium filling.
The result of the explosion was the release of a cloud of radioactive dust into the atmosphere.
The first Spanish military at the crash site.
The crash site of B-52. Funnel formed 30 x 10 x 3 m
After the plane crash over Palomares, the United States announced that it was stopping flights of bombers with nuclear weapons on board over Spain. A few days later, the Spanish government established a formal ban on such flights.
The United States cleared the contaminated area and satisfied 536 claims for compensation, paying $ 711,000.
Another 14.5 thousand dollars was paid to a fisherman who watched the fall of a bomb in the sea.
In the same year, Spanish official Manuel Fraga Ilibarn (center) and US Ambassador Angier Beadle Duke (left) sailed in the sea to demonstrate its safety.
