B-52 crash at Thule Air Base

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B-52 crash at Thule Air Base
Summary
Date January 21, 1968
Type In-flight fire
Site near Thule Air Force Base,
Greenland
Crew 7
Fatalities 1
Aircraft type B-52G Stratofortress
Operator United States Air Force
Tail number 58-0188

On January 21, 1968, a US Air Force B-52 bomber carrying four hydrogen bombs crashed into the frozen ocean off the coast of Greenland near Thule Air Base. An escalating fire had forced the seven crew members to parachute from their aircraft. The nuclear payload ruptured upon impact with the ice, resulting in widespread radioactive contamination.

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[edit] Crash

At 16:45 local time (Atlantic Standard Time) on January 21, 1968, a United States Air Force B-52G Stratofortress crashed onto the frozen ocean approximately 10 kilometers west of Thule Air Force Base in Greenland as a result of a raging onboard fire. The bomber had been conducting a routine Airborne Alert flight over Baffin Bay, but was interrupted by a cabin fire. The pilot tried to divert to the nearest air field, which was Thule Air Base. As the situation worsened the crew was forced to parachute onto the ice. Five crew members landed safely, one went missing for 24 hours, and one died. The aircraft exploded on impact with the ice, rupturing one or more of the hydrogen bombs it was carrying, and spilling radioactive material over a large area. The extreme heat from the fire melted the ice sheet, causing wreckage and munitions to sink to the ocean floor.

[edit] Aftermath

The incident was subject of much controversy in the following 30 years. The clean-up efforts resulted in law suits filed by relief workers, many of whom were affected by the radiation. In total more than 9,000 cubic meters of contaminated ice was shipped to the US for processing. Moreover, the incident was seen as a breach of Denmark's nuclear free zone policy and caused some diplomatic friction.

[edit] Pinnacle - Empty Quiver rumor

It has been rumored that only three of the four weapons were accounted for, hence a Pinnacle - Empty Quiver incident. Allegedly a bomb carrying the serial number '78252' was never recovered and remains on the ocean floor off Greenland. The 2007 book "Broken Arrow- The Declassified History of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Accidents" states that all four Mark 28FI bombs underwent high explosive detonation with bomb components recovered over 2 miles (3218m) from the point of impact; parts for three complete secondaries were initially recovered on the frozen sea ice and an underwater search for weapon components led to the recovery of additional bomb debris on the bottom of North Star Bay (rather than a bomb remaining missing). In the 'summer' of 1968, the USS Eastwind, a Coast Guard icebreaker, carried the miniature research submarine Alvin into North star Bay. Its undoubted purpose in being there was to search for lost nuclear weapons and/or nuclear debris.

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