1980 Damascus Titan missile explosion

The Damascus Titan missile explosion refers to an incident where the fuel in a nuclear armed missile exploded at missile launch facility Launch Complex 374-7 in Damascus, Arkansas, on September 18–19, 1980. The facility was part of the 374th Strategic Missile Squadron at the time of the explosion.

Incident

On the evening of the 18th, at about 6:30 p.m., an airman conducting maintenance on a USAF Titan-II missile at Little Rock Air Force Base's Launch Complex 374-7 in Southside (Van Buren County) just north of town, dropped a socket from a socket wrench, which fell about 80 feet (24 m) before hitting and piercing the skin on the rocket's first-stage fuel tank, causing it to leak. The area was evacuated. This socket wrench was approximately 3 feet (90 cm) long and around 25 pounds (11 kg). The socket was about 6 pounds (2.7 kg).

At about 3:00 a.m. on September 19, 1980, the hypergolic fuel exploded. The W53 warhead landed about 100 feet (30 m) from the launch complex's entry gate; its safety features operated correctly and prevented any loss of radioactive material. One Air Force airman, SrA David Livingston was killed, others seriously injured and the launch complex was destroyed.[1] The former launch complex was decommissioned, disassembled, and now stands on private land.[2]

Popular culture

A 1988 television movie, Disaster at Silo 7, is based on this event.[3]

In September 2013, Eric Schlosser published Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety.[4] It focused on the explosion, as well as other Broken Arrow incidents during the Cold War.[5][6] The New Yorker''s Louis Menand called it "excellent" and "hair-raising" and said that "Command and Control is how nonfiction should be written."[7] The book was also praised by science historian Steven Shapin in London Review of Books. It was a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for History.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Titan Missile Explosion". The Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
  2. ↑ Schlosser, Eric (2013). Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety. Penguin Press. p. 484. ISBN 978-1-59420-227-8.
  3. ↑ Disaster At Silo 7 (1988) IMDB Page
  4. ↑ Greta Johnsen. "Five Books To Read This Fall".
  5. ↑ Walter Russell Mead (2013-09-12). "Atomic Gaffes: Command and Control by Eric Schlosser". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-09-18.
  6. ↑ McKinley, James (2012-10-05). "Fast Food Nation Author Will Return With Book on Nuclear Weapons". The New York Times. Retrieved 2012-10-06.
  7. ↑ "Nukes of Hazard".
  8. ↑ "The Pulitzer Prizes | Citation". Pulitzer.org. Retrieved 2014-05-12.

Coordinates: 35°24′51″N 92°23′50″W / 35.4141°N 92.3972°W / 35.4141; -92.3972

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