[MilCom] Heads rolling on B-52 incident

Thu Sep 6 20:14:45 EDT 2007

"Accidental" would indeed be a lot easier to swallow
if it had only been ONE instead of SIX or for that
matter, any number *other* than ONE.

Been a while since I had any contact with anyone who
was in USAF and really knowledgeable on the whole
thing so if I get something wrong here, forgive me -
I'm trying to work from memory.

As one might surmise, this isn't the first time that
some sort of "incident" with a nuclear weapon has
taken place.  During the height of the Cold War, there
were a number of "incidents"....like having them
actually fall off, etc. In any case, during those
years having bombers on standing alert with nukes in
place was not just common but I think a
round-the-clock occurrence at SAC bases around the
world......and I believe also at TAC bases where
smaller strike-type aircraft has smaller nukes.  The
Navy also had its own "can of nuclear worms" aboard
aircraft carriers.  Many may recall that some nations
refused entry into their ports to certain of our naval
vessels if they carried nuclear weapons.

Anyhow, as it was explained to me, there was a HUGE
amount of checks, double-checks and checks of the
checkERS to make sure that all nuclear weapons,
wherever they might be, could be accounted for at all
times.  There were lots of good reasons for this, not
the least of which (and certainly will become an issue
in this case) was that many folks who were "neighbors"
to a SAC base were not always wild about having those
things around.

That's particularly true in cases where the aircraft
carrying them had a somewhat checkered history.  Case
in point: here in Indiana, with the 305th Bomb Wing at
Bunker Hill AFB (later Grissom AFB) (as well as its
sister unit, the 43rd Bomb Wing in Little Rock,
Arkansas) who flew the B-58 Hustler early 60's.  These
were standing alert wings, and I can pretty well be
sure that the Alert aircraft were loaded for bear and
ready to go at a moments notice.

Specifics: The B-58 was rather ahead of its time in
many ways and a number of them were lost in accidents
both in the air and on the ground.....with or without
nukes attached.  In one case that was (quite
literally) "covered up"  :-) a B-58 here at Grissom
suffered an all-too-common landing gear failure and
went off the side of the runway.  So the story goes,
the bird was buried right on the spot and covered with
a LOT of concrete and who knows what else under the
dirt and grass.  The implication of the News Articles
about it in recent years was that the thing had one or
more live nukes on it, and the reason for the
expediancy was that one or more of them was radiating
and needed to be dealt with DAMN QUICKLY.

When the base became an air reserve base and has been
looked at as a center for business activities, this
buried radiating mess evidently would have to be
cleaned up........and I haven't heard much more about
it recently.

Now - that's pretty extreme but as I read the B52
story, these missles were loaded not internally but on
the underwing pylons.  Stuff HAS been known to come
off those pylons.....consider THOSE ramifications in
or around a populated area.

SOOOOOOO - there's some anecdotal ideas about reasons
for very stringent controls and safeguards over
"aircraft carried" nuclear weapons.  What *could* have
gone wrong?  Probably all kinds of things.  Someone
could have mistyped something.  Someone could have
misunderstood orders.  And, as much as I hate to
suggest it, it *could* have been deliberate.  In any
case, the safeguards in place at multiple levels, from
mission creation through planning, to weapon
acquisition and loading, and even to the flight crew
pre-flight checkouts and inspection not to mention the
ground maintenance crew.....and NOBODY noticed what
was going on?

Something about that simply doesn't make sense.  Too
many chances to have caught the error - which is why I
thought that zapping one commander, in the absense of
a clear-cut explanation as to WHY it was "his fault",
didn't make a lot of sense to me either.

Just doesn't seem to me that ONE officer should have
been able to screw this up without help.  :-)  Now if
I was a suspicious man (who, me?  :-) ) I might have
to ask myself if it is possible that a higher-up
officer or group had something covert going on that
got out of control, and one guy is taking the fall for
it..........

That would NEEEEVVVER happen, would it....... ?????

Duane

--- Jeremy Patrick <admin2 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Without knowing the actual full picture, this firing
> could well have been the commander responsible for
> ordering nukes loaded on the flight, not just a
> scapegoat thing.  I do find it rather hard to
> believe that 6 warheads were 'accidentally' loaded. 
> Not being the person who deals with nukes I'm not
> quite sure what they look like, but I would think
> there are a fair number of distinct markings
> tell-tailing the difference.
> I don't know all the regs on flights carrying nukes,
> but if the order came down for this flight, with or
> without the knowledge of the flight crew, the were
> (hopefully) just following orders for a flight.  At
> whatever point the accident was figured out, the
> order for the nukes to be loaded may have originated
> from this commander's desk.  Given what the article
> says, this could be true, or not.  
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: "Amtrak35 at aol.com" <Amtrak35 at aol.com>
> To: milcom at mailman.qth.net
> Sent: Wednesday, September 5, 2007 1:59:13 PM
> Subject: [MilCom] Heads rolling on B-52 incident
> 
> Personally I don't see the big deal but I'm not in
> charge of Nuke inventory...
> 
> 
> AF commander fired over mishandling of nuclear
> warheads
> By PAULINE JELINEK, Associated Press 
> Posted Wednesday, September 5, 2007 at 1:09 pm
> 
> WASHINGTON — A B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with
> six nuclear warheads and 
> flown for more than three hours across several
> states last week, prompting an 
> Air Force investigation and the firing of one
> commander, Pentagon officials 
> said today.
> 
> Rep. Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed
> Services Committee, called the 
> mishandling of the weapons "deeply disturbing" and
> said the committee would 
> press the military for details.
> 
> The plane was carrying Advanced Cruise Missiles from
> Minot Air Force Base, 
> N.D, to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., on Aug. 30,
> said the officials, who spoke 
> on condition of anonymity because of a Defense
> Department policy not to 
> confirm information on nuclear weapons.
> 
> The missiles, which are being decommissioned, were
> mounted onto pylons on the 
> bomber's wings and it is unclear why the warheads
> had not been removed 
> beforehand.
> 
> The Air Combat Command has ordered a command-wide
> stand down on Sept. 14 to 
> review procedures, officials said. They said there
> was minimal risk to crews 
> and the public because of safety features designed
> into the munitions.
> 
> In addition to the munitions squadron commander who
> was relieved of his 
> duties, crews involved with the mistaken load —
> including ground crew workers — 
> have been temporarily decertified for handling
> munitions, one official said.
> 
> The investigation is expected to take several weeks.
> 
> The incident was first reported in Military Times
> newspaper.
> 
> 
> 
> 
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