PALOMARES HYDROGEN BOMBS INCIDENT

On January 17 1966 a B-52 bomber of the USAF Strategic Air Command collided with a KC-135 tanker during mid-air refuelling at 31,000 feet over the Mediterranean sea, off the coast of Spain. The KC-135 was completely destroyed when its load of fuel ignited, killing four crew. The B-52 broke apart, killing all but four of her crew. Survivors were Major Larry Messinger (pilot), Captain Charles Wendorf (aircraft commander), Michael Rooney (copilot) and Captain Ivan Buchanan (radar navigator).^[1] Of the four hydrogen bombs, probably of the Mk28 type^[2], that it carried, three were found on land, near the small fishing village of Palomares, part of Cuevas del Almanzora, Almeria, in East Andalusia (Spain). The fourth, which fell into the Mediterranean Sea, was recovered eighty days later.

Contents

Contamination

The fourth bomb

Simó Orts settlement

Recent events

Political consequences

See also

References

External links

Contamination

The conventional explosive of two of the bombs which fell on land detonated, causing contamination with uranium and plutonium of 2 square kilometres of land. 1,750 tons of contaminated material were excavated and sent for disposal at the Savannah River Plant in South Carolina, USA.

To defuse alarm of contamination, the Spanish minister for information and tourism Manuel Fraga and the US ambassador Angie P. Duke swam on a nearby beach in front of press^[3].
There were actually two swims, first the ambassador and some companions at Mojácar (a resort 15 km away) and a second one with Duke and Fraga at the Quitapellejos beach in Palomares.

The fourth bomb

After a long search conducted by the US Navy, the fourth bomb was located by the DSV ''Alvin'' on March 17th. The bomb was brought to the surface by USS ''Petrel'' (ASR-14). While serving on the salvage ship USS ''Hoist'' (ARS-40) during recovery operations, Navy diver Carl Brashear had his leg crushed in a deck accident. His story was the inspiration for the 2000 Cuba Gooding, Jr. film ''Men of Honor''.

Simó Orts settlement

The search for the fourth bomb was carried out by means of a novel mathematical method, Bayesian search theory, led by Dr John Craven. This method assigns probabilities to individual map grid squares, then updates these as the search progresses. Initial probability input is required for the grid squares, and these probabilities made use of the fact that a local fisherman, Francisco Simó Orts, popularly known since then as "Paco el de la bomba", witnessed the bomb entering the water at a certain location. Orts was contacted by the US Air Force to assist in the search operation.
After the bomb had been located, Simó Orts appeared at the First District Federal Court building in New York City with his lawyer, Herbert Brownell, formerly Attorney General of the United States under President Dwight Eisenhower, claiming salvage rights on the recovered hydrogen bomb. According to Craven:
:"It is customary maritime law that the person who identifies the location of a ship to be salvaged has the right to a salvage award if that identification leads to a successful recovery. The amount is nominal, usually one or two percent, sometimes a bit more, of the intrinsic value to the owner of the thing salvaged. But the thing salvaged off Palomares was a hydrogen bomb, the same bomb valued by no less an authority than the Secretary of Defense at $2 billion — one percent of which is, of course, $20 million."
The Air Force settled out of court.

Recent events

In 2004, a study revealed that there was still some significant contamination present in certain areas, and the Spanish government subsequently expropriated some plots of land which would have been slated for agriculture use or housing construction otherwise^[4]. In early October, 2006, the Spanish and United States government agreed to decontaminate the remaining areas and share the workload and costs, which are hitherto unknown as it first needs to be determined to what extent leaching of the plutonium has occurred in the 40 years since the incident.
On October 11, 2006, Reuters reported that higher than normal levels of radiation were detected in snails and other wildlife in the region, indicating there may still be dangerous amounts of radioactive material underground. The discovery occurred during an investigation being carried out by Spain's energy research agency CIEMAT and the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S. and Spain have agreed to share the cost of the initial investigation, set to begin in November, but according to a U.S. embassy spokesman in Spain responsibility for clean up costs is yet to be agreed upon.

Political consequences

Four days after the accident, the Spanish government stated that "''the Palomares incident was evidence of the dangers created by [NATO's] use of the Gibraltar airstrip''", announcing that NATO aircraft would no longer be permitted to fly over Spanish territory
either to or from Gibraltar.^[5].
Palomares and another accident involving nuclear bombers two years later near Thule Air Base, in Greenland, led the U.S. Department of Defense to announce that it would be "re-examining the military need" for continuing the so-called ''Airborne Alert Indoctrinal Training Program''.^[6].

See also

★ Broken Arrow

★ List of military nuclear accidents

★ ''Aluminaut''
★ a DSV which helped search for 4th bomb

★ ''Alvin (DSV-2)''
★ a DSV which helped search and located 4th bomb

References

1. Ron Hayes, "H-bomb incident crippled pilot's career", ''Palm Beach Post'', January 17, 2007
2. America's Lost H-Bomb: Palomares, Spain, 1966, Randall C. Maydew, , , Sunflower University Press, , ISBN 978-0897452144
3. No-Do Spanish newsreel of the visit.
4. La maldición de Palomares José Bejarano
5. Spain bans overflying by NATO
6. U.S. Reviews Need for H-Bomb Alert John W. Finney


★ One of Our H-Bombs is Missing, Flora Lewis, , , Bantam, , ISBN 978-0553264838

★ The Silent War, John Piña Craven, , , Simon and Schuster, , ISBN 978-0684872131

External links

★ n-tv: Atomkatastrophe von 1966 - USA und Spanien entseuchen. Web posted and retrieved 2006-OCT-8.