U.S. Missing Tons of Nuclear Bombs from the Cold War Era

Did you know the United States misplaced dozens of Nuclear Weapons during the Cold War? The Pentagon admits to 11, but most experts think more like 50...
Here are a few of the ones we know about...

THULE AIR BASE, GREENLAND - For 40 years, the U.S. has been searching for a nuclear device that plunged through the ice, following the crash of the B52 that carried it. The plane was deployed as part of a 24/7 mission that kept the nuclear-armed bombers circling over Thule Air Base, ready to attach Moscow over the North Pole whenever it seemed like a good idea.

When the bomber crashed in January 1968, the conventional explosives around the nuclear core detonated, scattering radioactive debris across the ice. Although the U.S. claimed that all four weapons had been destroyed, only enough material for three devices was recovered. There was also a blackened section of ice, which lead the investigating scientists to conclude that the fourth bomb had burned through the ice and now lay on the floor of the Arctic Ocean. And there, following an extensive submarine search, the corroding H-bomb lies today. It was assumed that the radiactive material would dissolve in the ocean.

The Air Force issued a statement claiming the cleanup had gone well.

PALOMARES, SPAIN 1966

UPDATE 2011: After 45 years, the U.S. Government is condidering may possibly thinking about cleaning up the contaminated areas. In February, Foreign Minister Trinidad Jiménez, announced to Spanish Senate that clearing Palomares was "a priority." He didn't say it was a High Priority, we should see progrss this century. See incident report below:

On January 17, 1966, a B52 bomber collided with KC-135 tanker aircraft off the southeast coast of Spain at 29,000 ft. They exploded in a fireball over Palomares. There were four hydrogen bombs in the hold of the B-52. One landed in tomato fields and was recovered. In two others, the conventional explosives in the device detonated, scattering plutonium dust around the impact site. At the time, 1,590 tons of contaminated material were excavated and sent for disposal at the Savannah River Plant in South Carolina. However, a 2004 study showed significant contamination still present in the area, with unusually high levels of radiation were detected in snails and other lifeforms in the area.

glowing snail

The Spanish government was forced to take over some of the affected property - especially plots committed to agriculture or development. Beginning in 2006, the U.S. and Spanish government began a study to determine how much plutonium leaching has taken place in the area - now a tourist destination - since 1966. In April 2008, CIEMAT announced they had found two trenches, totalling 2,000 cubic meters volume, where the U.S. Army had stored 2000 cubic meters of contaminated earth during the sixties, and apparently forgotten about it. The site had been slated for hotels and golf courses. The U.S. taxpayer will be paying a couple of million more to dig out some more nuke contaminated dirt.

TWO SUBS SUNK WITH NUKES ON BOARD: STILL DOWN THERE SOMEWHERE

The USS Scorpion sank about two miles deep in the Atlantic about 300 miles south of the Azores Islands. It was carrying two nuclear warheads with the Kremlin written across the nosecone. The depth of the water has prevented recovery of both the reactor and the weapons. Another couple of decades later, a Russian nuclear submarine, the Komsomolez, sank to a depth of 5500 feet in the North Atlantic, taking with it two nuclear warheads.

STILL MISSING ONE NEAR SAVANNAH, GA

On Feb. 5, 1958, bomber pilot Howard Richardson had to jettison the hydrogen bomb he was carrying after colliding with a fighter jet. The bomb disappeared in the shallow waters of Wassaw Sound, about 12 miles from Savannah, Georgia, a city of 100,000 people. The bomb has never been found.

The Air Force has said the bomb contains uranium and about 400 pounds of conventional explosives, though it lacks the plutonium capsule needed to trigger a nuclear blast. The amount of uranium was undisclosed.

NUKE IN A TREE?
HOW CAN THAT BE?

on January 24, 1961, over the town of Goldsboro, NC, a B52 exploded with two MK39 nuclear bombs on board. The first crashed into a swamp, where it remains. Today there is no sign of the incident, even though the land was extensively excavated after the crash. The military filled in the great hole and today, to all appearances, the spot reveals just another North Carolina bean field.

The other bomb parachuted safely into a tree. According to the record, five of its six fuses designed to prevent a detonation failed, with only the last one averting a nuclear explosion.

YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS UP: THE FIGHTER PLANE FELL OFF THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER!

On December 5, 1965, a fighter bomber aboard the carrier USS Ticonderoga fell off the transport elevator that lifts planes onto the flight deck. The bomber fell into the ocean and sank to a depth of about three miles, taking with it the pilot and nuclear bomb on board.

In this case, the secrecy shrouding the incident was necessary, as the U.S. government had been lying to our allies about transporting nukes through Japanese territory.

You can see how the Japanese might be overly sensitive about nuclear stuff.

For a more encyclopedic listing of nuclear screw ups, visit Map

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