When a rifle disappears, it can cause catastrophe, not to mention nuclear weapons. Yet the US military has misplaced the ‘doomsday’ equipment seven times.
1. In 1956: B-47 disappeared with two nuclear warheads
Aircraft B-47. Photo: US Air Force According to Business Insider, the loss of the first nuclear weapon by the US military is also one of the most mysterious. On March 10, 1956, a B-47 Stratojet strategic bomber carrying two nuclear warheads took off from MacDill Air Base, Florida to Morocco. As planned, it was given aerial refueling twice. However, this strafe disappeared, no second refueling. The international team of experts was unable to find any trace of the B-47, whether it be debris, weapons or crew. In the end, the US military decided to stop searching. 2. In 1958: The plane was damaged, bombed into the sea On May 2, 1958, B-47 bombers with nuclear weapons left Florida to participate in drills for mocking a Soviet city and dealing with enemy interceptors. . In the sky off Georgia state, a B-47 accidentally collided with an interceptor and suffered certain damage. The interceptor pilot jumps out, while the B-47 pilot wants to land with the bomb but cannot. They bombed the ocean near Tyree Island and landed safely. Because engineers changed plutonium to lead for training purposes, the missing bomb had a subcritical uranium-235 mass and could not detonate the nucleus. 3. 1961: Two nuclear bombs almost turn North Carolina into a “gulf”. Aircraft B-52. Photo: AP On January 24, 1961, a B-2 aircraft carrying two Mark 39 bombs was attacked by a storm and both bombs dropped. Each of these is 253 times more powerful than the Little Boy that the US threw at Hiroshima, Japan. The pilot, a survivor of the accident, promptly warned the US Air Force about this dreadful incident. The first bomb was found in a parachute, suspended in a tree, nose pointed straight to the ground. It went through 6 out of 7 steps needed to explode. Fortunately, its safety was in place and the Mark 39 landed safely. “Now you will have a very large North Carolina Gulf area if that bomb goes off,” said Jack Revelle, who is in charge of locating and disarming. While the other bomb’s safety switch did not return to the correct position, no one could understand why it did not explode, saving tens of thousands of lives. 4. 1965: The unfortunate plane crashed into the sea On December 5, 1965, a US Navy A-4 Skyhawk bomber was moving aboard the USS Ticonderoga to prepare for the exercise when an incident occurred. It deviates from the tow ladder with a pre-loaded pilot and a B43 nuclear weapon. The plane quickly submerged 5km below sea level. The status of this weapon has yet to be determined. The pressure at that depth would have been strong enough to detonate the B43 bomb, when it was difficult to find its location. If the bomb was still intact, the likelihood of finding it was rare as very few ships could have dived to such depths. 5. In 1966: B-52 hit KC-135, 4 thermonuclear bombs exploded over Spain An American soldier inspects the materials after the plane crash. Photo: AP On January 17, 2016, a B-52 “flying fortress” was approaching an aircraft carrying KC-135 fuel to perform aerial refueling when a collision occurred. The incident sparked a fireball, killing the crew of KC-135 and three people on the B-52. The B-52 and four B28 thermonuclear bombs crashed into a small fishing house in Palomares, Spain. Three bombs were found in the first 24 hours after the accident. One ball landed safely while two had their conventional explosive parts detonated. The explosions ignited and dispersed the plutonium in the rockets, poisoning the air within two square kilometers. The fourth bomb seen by a fisherman fell into the sea. Despite the eyewitness accounts, it took the US Navy almost 100 days to locate and retrieve the weapon. 6. 1968: Falling the B-52, the weapon disappears under the ice Like the Palomares accident, on January 21, 1968, a crashed B-52 dropped four B28 bombs from the air. This time, it was bombed in Greenland. At least three were shattered. With most of the debris collected, investigators found they did not find any fragments of the fourth bomb. Then, they discovered a piece of ice with a black object identified the bomb’s parachute string. They speculate that in the early or secondary phase, the B28 started burning after the collision and thawed. The remnants of the bomb then plunged through the arctic waters and sank. This weapon is still missing, is said to be irrevocable. 7. 1968: The sinking of the USS Scorpion The USS Scorpion. Photo:; US Navy Nuclear attack submarine USS Scorpion was declared missing on 5/6/1968. The loss was especially difficult for the US Navy because the ship followed a Russian team just before it disappeared. At the time of her disappearance, Scorpion was carrying two Mark 45 anti-submarine torpedoes (ASTOR). The debris was not found until four months later. The Scorpion remains on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean at a depth of 3,000 meters. The cause of the ship sinking has not been determined. Its torpedo compartment appears to be intact with two nuclear torpedoes in place. Retrieving torpedoes will be extremely difficult. Therefore, the US Navy will need to monitor radiation levels in the area. So far, there has been no sign of leakage from the submarine’s torpedoes or reactors.
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