Posted on 07/15/2019 8:33:10 AM PDT by Rebelbase
In 1986, the Albuquerque Journal received documents from an FOIA request. To their surprise, the Air Force had kept a nuclear accident secret for 29 years. The story of how a B-36 bomber dropped the biggest bomb the United States ever made on New Mexico deserves to be remembered.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0gRHgwSGhE
More centrally located on base now. ;)
The B-29 looks like a baby nuzzling up to nurse from its Momma.
Great footage in that movie of the flyover of the ballpark...
I was a pilot in 6th Bomb wing at Roswell and got out of Air Force September 1957. I was not aware of this incident. We were scraping the B 36 going to B52s in late 1957.
Look up Goldsboro, N.C. nuclear incident. Full bomb almost (only one trigger didn’t activate), and it’s still buried out there.
Aliens? UFOs? hussein’s birth certificate?
Shhhh. My dad was Chief of Atomic Weapons Material from 63-67 on Sandia as it was called then. He was an O-6 Navy and swore my in to the Navy in 67.
That B-36 main wheel was only on the initial aircraft. It turned out to be too big and exerted too much pressure on the tarmac and runway. It was quickly replaced with a four wheel bogie.
Well, shit happens. I was born in Albuquerque,
and believe me, it wouldn’t have been missed.
What happened to the B 47’s?
The 47 was a medium bomber, and lacked the payload and range of the big boys. Cool plane though.
“I thought broken arrow meant a position had been overrun.”
(6) P&W R-4360 Wasp Majors: 28 cylinders, 4 rows.
Goodyear F2G used them.
Many of the bomber specifications actually predated Pearl Harbor. Even then, drawing board to air field took several or many years.
B-47: classic elegance.
The B-45 was actually a good-looking pre-swept design too. It is featured in War of the Worlds.
My father (an aircraft designer post-WWII) told me once: In that era, if it looked good, it probably flew well.
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