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In Error, B-52 Flew Over U.S. With Nuclear-Armed Missiles
Washington Post ^
| September 6, 2007
Posted on 09/06/2007 1:18:32 PM PDT by starlifter
An Air Force B-52 bomber flew across the central United States last week with six cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads that were mistakenly attached to the airplane's wing, defense officials said yesterday.
The Stratofortress bomber, based at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, was transporting a dozen Advanced Cruise Missiles to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana on Aug. 30. But crews inadvertently loaded half of them with nuclear warheads attached.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
TOPICS: Government; US: Louisiana; US: North Dakota
KEYWORDS: 15hrs; 3officers; 5nukes; agm129; b52; nuclearweapons; search; usaf; yesterday
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Makes you wonder...I know the USAF PAO was reading his talking points, but when you think about them, they are indescribably stupid: "...a departure from exacting standards..." sounds like a paperwork mistake.
How can you mistakenly draw six weapons from storage, transport them to the flight line, load them on an airplane, fly them to a different base, then let them sit for 10 hours? All told, I would guess they were unccounted for for at least 15 hours. Four-star heads should roll for this one.
To: starlifter
To: starlifter
I don’t have a military background but I can’t help but wonder how it could happen. I’m assuming the nuclear ordinance is stored separately and under heavy guard.
3
posted on
09/06/2007 1:22:24 PM PDT
by
cripplecreek
(Greed is NOT a conservative ideal.)
To: starlifter
I’m suspicious. If it happened, why was it leaked to the press? Sounds like notification to Ahmadinejad that American nukes are on the move.
But then. . . I’m paranoid.
4
posted on
09/06/2007 1:22:24 PM PDT
by
tennteacher
(Duncan Hunter '08)
To: starlifter
Where’s General Buck Turgidson when we need him?
5
posted on
09/06/2007 1:23:43 PM PDT
by
Rummyfan
(Iraq: it's not about Iraq anymore, it's about the USA!)
To: starlifter
Good thing they were ferrying them to another base, and not dropping them in Iraq.
No one needs to answer this, but I wonder is these cruise missiles are usually stored with special weapons. If they are in a separate magazine, then it's harder to understand the mistake.
6
posted on
09/06/2007 1:24:46 PM PDT
by
NYFriend
To: tennteacher
Im suspicious. If it happened, why was it leaked to the press? Sounds like notification to Ahmadinejad that American nukes are on the move. But then. . . Im paranoid.
I wondered exactly the same thing when I heard about this earlier today.
And I'm not particularly paranoid.
7
posted on
09/06/2007 1:24:51 PM PDT
by
Allegra
(Turning Vanity Threads Into New Socks Threads at Every Opportunity)
To: tennteacher
I am like you....I can’t see this being a mistake....maybe there is something up that is being kept very, very quiet....
8
posted on
09/06/2007 1:25:27 PM PDT
by
cherry
To: starlifter
Well, it sounds like the pilots took just as good of care of them as the regular ones. Nothing happened, thankfully. I would expect that they have already made sure this won’t happen again. I don’t want the media using this opportunity to bash our military.
9
posted on
09/06/2007 1:25:33 PM PDT
by
CindyDawg
To: NYFriend
Good thing they were ferrying them to another base, and not dropping them in Iraq. Iraq??? Why on earth would they do that?
10
posted on
09/06/2007 1:26:18 PM PDT
by
Allegra
(Turning Vanity Threads Into New Socks Threads at Every Opportunity)
To: tennteacher
To: starlifter
How can you mistakenly draw six weapons from storage, transport them to the flight line, load them on an airplane, fly them to a different base, then let them sit for 10 hours? All told, I would guess they were unccounted for for at least 15 hours. A possible mix-up with ALCM trainers...thought the B52 was headed to the load barn...?
To: Allegra
Iraq??? Why on earth would they do that?
That's where the biggest concentration of Iranian troops are...
13
posted on
09/06/2007 1:30:14 PM PDT
by
SpinnerWebb
(Islam... if ya can't join 'em, beat 'em.)
To: starlifter
They were never out of U.S. control.
14
posted on
09/06/2007 1:31:46 PM PDT
by
Yo-Yo
(USAF, TAC, 12th AF, 366 TFW, 366 MG, 366 CRS, Mtn Home AFB, 1978-81)
To: starlifter
While stationed at Minot I met Major Fugazi who was a Radar Navigator who manned the defensive weapons on a B-52. He had the distinct honor of having survived a B-52 shoot down. The war games actions were ocurring over Pennsylvania and the F-86 that was chasing them had drawn into missile range. The fighter pilot selected Safe on the Safe-Arm switch and when directed pulled the trigger!
The Safe-Arm switch had been repaired and the wires were soldered backwards. The Quality control failed to note the error. The Sidewinder worked perfectly and Gino's B-52 crashed in a swampy area in Pennsylvania. The four nucs in the bomb bay were recovered but....Oops are easy to make, even with nucs.
Four of six crew members survived. The nucs were recovered and the whole thing was minimally covered by the press. Whoever leaked this info should be provided with a nice condo at Leavenworth for the next 20 years!
15
posted on
09/06/2007 1:32:02 PM PDT
by
Young Werther
(Julius Caesar--Quae Cum Ita Sunt, (Since these things are so))
To: SpinnerWebb
That's where the biggest concentration of Iranian troops are... It's also where the biggest concentration of U.S. troops are as well as thousands of other Americans. I have enough faith left in our government to believe that they would not do that.
16
posted on
09/06/2007 1:36:45 PM PDT
by
Allegra
(Turning Vanity Threads Into New Socks Threads at Every Opportunity)
To: starlifter
17
posted on
09/06/2007 1:42:09 PM PDT
by
freekitty
(May the eagles long fly over our beautiful and free American sky.)
To: starlifter
“How can you mistakenly draw six weapons from storage, transport them to the flight line, load them on an airplane, fly them to a different base, then let them sit for 10 hours? All told, I would guess they were unccounted for for at least 15 hours. Four-star heads should roll for this one.”
I am going to have agree with you on that. Wonder what they were actually doing?
18
posted on
09/06/2007 1:43:19 PM PDT
by
freekitty
(May the eagles long fly over our beautiful and free American sky.)
To: Yo-Yo; starlifter
So what if they had nukes aboard. Ya think all those B-52s that I used to see at Mather AFB were empty? How about all those Minutemen missiles underground throughout Montana?
It’s OK that we have live nukes isn’t it?
Thanks Yo-Yo for that great Slim Pickens pic. Now was that movie, Dr. Strangelove or Failsafe? I forget.
19
posted on
09/06/2007 1:46:59 PM PDT
by
386wt
(Be free and don't die!)
Comment #20 Removed by Moderator
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