Air Force explains nuclear weapons incident

Minot Daily News ^ | 20 October 2007 | Eloise Ogden

[Racehorse]

Airmen not following the proper procedures that they were trained in, along with a lack of leadership and supervision, caused the incident in late August where nuclear weapons were loaded on a B-52 bomber at Minot Air Force Base and were flown to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana, said Maj. Gen. Richard Newton, assistant deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements.

“Their lack of attention in detail is where the failure occurred,” Newton said at a news conference at the Pentagon Friday.

. . .

He said the incident began with the failure of airmen to conduct a required examination before the weapons were loaded on the B-52.

. . .

He said Air Combat Command officials made the decision to relieve from duty three colonels – Minot AFB’s Bomb Wing commander and Maintenance Group commander, and the Operation Group commander at Barksdale. Barksdale’s Operation Group commander was Col. Todd Westhauser.

Newton declined to go into details about others involved in the incident and any actions against them, but he said it was fewer than 100 people.

. . .

“This was an unacceptable error,” Newton said. He said the B-52 involved was from Barksdale. He said a lack of attention to detail and personnel not following checklist procedures caused the incident.

[HawaiianGecko]

  As I recall it was actually an AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) program, and I assume it became a DOE program when the AEC lost its commission in 1974 (swallowed by the creation of DOE). 

I just have a real hard time understanding how on earth 65 guys at Minot suddenly became unreliable.  Sixty five guys at my shop, which was a rather large nuke shop at the time, would have been the whole shop, 100% of us.  We lost one person in four years to HRP and it didn't take very long for them to find him.  Of course we never let him do anything other than paint objects that didn't move and salute objects that did, but still,  65 guys at one time is eye-popping.

[Wilum]

Air Combat Command knew nothing about the Strategic Mission.It was previously known as the Tactical Air Command.

Excuse me, TAC controlled and manned Victor alert pads all over the world during the Cold War with fighters such as , Europe's Nuke workhorse the F-100D Super Saber, F-105, and F-4 aircraft. I know, I loaded them. And I still think this story stinks.

Wilum

[RightWingConspirator]

This incident reminds me of an occurrence back in the late 1960's while I was assigned to the Directorate of Munitions in Hq PACAF. The Director believed he was a superb judge of men and had developed his set of "fair-haired boys", most notable only for their obsequiousness and sycophancy, and, in the opinions of their peers, not necessarily the best qualified for the command positions he awarded them. One of the "fair-haired boys" was given command of a special weapons munitions maintenance squadron (MMS) at a base in the western Pacific in 1970. About six months later the unit failed an IG inspection. Our Director, seeing that one of his boys was about to be taken down, set up a Munitions Assistance and Standardization Team (MAST) headed by an LC from his staff, to travel to the unit and "help them back to health", as the Director put it. Rather than the unit getting back to health, within two days of the MAST's departure to the unit the MMS commander and all of his key officers were fired and shipped out, but this was kept all hush-hush by our Director.

During a TDY trip many months later the LC told me the story of what had happened at the MMS. The evening after his MAST had arrived at the unit the MMS commander threw a big party for them. The next day they had scheduled a weapons maintenance procedure that required disassembling a weapon and replacing a limited-life component. At noon the E-9 on the team came into the weapons bay and found the weapon open and one 1st Lt alone with it. The E-9 asked the 1st Lt where the other member of his two-man team was, since the Two-Man Policy required that no weapon was ever to be left in the custody of only one person. The 1st Lt blithely replied that he had let everyone off to go lunch because he didn't think they needed to follow the Two-Man Policy all of the time. The E-9 picked up the phone and called a seven-high, and a minute later the 1st Lt was spread-eagled, face-down on the floor of the weapons bay with a security policeman's M-16 stuck in his back. The PACAF and CINCPAC command posts were flashed, the wing commander immediately relieved the MMS commander, the MAST leader was appointed temporary commander, and the weapon was reassembled and secured.

[HawaiianGecko]

  WILUM just reminded me it was AFR 35-99.  Not HRP-99, so it was an Air Force regulation. My memory isn't what it used to be, must have been the smell of MEK in the morning.  I still use KimWipes for coffee filters from time to time.

Wilum, I certainly remember what a "zipper" is, but I don't recall any jargon for a 'jammer' unless you're speaking of the penetration aids. (although I only remember calling them PenAids for short)

[RightWingConspirator]

Jammers are vehicles used for loading bombs and missiles on aircraft, for example, the MJ-1AlB Aerial Stores Lift Truck, known as the ‘Ijammer.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

I found this, bet you’ll enjoy it if you don’t already know of it..........

Nuclear Weapons Technician Association

Updated: October 15, 2007 12:39

http://www.usafnukes.com/index.html

[Sword_Svalbardt]

When the 5X7 card says do this...do this without ANY deviation.

[HawaiianGecko]

  Well, I have been told by a couple of friends in the field that a Jammer is the lift truck BB stackers used.  I still don't recall them, but that's not unusual since my entire career was with MMIIs and MMIIIs and our lift truck was this:

[HawaiianGecko]

  I found this, bet you’ll enjoy it if you don’t already know of it..........  Yeah, I'm very aware of it and thanks to you I just found out my dues are over due.  :-) thanks.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

AFI 36-2104, Nuclear Weapons Personnel Reliability Program, 29 May 2003

That seems to be the current designation for the reg......it seems to not be published on the web even though it apparently once was, @
http://afpubs.hq.af.mil/pubfiles/af/36/afi36-2104/afi36-2104.pdf

I wanted to read it, but I’d best stop looking before some guys in suits and shades show up on my porch, LOL

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

“After it was loaded with the missiles, the B-52 sat overnight at Minot,”
~~~
FWIW :

This looks like a late in the day/after dark? hurry-up
that started this mess...

[G Larry]

See my post #40.

If ANY of those mandatory steps had been taken, this would never have happened.
So the answer to the question “how?”, is NONE of those steps were taken.
It starts with #7.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

AFI 36-2104 30 JUNE 1994

SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE

http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/usaf/36-2104.htm

[tarheelswamprat]

I just have a real hard time understanding how on earth 65 guys at Minot suddenly became unreliable. ...

The official storyline being reported simply doesn't pass the smell test. In fact, as another poster noted, the very fact that a storyline other than the traditional "the Dept. can neither confirm nor deny" type of press release has been floated is itself pungently redolent.

I have no idea what really happened, but I'm also certain this official storyline ain't it...

[Eaker]

Pity sake.

If my employers issued orders to me to show up at our office building with pistols strapped, my AR-15 slung on my back and shotgun in my hands I would QUESTION them.

Being told to arm a plane with nukes should have raised a red flag.

Something is weird here.

[OldMissileer]

“Sky King, Sky King. This is Hickum, this is Hickum. Do not answer, do not answer. Break, Break”.

How about this one: “For Alert Force, For Alert Force, KLAXON, KLAXON KLAXON...Message follows.”

[Wilum]

Sorry HG, a jammer is the MJ-1 bomblift truck.

[OldMissileer]

“I’ll give you a hint, it had to do with a Jammer.”

You wern’t the guy who dropped a “Silver Bullet” off the jammer onto the tarmac? :-) (not accusing, just kidding).

[Wilum]

.....our lift truck was this:

Nice wheels, but can't do a wheelie with it.....oh darn, I let it out!

BB stacker was 461X0; bomb dump. I was flight line, 462x0 and loaded the full gamut besides Nukes.

Were you 463?

[OldMissileer]

“Excuse me, TAC controlled and manned Victor alert pads all over the world during the Cold War with fighters such as , Europe’s Nuke workhorse the F-100D Super Saber, F-105, and F-4 aircraft. I know, I loaded them.”

They were considered Tactical and the weapons were the Tactical Mods. Not that they were not important, they were. The Strategic mission was something different as well as the weapons or their Mods.