B-47 Nuclear Accidents 1956



During the decade 1950 – 1960, US strategic thinking and the capabilities and limitations of our military arsenal drove the establishment of new bases on foreign soil, a development that offered new problems, as the risks of accidents offered unique diplomatic challenges. And accidents did happen, including two involving nuclear weapons at foreign bases in 1956.

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21 thoughts on “B-47 Nuclear Accidents 1956”

  1. My favourite was the Mars Bluff, claiming to be "delivering" a nuke to Scotland whilst also on the very same flight doing a "mock" strike on London… Nobody "drills" live… The threats posed by US WMD's in Europe is not just from incompetence, plenty of malice involved too, this is why half of the World thinks we are "Allies" and is confused by the "Western" World today…

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  2. I am 81 now but I vividly remember my father (who flew B-25 bombers during WWII) training as aircraft commander on the new and secrecy shrouded B-47. This was in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1956. There were so many accidents
    At the Air Force Base there. The local paper reported on them all. For a while the B-47 was prone simply explode while flying around the base and surrounding countryside. I remember three such explosions. My father would not talk about it but We all could see the stress on his face. I was very relieved when he transitioned to the B-52. I didn’t learn until years later that he was hauling live nukes on every flight.

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  3. Several years ago I went and bought a pair of Kipsch La Scala speakers from a retired school teacher in northern California. He told me his USAF pilot father was killed in a B47 flight test accident in the mid 1950's just after he was born

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  4. In the B-47 Mediterranean loss the land explosion reported in the news was some 200 miles east of the likely area – and was dismissed as not being related. The coordinates were determined to be somewhere between the last reported position (36 00 N / 5 25 W) and the tanker location (36 00 N / 4 50 W). This is over the Med sea just east of Gibraltar, is where the search was concentrated, and is where the B-47 most likely went down.

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  5. A couple of my favorite topics all in one video. B-47, nukes and overseas deployments.
    I have recently had the pleasure of meeting a retired AF Col. He shared some of his escapades as a pilot. He flew the “recips” B-25 and B-29. He could have stopped there and I would have been in awe. But he continued and told me he flew the B-52 and B-47. He said that by far the B-47 was his favorite aircraft.
    I wish I could record his tales and turn it into a firsthand oral history. There aren’t many men around like this gentleman.

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  6. I cannot understand the French. Despite people from all over the world spilling their blood en masse on French soil twice in one century to help them hold their independence, their national identity seems to be based around being difficult. Perhaps I need a different perspective. I would like to visit there one day for my own education.

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  7. On a more positive note, the B-47 bomber is considered the grandfather of all modern commercial jets. The Dash-80 had not been thought of yet when the B-47 was already flying. RIP to those lost air crews.

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  8. My Dad was the crew chief for the Squadron commander's F-100 Super Sabre from 1956 to 1958 at RAF Wethersfield. Whilst B-47 were at Ruislip and Lakenheath, Dad's squadron (77th Fighter Bomber) were also equipped with nuclear weapons. In the fall.of 1956, Dad took me to the flightline so I could see a nuclear pod mounted beneath the fuselage of each F-100. Each plane was guarded by an AP with a rifle and guard dog. All were on alert due to the Suez crisis and Hungarian Revolution during that time.
    Truly scary times.

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  9. A few viewers have mentioned the comment suggesting that "part of Eastern England would have become a desert." The General making the comment was likely not aware at the time that the devices had no nuclear material in them. I included the comment to demonstrate the level of concern at the time. In any case, 16,000 pounds of TNT would have made quite a boom had the conventional explosives on the two bombs detonated in the conflagration.

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  10. Damn straight! You are totally correct sir history does deserve to be remembered and told too imo. Because even though it may seem cliché i believe it is 100% true. What they say those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. So no matter how bad, wrong or painful it maybe. We all should learn about it that way as many people as possible. Can glean as much information from it as possible. And this is why my hat goes off to people like you that are honest and just tell the know facts about the history at hand. And not holding water for one side or the other. Which ultimately ends up skewing the way the story is being told Because the teller is bias you know. Anyway thanks for being real and sharing a well done video.

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