1966 жылғы Паломарес апаттық соқтығысуы

Collision between a USAF B 52G and KC 135 over the Mediterranean Sea near Spain

The 1966 Palomares B 52 crash, also called the Palomares incident, occurred on 17 January 1966, when a B 52G bomber of the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command collided with a KC 135 tanker during mid air refueling at 31000 feet (9449 m) over the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Spain. The KC 135 was destroyed when its fuel load ignited, killing all four crew members. The B 52G broke apart, killing three of the seven crew members aboard. At the time of the accident, the B 52G was carrying four B28FI Mod 2 Y1 thermonuclear (hydrogen) bombs, all of which fell to the surface. Three were found on land near the small fishing village of Palomares in the municipality of Cuevas del Almanzora, Almería, Spain. The non nuclear explosives in two of the weapons detonated upon impact with the ground, resulting in the contamination of a area with radioactive plutonium. The fourth, which fell into the Mediterranean Sea, was recovered intact after a search lasting two and a half months.

The B 52G began its mission from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, carrying four B28FI Mod 2 Y1 thermonuclear bombs on a Cold War airborne alert mission named Operation Chrome Dome. The flight plan took the aircraft east across the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea towards the European borders of the Soviet Union before returning home. The lengthy flight required two mid air refuelings over Spain. The planes collided, with the nozzle of the refueling boom striking the top of the B 52 fuselage, breaking a longeron and snapping off the left wing, which resulted in an explosion that was witnessed by a second B 52 about a mile (1 mile (2 km)) away. All four men on the KC 135 and three of the seven men on the bomber were killed. Those killed in the tanker were boom operator Master Sergeant Lloyd Potolicchio, pilot Major Emil J. Chapla, co pilot Captain Paul R. Lane, and navigator Captain Leo E. Simmons. On board the bomber, navigator First Lieutenant Steven G. Montanus, electronic warfare officer First Lieutenant George J. Glessner, and gunner Technical Sergeant Ronald P. Snyder were killed. Buchanan received burns from the explosion and was unable to separate himself from his ejection seat, but he was nevertheless able to open his parachute, and he survived the impact with the ground. The other three surviving crew members landed safely several miles out to sea. In this configuration, the W28 warhead was fitted between a Mk28 Mod 3F shock absorbing nose and a Mk28 Mod 0 FISC rear end containing a parachute. The shock absorbing nose enabled the weapon to survive laydown delivery, while the parachute slowed the weapon down in retarded airburst and laydown delivery. The Mod 2 nomenclature indicates the hardened version of the weapon designed to survive laydown delivery; earlier Mod 0 and Mod 1 weapons could not survive the forces involved. The Y1 nomenclature indicates a W28 warhead with a yield of .