A bit OT, USAF mistakenly loaded Nuclear weapons on a B-52! Massive screw up! | Forums

[Sergio_101]

Unless you have been there you can not begin to understand how
big a screw up this is. It's a massive phuck up.

The security and "fail safe" systems in place make this impossible.

But it happened!

Somehow live nuclear weapons got loaded on a B-52H and flown across country.

WOW!

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/05/loose.nukes/index.html

Litteraly a hundred people had to have screwed up simutaniusly.

USAF security surrounding nuclear warheads and materials
is so severe that..... this is unimaginable.

And, no, I will not even discuss any details of my training
on how to bevaive on and around allegedly
nuke armed
aircraft.
Even 30+ years later it's best not discussed.
But.....

Heads will roll BIG TIME.

Sergio

[ZiegDrakor]

I couldnt help but chuckle at the fact that one of my buddies is Missiles shop up in Minot...

[ploughman]

That's so career ending it's not funny.

[ViktorViktor]

As they used to say,

'Why not Minot ?'

[RamsteinUSA]

I worked with B52's in SAC and they only loaded Nuke weapons in secured areas. Not on the regular pad. The Nuke were labled Inert for practice. If they were real they did not have the Inert Stencil painted on them. The crews practiced loading these about 3x per month. These exercises are named Claxons. Only those with the proper 'Secret' security clearance can get into these gated secured areas. The B52's then taxi around the area 1 time with the weapons and fuel loaded. The weapons are then unloaded.

While with TAC in Europe I did also see tactical nuke warheads on fighters. These wer e on the 'Hotpad'. These aircraft were launched often and could start and launch in a 5 mintuue window. The aircraft used explosive starter cannisters to spin up the engine without using the portable turbine compressors. The aircraft were launched when over border incursion happened ont he East-West German Border area of Europe. This was a long time ago. Things have changed.

But, The B52 loading procedures probably are the same. It took hundreds of people to enable the Nukes to be loaded and the aircraft to move.

[SeaFireLIV]

I think if we knew the true scope of screw-ups with nukes we`d be asking for them to be banned. i`m surprised we haven`t blown ourselves to pieces yet by some accident.

Humans should never have invented such devastating equipment that keeps us all constantly 5 minutes away from instant destruction.

[Heliopause]

Well mistakes happen...
A couple of days ago in a Dutch newspaper: according to the "Rheinische Post" (German newspaper); on may 2nd 1984 an British atom bomb rolled of a truck on the airfield of Brüggen near the town of Elmpt. During rain the "not so securred" bomb slipped of. 6 military where punished at the time.

[Rammjaeger]

Originally posted by Sergio_101:
Somehow live nuclear weapons got loaded on a B-52H and flown across country.

Wasn't this a regular occurrence throughout the Cold War? The article says the warheads weren't armed.

[Breeze147]

As an USAF Security Police veteran, I find this virtually impossible to believe. As someone above said, at least a hundred people would have to simultaneously phuck up. Maybe more.

If this really happened, exactly how far up his *** would the pilot's head have to be?

I say B.S.!!!

[carguy_]

Well, maybe they had a purpose in transporting the weapons.Maybe the information somehow go out of the closed human circle and spread.A major ####up in procedures would be a good excuse for the press.