B-52 2017 and 1966

Briedas briedas*!

Ne briedas.

U.S. Air Force B-52 bomber flies during the annual recurring multinational, maritime-focused NATO exercise BALTOPS 2017 near Ventspils, Latvia June 6, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

Ne briedas:

The day America dropped 4 nuclear bombs on Spain... but the disaster, 50 years ago, has been forgotten by all but its surviving victims 

• On January 16 1966, a U.S. B-52 Stratofortress took off from Seymour Johnson Air Force base in North Carolina 
• Bombers were continually flown on 24-hour missions across the Atlantic, to provide the States' nuclear capability 
• It was a routine mission for the crew but then disaster struck over Palomares, Andalucia, as the aircraft refuelled
• Four hydrogen bombs plummeted to earth at horrific speeds, which would have killed millions had they exploded 

Disaster: The B-52 bomber from the Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina, had been on global patrol over Europe loaded with four hydrogen bombs when it collided with a tanker in mid-air

Because of the length of the mission, the B-52 had to be refuelled in the air four times.

Just before 10.30 am on January 17, the planes made their rendezvous. With the two aircraft flying at nearly 500 mph, the refuelling procedure was tricky, but the crews were experienced. At the time, Wendorf was taking a break and the B-52 was being flown by Major Larry G. Messinger, one of the two co-pilots.

The operation involved lining up the bomber’s receiving receptacle with a fuel boom being trailed by the KC-135. The tanker’s boom operator noticed that the B-52 was approaching a little fast.

‘Watch your enclosure,’ the operator calmly told the crew of the B-52 by way of warning. If the operator thought the situation was perilous, he would have ordered the bomber to break away, but no such order came.

‘We didn’t see anything dangerous about the situation,’ Messinger recalled. ‘But all of a sudden, all hell seemed to break loose.’

Hell was the right word: the B-52 had overshot and the boom had missed the fuel nozzle in the top of the plane. Instead, the boom had smashed into the bomber with such force that its left wing was ripped off.

Fire quickly spread up the fuel-filled boom and ignited all 30,000 gallons of the tanker’s kerosene, causing it to plummet to the ground. Meanwhile, the bomber started to break up, and the crew did their best to get out of the plane using parachutes.

As for the hydrogen bombs, there was nothing that could be done. In less than two minutes, they would be crashing into the Earth at an enormous speed — potentially destroying much of the regions of 

Andalucia and Murcia.

Ruined: Despite attempts made at the time by the Americans to clean up the mess, the crash that Monday morning 50 years ago still has ramifications today

Hunt: Spanish workmen look at wreckage scattered over a hillside as they assist in the search for an atomic weapon missing in the crash of an American nuclear bomber in Palomares 

Discovery: Crewmen on board the submarine USS Petrol lash down the U.S. Hydrogen bomb, still partially wrapped in shrouds of its parachute, after its recovery from the sea

1966 Palomares B-52 crash

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Kas yra Briedas**?

Briedas reikšmė

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Liaudiskai sakant , sudas

- ka cia rodo ?
- kazkoki brieda ;D

** briedas, -a adj. žr. briedplaukis: Briedas arklys*** Tv. *** Balti**** arkliai ****