Broken Arrow UK - Nuclear Bomb Accidents

[Music] in 1956 RAF Lakenheath in rural Suffolk in eastern England was a frontline United States Air Force nuclear-armed base it may surprise many people to learn that the u.s. had atomic bombs at several of his British bases ready in case war broke out with the Soviet Union at Lakenheath which is just 20 miles from the ancient university city of Cambridge and is still a u.s. airbase the unit assigned to deliver the nuclear weapons in 1956 was the 307 embodiment wing from Lincoln air force base nebraska they flew the b-47 bomber the b-47 stratojet introduced in 1951 was a long-range six engine turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at subsonic speed and high altitude to avoid enemy fighters his primary mission was striking the Soviet Union with nuclear bombs the type of nuclear bomb used at Lakenheath was the mark 6 based on the earlier mark three Fatman design this weapon having been successfully dropped on Nagasaki Japan on the 9th of August 1945 seven different variants of the mark six were produced with a production run of 1,100 weapons each bomb was five foot one inches or a hundred and fifty centimeters in diameter and ten foot eight inches or 330 centimeters long close in size to the mark three the weapons were stored in what the US Air Force called igloos were specially designed bunkers near to the runways each bomb contained at least 5,000 pounds or 2267 kilograms of high explosive as a trigger mechanism and depleted uranium 238 the nuclear capsule the fissile plutonium core was stored separately from the bomb so no accidental nuclear detonation could occur but the bombs themselves were highly dangerous due to the proximity of high explosives and depleted uranium inside the bomb casing its yield was between 120 and 150 kilotons much more powerful than the 28 kiloton fat man on the morning of the 27th of July 1956 captain Russell bowling and his three-man crew took off in their b-47 on a routine training flight the mission lasted six hours including air-to-air refueling south of London until a return to Lakenheath to practice touch-and-go landings Bowlings aircraft made three successful touch-and-go landings but the fourth attempt turned to disaster the aircraft lost control and slid off the runway crashing into a storage igloo containing not one but three mark 6 nuclear bombs the b-47 tore the igloo to pieces smashing into the bombs the aircraft then exploded showering burning fuel everywhere the aircraft's wreck came to rest with its nose just beyond the igloo Bank which actually kept the main fuel fire outside the wrecked igloo the fire was brought under control by base fire fighters but captain bowling and his crew had perished as soon as the fire was out bomb disposal officers examined the mark sixes they were fire blackened and dented in an official report one officer wrote it was a miracle that one mark 6 with exposed detonators sheared didn't go the meaning of this report was clear if the fuel fire had set off the high explosives inside one or more of the nuclear bombs the resulting explosion would have scattered depleted uranium over a wide area like a Chernobyl type incident one bomb detonating would have probably set off the other two with 15,000 pounds or 6800 kilos of high explosive taking out a considerable portion of the base as well as poisoning the surrounding area for many miles toxic dust would have been carried on the wind posing serious health risks to thousands of people in eastern England I must emphasize that there was never any risk of a thermonuclear detonation due to the plutonium cause being stored separately but the health risks of an explosion of a bomb packed with uranium were bad enough and if you think the 1956 accident was a freak one-off occurrence think again Lakenheath was the site of a second nuclear accident just five years later in January 1961 the US Air Force f-100 super sabre aircraft was sat on the runway at Lakenheath armed with a mark 28 hydrogen bomb the pilot started his engines accidentally jettisoning his undoing fuel tanks which ruptured as they struck the concrete the aviation fuel ignited flames engulfing the nuclear bomb beneath the aircraft scorching and blistering the casing the fire burned for two minutes before it was brought under control and extinguished fortunately this was before either the bombs high explosive detonated or ignited or the fire caused the warheads arming components to function fortunately nowadays the US Air Force no longer stores nuclear weapons at Lakenheath so locals can all sleep easier in their beds thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also support my channel via PayPal and patreon details in the description box below [Music]

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 275,617

Rating: 4.9190693 out of 5

Keywords: Broken Arrow UK - The Lakenheath Nuclear Accidents, Mark Felton Productions, B-47 Stratojet, F-100 Super Sabre, Lakenheath, Suffolk

Id: qhFsTc_2Tvg

Length: 6min 4sec (364 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 07 2019