1956 B-47 disappearance
A B-47E Stratojet similar to the incident aircraft.
Accident
Date10 March 1956
SummaryMissing, status unknown
SiteMediterranean Sea
Aircraft typeBoeing B-47E Stratojet
OperatorUnited States Air Force
Registration52-534
Flight originMacDill Air Force Base, Florida, United States
DestinationBen Guerir Air Base, Morocco
Passengers0
Crew3
FatalitiesUnknown
InjuriesUnknown
SurvivorsUnknown

On March 10, 1956, a B-47 Stratojet carrying nuclear weapons material disappeared over the Mediterranean Sea.

Flight

A Boeing B-47 Stratojet, call-sign Inkspot 59, (306th Bombardment Wing/369th Bomb Squadron) took off from MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, in the United States for a non-stop flight to Ben Guerir Air Base, Morocco,[1] and completed the first of two planned aerial refuelings without incident.[2]

After descending through solid cloud cover 90 miles southwest of Oran, to begin the second refueling at 14,000 feet (4,300 m), B-47E serial number 52-534,[1] ceased communication with the KC-97 tanker aircraft.[3]

The unarmed aircraft was transporting two capsules of nuclear weapons material in carrying cases; a nuclear detonation was not possible.[4]

Aftermath

Location of Ben Guerir Air Base; Saïdia; Oran

A French news agency reported that the plane had exploded in the air Northeast of Saïdia, in French Morocco in the same general location of its last known position. After an exhaustive search, no remains of the device could be located, and the exact place of its disappearance was never established.[3][5]

The crew was declared dead:[6]

  • Captain Robert H. Hodgin, 31, aircraft commander
  • Captain Gordon M. Insley, 32, observer
  • 2nd Lt. Ronald L. Kurtz, 22, pilot

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Aircraft Serial Number Search
  2. ↑ Aviation Safety Network
  3. 1 2 "Check-Six.com – Broken Arrow B-47". Archived from the original on 9 June 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2009.
  4. ↑ "DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE – NARRATIVE SUMMARIES OF ACCIDENTS INVOLVING U.S. NUCLEAR WEAPONS 1950–1980" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 January 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
  5. ↑ Aerospaceweb.org – Broken Arrow Nuclear Weapon Accidents
  6. ↑ what happened to 52-534


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.