The incident caused the US for the first time to drop the nuclear bomb

“Broken arrow” is the term used by the US military to refer to incidents related to nuclear weapons, including launching, fire, wrong detonation and stolen or loss of this type of weapon.

The incident of “broken arrow” happened at least 32 times in history, for the first time nearly midnight on February 13, 1950, ie 75 years ago. At that time, the B-36B long-range bomber of the No. 7 heavy bombing delegation under the US strategic Air Force Command led by Captain Harold Barry took off from the Eielson Air Base, Alaska, carrying with him. The Mark 4 nuclear bomb contains 2,300 kg of TNT explosives and the amount of uranium radioactive material has not been disclosed to perform the task of training combat situations.

The hypothetical bombing is the city of San Francisco in California, simulating an equivalent urban size of the Soviet Union and China, two US rivals during the Cold War.

At that time, B-36B was the most modern aircraft of the strategic air force, and was the first continental bombardment of the US Air Force. But right after taking off, the B-36B immediately had a problem. The first is the tape began to form outside the fuselage when it goes into the bad weather.

To maintain the necessary height, the crew had to increase the engine capacity. About 6 hours after the training mission begins, the three engines of the aircraft are overloaded, suddenly caught fire while at an altitude of about 3,700 meters, forcing the crew to turn off these engines.

The plane must then fly with three piston Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major. The B-36B form has not been installed with 4 additional jet-bin-bin-bin jet engine as in the future configuration.

Although the remaining three engines have been transferred to emergency mode, that is, operating with a greater capacity than usual in a short time, the B-36B aircraft still takes the height. After determining that the B-36B could not continue flying, the crew decided to quit the bombing.

“We lost the height very quickly, at more than 150 meters a minute and I asked the radar operator to show the direction to be able to fly to the sea. 2,700 m when coming to the sea, “Captain Barry said when reporting to the US Air Force Investigation Commission.

According to the American Air Force’s process at that time, the crew first had to open the door of the compartment, drop the Mark 4 bomb from an altitude of about 2,400 meters. The auxiliary pilot activated the bomb drop switch, but nothing happened. It was not until the second time that the door of the weapon was opened.

At this stage, the US free falling nuclear bomb was designed to be able to install the fission core when the aircraft was flying, the measure to prevent necessary for the first -generation strategic weapons inherent. Hide risks when operating. Only when there is a direct permission of the US president, will the muscle bombardment be taken off with the pre -installed fission core in the bomb.

The Mark 4 bomb fell straight down to the Pacific, at the location of the town of Bella Bella, located on the northern coast of the province of British Columbia of Canada about 90 km northwest.

The crew members said they installed the bomb to activate at an altitude of about 1,400 meters, creating a dazzling flash, followed by a loud sound and shockwave. The explosion is caused by TNT explosives inside the bomb, because the fission core has been removed and replaced with a training core of the same volume.

If inside the bomb is still the core of the fertilizer, the destructive power of the explosion can be up to 31 kiloton, which is twice as much as the “Little Boy” nuclear bomb dropped to Hiroshima city of Japan in 1945, causing about 140,000 He was killed.

“The radar operator then navigate to bring the aircraft back to the mainland, while the engineer provides emergency power to the aircraft to maintain the height. We arrived at the mainland, the plane was only about 1,500 meters away from the ground. So I signaled the alarm and ordered everyone to leave the plane, “Barry said.

The captain then adjusted the plane to fly southwest to crash into the sea. All 17 people in the crew have parachuted on the Canadian Princess Royal island area.

US officials have conducted a large -scale rescue campaign to try to save the crew and recover the sensitive equipment from the bomber. A total of more than 40 US and Canada aircraft have been mobilized to participate in the campaign.

A search was conducted in the southwest of the position where the Airborne Astronauts, but did not see any traces of the plane. The plane was then thought to have plunged into the sea.

5 crew members have never been found. They seemed to have parachuted into the waters between Gil Island and Princess Royal Island. In cold conditions and no protective equipment, these people cannot survive for long. Not all crew members have an inflatable life jacket.

The body of the last B-36B was found on the Kologet mountain slopes in 1953, about 350 km from the Airborne Corps. It was only accidentally discovered while the Canadian Air Force was looking for a missing person.

Concerned that the sensitive device on the bombing body could fall into the Soviet Union, the US Air Force sent a rescue team but could not approach the falling plane. Two more groups were then transferred and finally in 1954, a team that destroyed the project reached the scene, recovered or destroyed sensitive parts on the plane.

One of the five missing crew members is Captain Theodore Schreier, a nuclear weapon expert. Some information that Schreier may have stayed on the plane rather than skydiving to try to bring the aircraft back to Alaska. This also raises the conspiracy theory that the bomb is still on the bomber at the time it falls.

However, all evidence pointed out that the crew successfully installed the bomb, released it and witnessed it exploding on the water. The recent investigation at the scene of the plane crash showed the same thing, because there was no trace on the bomb hook that the bullet was still on the plane when it crashed.

As the scene of the first “broken arrow” incident, the venue for the aircraft in the following years was often visited by the investigator. The booty hunter has also taken most of what is left of the bomber to make artifacts.