Collision | |
---|---|
Date | 17 January 1966 |
Summary | Mid-air collision |
Site | Mediterranean Sea near Palomares, Almería, Spain 37°14′57″N 1°47′49″W / 37.24917°N 1.79694°W |
Total fatalities | 7 |
First aircraft | |
Type | Boeing B-52G Stratofortress |
Operator | Strategic Air Command, United States Air Force |
Registration | 58-0256 |
Flight origin | Seymour Johnson Air Force Base North Carolina, United States |
Destination | Seymour Johnson Air Force Base |
Crew | 7 |
Fatalities | 3 |
Survivors | 4 |
Second aircraft | |
Type | KC-135 Stratotanker |
Operator | United States Air Force |
Registration | 61-0273 |
Flight origin | Morón Air Base, Spain |
Destination | Morón Air Base |
Crew | 4 |
Fatalities | 4 (all) |
Survivors | 0 |
The 1966 Palomares B-52 crash, also called the Palomares incident, occurred on 17 January 1966, when a B-52G bomber of the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command collided with a KC-135 tanker during mid-air refueling at 31,000 feet (9,450 m) over the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Spain. The KC-135 was destroyed when its fuel load ignited, killing all four crew members. The B-52G broke apart, killing three of the seven crew members aboard.[1]
At the time of the accident, the B-52G was carrying four B28FI Mod 2 Y1 thermonuclear (hydrogen) bombs,[2][3][4] all of which fell to the surface. Three were found on land near the small fishing village of Palomares in the municipality of Cuevas del Almanzora, Almería, Spain. The non-nuclear explosives in two of the weapons detonated upon impact with the ground, resulting in the contamination of a 0.77-square-mile (2 km2) area with radioactive plutonium. The fourth, which fell into the Mediterranean Sea, was recovered intact after a search lasting two and a half months.[5]
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