Alvin finds lost hydrogen bomb
MAR 17, 2015
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.030921
On this day in 1966 the US Navy’s deep-sea vehicle Alvin located a hydrogen bomb on the seafloor off the coast of Palomares, Spain. The bomb had been lost following the mid-air collision between a US Air Force B-52 bomber and a KC-135 tanker, which was refueling the bomber at the time. The tanker was completely destroyed; the bomber broke up. Of the four hydrogen bombs carried by the B-52, three fell on land; two caused widespread plutonium contamination. The underwater bomb was recovered on 7 April.
Date in History: 17 March 1966
© 2015 American Institute of Physics
