1966 Palomares B-52 Crash - Weapons Recovery

Weapons Recovery

The aircraft and hydrogen bombs fell to earth near the fishing village of Palomares. This settlement is part of Cuevas del Almanzora municipality, in the Almeria province of Andalucía, Spain. Three of the weapons were located on land within 24 hours of the accident—the conventional explosives in two had exploded on impact, spreading contaminated material, while a third was found relatively intact in a riverbed. The fourth weapon could not be found despite an intensive search of the area—the only part that was recovered was the parachute tail plate, leading searchers to postulate that the weapon's parachute had deployed, and that the wind had carried it out to sea.

During early stages of recovery after the accident the 66th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, flying RF-101C Voodoos out of RAF Upper Heyford near Oxford, England, provided aerial photographs to assist in the recovery operation and to document the crash site.

On 22 January, the Air Force contacted the U.S. Navy for assistance. The Navy convened a Technical Advisory Group (TAG), Chaired by Rear Admiral L. V. Swanson with Dr. John P. Craven and Captain Willard F. Searle, Jr. to identify resources and skilled personnel that needed to be moved to Spain.

The search for the fourth bomb was carried out by means of a novel mathematical method, Bayesian search theory, led by Dr. Craven. This method assigns probabilities to individual map grid squares, then updates these as the search progresses. Initial probability input is required for the grid squares, and these probabilities made use of the fact that a local fisherman, Francisco Simó Orts, popularly known since then as "Paco el de la bomba" ("Bomb Paco" or "Bomb Frankie"), witnessed the bomb entering the water at a certain location. Orts was contacted by the U.S. Air Force to assist in the search operation.

The United States Navy assembled the following ships in response to Air Force request for assistance:

• USS Kiowa (ATF-72), a Navajo class fleet tug arrived 27 January, first on-scene
• USS Macdonough (DLG-8) flagship through January
• USS Nimble (AM-459)
• USS Pinnacle (MSO-462) found UQS-1 SONAR contact where Francisco Simo-Orts saw the bomb fall
• USS Rival (MSO-468) mother ship for PC3B submersible
• USS Sagacity (MSO-469) confirmed Pinnacles SONAR contact
• USS Skill (MSO-471)
• USS Nespelen (AOG-55)
• USS Fort Snelling (LSD-30) served as a support ship for the submersibles
• USS Boston (CAG-1) Flagship 30 Jan until 15 March
• USS Albany (CG-10) flagship 15 March through April
• USS Plymouth Rock (LSD-29) transported Aluminaut and Alvin to the search site
• USS Petrel (ASR-14)
• USS Tringa (ASR-16)
• USS Charles R. Ware (DD-865)
• USS Hoist (ARS-40)
• USS Lindenwald (LSD-6) transported Aluminaut to Miami, Florida after Palomares incident
• USNS Mizar (AGOR-11)
• USNS Dutton (T-AGS-22)
• DSV Alvin
• Aluminaut
• PC-3B (Ocean Systems, Inc. submersible capable of searching to 600 feet)
• Deep Jeep (a Navy submersible capable of diving to 2000 feet)
• CURV (Cable-Controlled Underwater Recovery Vehicle)
• USS Luiseno (ATF-156) removed aircraft wreck debris from the search site
• USS Everglades (AD-24) removed aircraft wreck debris from the search site
• USNS Lt. George W. G. Boyce (T-AK-251) removed radioactive contaminated soil from Spain.

The recovery operation was led by Supervisor of Salvage, Capt Searle. Hoist, Petrel and Tringa brought 150 qualified divers who searched to 120 feet with compressed air, to 210 feet with mixed gas, and to 350 feet (110 m) with hard-hat rigs; but the bomb lay in an uncharted area of the Rio Almanzora canyon on a 70-degree slope at a depth of 2,550 feet (780 m). After a search that continued for 80 days following the crash, the bomb was located by the DSV Alvin on 17 March, but was dropped and temporarily lost when the Navy attempted to bring it to the surface.

Alvin located the bomb again on 2 April, this time at a depth of 2,900 feet (880 m). On 7 April, an unmanned torpedo recovery vehicle, CURV-III, became entangled in the weapon's parachute while attempting to attach a line to it. A decision was made to raise CURV and the weapon together to a depth of 100 feet (30 m), where divers attached cables to them. The bomb was brought to the surface by USS Petrel (ASR-14). The USS Cascade (AD-16) was diverted from its Naples destination and stayed on scene until recovery and took the bomb back to America.

Once the bomb was located, Simó Orts appeared at the First District Federal Court in New York City with his lawyer, Herbert Brownell, formerly Attorney General of the United States under President Dwight D. Eisenhower, claiming salvage rights on the recovered hydrogen bomb. According to Craven:

"It is customary maritime law that the person who identifies the location of a ship to be salved has the right to a salvage award if that identification leads to a successful recovery. The amount is nominal, usually 1 or 2 percent, sometimes a bit more, of the intrinsic value to the owner of the thing salved. But the thing salved off Palomares was a hydrogen bomb, the same bomb valued by no less an authority than the Secretary of Defense at $2 billion—each percent of which is, of course, $20 million."

The Air Force settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.