Boeing B-52 Stratofortress - Notable Accidents

Notable Accidents

• On 10 January 1957, a B-52 returning to Loring Air Force Base from a routine instrument training mission broke apart in midair and crashed near Morrell, New Brunswick, killing eight of the nine crew on board. Co-pilot Captain Joseph L. Church parachuted to safety. The crash was believed to have been caused by overstressing the wings and/or airframe during an exercise designed to test the pilot's reflexes. This was the fourth crash involving a B-52 in 11 months.
• On 11 February 1958, a B-52D crashed in South Dakota because of ice blocking the fuel system, leading to an uncommanded reduction in power to all eight engines. Three crew members were killed.
• On 24 January 1961, a B-52G broke up in midair and crashed after suffering a severe fuel loss, near Goldsboro, North Carolina, dropping two nuclear bombs in the process without detonation.
• On 14 March 1961, a B-52F from Mather AFB carrying two nuclear weapons experienced an uncontrolled decompression, necessitating a descent to 10,000 feet to lower the cabin altitude. Increased fuel consumption at the lower altitude and unable to rendezvous with a tanker in time, the aircraft ran out of fuel. The crew ejected safely, while the unmanned bomber crashed 15 miles (24 km) west of Yuba City, California.
• On 24 January 1963, a B-52C on a training mission out of Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, lost its vertical stabilizer due to buffeting during low-level flight, and crashed on the west side of Elephant Mountain near Greenville, Maine. Of the nine crewmen aboard, two survived the crash.
• On 30 January 1963, a B-52E of the 6th Bomb Wing from Walker Air Force Base, New Mexico, crashed in snow-covered mountains in northern New Mexico after turbulence tore off the vertical fin. The ECM operator and tail gunner were killed but at least three crew (pilot, radio operator and one other crew member) survived. Three Lockheed T-33 Shooting Stars and, later, three Douglas C-54 Skymaster transports, circled the area trying to locate survivors; the pilots reported that they saw two other survivors after the first man walked to safety.
• On 13 January 1964, a B-52D carrying two nuclear bombs suffered a structural failure in flight that caused the tail section to shear off. Four crewmen ejected successfully before the aircraft crashed near Cumberland, Maryland. Two crewmen subsequently perished on the ground because of hypothermia, while another, who was unable to eject, died in the aircraft; both weapons were recovered. This was one of several incidents caused by failure of the vertical stabilizer.
• On 17 January 1966, a fatal collision occurred between a B-52G and a KC-135 Stratotanker over Palomares, Spain. The two unexploded B-28 FI 1.45-megaton-range nuclear bombs on the B-52 were eventually recovered; the conventional explosives of two more bombs detonated on impact, with serious dispersion of both plutonium and uranium, but without triggering a nuclear explosion. After the crash, 1,400 metric tons (3,100,000 lb) of contaminated soil was sent to the United States. In 2006, an agreement was made between the U.S. and Spain to investigate and clean the pollution still remaining as a result of the accident.
• On 8 July 1967, B-52, AF Serial No. 56-0601 overran the runway on landing at Da Nang Air Base, Vietnam with the loss of five of her six crew. The aircraft had suffered an electrical malfunction that led to the flameout of two engines and was attempting to make an emergency landing.
• On 21 January 1968, a B-52G, with four nuclear bombs aboard as part of Operation Chrome Dome, crashed on the ice of the North Star Bay while attempting an emergency landing at Thule Air Base, Greenland. The resulting fire caused extensive radioactive contamination, the cleanup (Project Crested Ice) lasted until September of that year. Following closely on the Palomares incident, the cleanup costs and political consequences proved too high to risk again, so SAC ended the airborne alert program the following day.
• On 31 March 1972, B-52D, AF Serial No. 56-0625, departed McCoy Air Force Base, Florida on a routine training mission. Assigned to the 306th Bombardment Wing, the unarmed aircraft sustained multiple engine failures and engine fires on engines No.7 and No.8 shortly after takeoff. The aircraft immediately attempted to return to the base, but crashed just short of Runway 18R in a residential area of Orlando, Florida, approximately 1 mile north of McCoy AFB, destroying or damaging eight homes. The flight crew of 7 airmen and 1 civilian on the ground were killed.
• On 16 October 1984, B-52G, AF Serial No. 57-6479, clipped its wing on Hunts Mesa, an outcropping in Monument Valley, Arizona, and crashed, sending a fireball high into the air. Two of the seven crew perished in the crash.
• On 2 February 1991, B-52G Hulk 46, assigned to the 4300 Provisional Bomb Wing, Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) crashed while returning from a bombing mission in Iraq during the Persian Gulf War. The crash was eventually blamed on a catastrophic failure of the aircraft's electrical system. Three of the six crew members on board were killed.
• On 24 June 1994, B-52H Czar 52, AF Serial No. 61-0026 crashed at Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington, during practice for an airshow. All four crew members died in the accident.
• On 21 July 2008, a B-52H, Raidr 21, AF Serial No. 60-0053, deployed from Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana to Andersen Air Force Base, Guam crashed approximately 25 miles (40 km) off the coast of Guam. All six crew members were killed (five standard crew members and a flight surgeon).