12th Dec 1957

[antarmike]

U.S. Air Force B-52D-75-BO, 56-0597, crashes on takeoff at Fairchild AFB near Spokane, Washington. All crew members are killed except the tail gunner. The incident is caused by trim motors that were hooked up backwards. The aircraft climbed straight up, stalled, fell over backwards and nosed straight down. Among the dead crewmen was the commanding officer of the SAC bomb wing to which the aircraft was assigned. Wreckage was strewn over a radius of more than 1,000 feet in a stubble field about a mile west of the airbase. Although the Air Force has never indicated whether or not nuclear weapons were aboard the aircraft, this crash was cited in a February 1991 EPA report as having involved nuclear materials

[AlienFTM]

If you look carefully at the ground you can see the aeroplane's shadow. Hang on ... isn't that shadow a B17???

[Jack]

I remember the B52's during the 1st Gulf war. They were based at Fairford and we were farming at Cirencester. We where in their direct flight path - the loudest god forsaken noise you have ever heard. The used to fly over so low that it would scare the hell out of you.

 

We used to count them out and back in and we used to write messages in the snow - have it on video somewhere.

[antarmike]

The Americans don't have a very good record with Nuclear armed planes...

8th December 1964- United States Air Force B-58 (Convair Hustler), 60-1116, of the 305th Bomb Wing, taxiing for take-off on icy taxiway at Bunker Hill AFB, Indiana, is blown off the pavement by exhaust of another departing B-58, strikes concrete manhole box adjacent to the runway, landing gear collapses, burns. Navigator killed in failed ejection, two other crew okay. Four B43 nuclear bombs and either a W39 or W53 warhead are on board the weapons pod, but no explosion takes place and contamination is limited to crash site.