1956 USAF Boeing B-47 disappearance

Cold War disappearance of a nuclear-equipped Boeing B-47 August 2026 October 2019 1956 B-47 disappearance Missing aircraft B47E in flight.jpg A B-47E Stratojet similar to the missing aircraft 10 March 1956 Disappearance over water; presumed accident Mediterranean Sea Boeing B-47E Stratojet United States Air Force 52-534 MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, United States Ben Guerir Air Base, Morocco 3 Unknown Unknown 3 (presumed) The 1956 B-47 disappearance was a Cold War aviation incident in which a United States Air Force Boeing B-47 Stratojet vanished over the Mediterranean Sea on 10 March 1956 while en route from MacDill Air Force Base in Florida to Ben Guerir Air Base in Morocco. The aircraft, carrying three crew members, failed to make contact with a KC-97 tanker during a scheduled aerial refuelling. No wreckage or remains were recovered, and the crew were later declared dead. At the time of the disappearance, the bomber was transporting two sealed capsules containing nuclear pits, but was not carrying any complete nuclear weapons, making a nuclear detonation impossible. The accident is listed in U.S. Department of Defense summaries as a “Broken Arrow”.Narrative Summaries of Accidents Involving U.S. Nuclear Weapons 1950–1980 U.S. Department of Defense https://web.archive.org/web/20140113030431/http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/operation_and_plans/NuclearChemicalBiologicalMatters/21.pdf http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/operation_and_plans/NuclearChemicalBiologicalMatters/21.pdf 13 January 2014 20 November 2011Gregory Shaun https://archive.org/details/hiddencostofdete0000greg The Hidden Cost of Deterrence: Nuclear Weapons Accidents Brassey's 1990 978-0-08037-335-5 London 149 registration Flight The B-47E, serial number 52-534 and call sign Inkspot 59, assigned to the 369th Bomb Squadron of the 306th Bombardment Wing was on a scheduled non-stop deployment flight from MacDill Air Force Base to Ben Guerir Air Base as part of routine Strategic Air Command bomber rotations to North Africa.USAF Serial Number Search Results http://cgibin.rcn.com/jeremy.k/cgi-bin/gzUsafSearch.pl?target=&content=B-47E 2025-11-25 cgibin.rcn.com The B-47 successfully completed the first of two scheduled aerial refueling over the Mediterranean. For the second refueling, the bomber descended through thick cloud to 14000 ft m approximately 90 mi km southwest of Oran. Visibility was poor.Center for Defense Information 1981 U.S. Nuclear Weapons Accidents: Danger in Our Midst https://www.nukestrat.com/us/CDI_BrokenArrowMonitor1981.pdf Defense Monitor X 5 Upon entering the cloud layer, all radio contact with the accompanying KC-97 tanker abruptly ceased and the aircraft failed to arrive at the refueling point.Harro Ranter B-47 disappearance https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=60616 Aviation Safety Network No further signals were received, and the bomber was declared missing. The aircraft was transporting two sealed nuclear pits inside their protective containers. These components cannot produce a nuclear yield unless integrated into a complete weapon system, requiring high explosives, not present on the flight.U.S. Nuclear Weapons: Historical Safety Records FAS https://fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/weapon/accident.htm 2025-01-10 Aftermath 350px|thumb|The location of Ben Guerir Air Base, Saïdia and Oran Aircraft last known position was over/near the Mediterranean Sea, north of Marsa Ben M'Hidi (Port-Say), an Algerian coastal village near the Moroccan frontier. A French press report suggested an in-flight explosion northeast of Saïdia, although no evidence or debris was found. Weather conditions at the time included extensive cloud cover, which hampered visual search efforts.Check-Six.com – Broken Arrow B-47 http://www.check-six.com/lib/Famous_Missing/Broken_Arrow_B47.htm live https://web.archive.org/web/20090609075024/http://www.check-six.com/lib/Famous_Missing/Broken_Arrow_B47.htm 9 June 2009 11 March 2009Aerospaceweb.org – Broken Arrow incidents http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/weapons/q0268.shtml Despite widespread air and sea searches, no wreckage, bodies or capsule containers were ever recovered and the location of the aircraft’s disappearance could not be determined. The crew were later declared dead:What Happened to 52-534? https://web.archive.org/web/20140727220553/http://chipandtracy.com/pg/news/view/sj-history-mystery/what-happened-to-52-534 27 July 2014 http://chipandtracy.com/pg/news/view/sj-history-mystery/what-happened-to-52-534 Captain Robert H. Hodgin, 31, aircraft commander Captain Gordon M. Insley, 32, observer Second Lieutenant Ronald L. Kurtz, 22, pilot The incident remains one of several Cold War cases in which U.S. military aircraft carrying nuclear components were lost at sea with no recovery. See also List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash 1966 Palomares incident References Category:1950s missing person cases Category:Accidents and incidents involving United States Air Force aircraft Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1956 Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in the Mediterranean Sea Category:Aviation accidents and incidents involving nuclear weapons Category:March 1956 in Europe Category:March 1956 in the United States Category:Missing aircraft Category:People lost at sea