Truth is Stranger than Fiction

[Matt308]

He was obviously a young kid, living at home. I remember when I had my first beer too. Full of piss and bravado, hiding behind Windows firewall makes men out of mental midgets.

[Graeme]

Somewhere around 1992 Citroen produced a TV commercial that involved a Citroen BX 19 GTI car seen flying on the back of an airliner (707). I don't know the 'storyline' of the commercial, but the article that I got these photos from spent nine pages discussing the intricacies and the difficulties involved including how to remove Hylocks from the fuselage paneling. The problem was that the 707 was leased and had to be returned in 'pristine' condition.




From Air Enthusiast Forty Two.

[Matt308]

Brilliant!!

[Glider]

Whoever thought this would be viable was way off track. Imagine the call, is it a first strike, or the mail man, do I retaliate, don't I.

In 1959 USS Barbero a Submarine with a Regulas nuclear Missile system assisted the United States Postal Service (USPS) in its search for faster, more efficient forms of mail transportation. The USPS tried their first and only delivery of "Missile Mail", though the idea of delivering mail by rocket was not new. Shortly before noon on 8 June 1959, Barbero fired a Regulus cruise missile at the Naval Auxiliary Air Station, Mayport, Florida. Twenty-two minutes later the missile struck its target; its nuclear warhead had been replaced by two official USPS mail containers.

The USPS had officially established a branch post office on Barbero and delivered some 3000 pieces of mail to it before Barbero left Norfolk, Virginia. The mail consisted entirely of commemorative postal covers addressed to President of the United States Dwight Eisenhower, other government officials, the Postmasters General of all members of the Universal Postal Union, and so on. They contained letters from United States Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield. Their postage (four cents domestic, eight cents international) had been cancelled "USS Barbero Jun 8 9.30am 1959" before the boat put to sea. In Mayport, the Regulus was opened and the mail forwarded to the Jacksonville, Florida, Post Office for further sorting and routing.

Upon witnessing the missile's landing, Summerfield stated, "This peacetime employment of a guided missile for the important and practical purpose of carrying mail, is the first known official use of missiles by any Post Office Department of any nation." Summerfield proclaimed the event to be "of historic significance to the peoples of the entire world," and predicted that "before man reaches the moon, mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to Britain, to India or Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail."

[PDKL45]

Hey all,

My first post here. I just heard a podcast dealing with this incident and had to include it in this thread. I'll try to find a link to the podcast to post here.

From what I understand, an SAC wing was deploying to Europe. In the scramble to get the wing airborne in the allotted time to go into the running for a distinguished unit citation,I believe the ground handling crew "forgot" to insert a crucial safety pin properly.

* March 11, 1958 – Florence, South Carolina, USA – Non-nuclear detonation of a nuclear bomb

* A B-47 bomber flying from Savannah, Georgia accidentally released a nuclear bomb after the bomb lock failed. The chemical explosives detonated on impact in the suburban neighborhood of Florence, South Carolina. Radioactive substances were flung across the area. Several minor injuries resulted and the house on which the bomb fell was destroyed. No radiation sickness occurred.

The strangest story, (as I recall from the podcast I heard), was the protracted legal battle the unfortunate inhabitants of the destroyed house waged with the newly formed USAF.

List of military nuclear accidents - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There's some hair-raising stuff there.

I also seem to remember a cold-war era tactical nuclear weapon (from a book I have in storage many tens of thousands of kilometers away) that may have been shoulder (or vehicle?) launched. The operators had to dig a reasonably deep trench as they were inevitably within the blast radius. I think it was a envisaged as a stay behind, last-resort kinda thing to blunt the tip of an advancing Warsaw Pact armored division.

The US nuclear arsenal of the 1970s was truly stranger than fiction...

[machine shop tom]

Here's something ya don't hear about every day:

snopes.com: Beaver Dam Letter

tom

[Matt308]

Originally Posted by machine shop tom

Here's something ya don't hear about every day:

snopes.com: Beaver Dam Letter

tom

Not sure where you are coming from Tom. Sarcasm I suspect.

[Matt308]

Originally Posted by PDKL45

Hey all,

My first post here. I just heard a podcast dealing with this incident and had to include it in this thread. I'll try to find a link to the podcast to post here.

From what I understand, an SAC wing was deploying to Europe. In the scramble to get the wing airborne in the allotted time to go into the running for a distinguished unit citation,I believe the ground handling crew "forgot" to insert a crucial safety pin properly.

* March 11, 1958 – Florence, South Carolina, USA – Non-nuclear detonation of a nuclear bomb

* A B-47 bomber flying from Savannah, Georgia accidentally released a nuclear bomb after the bomb lock failed. The chemical explosives detonated on impact in the suburban neighborhood of Florence, South Carolina. Radioactive substances were flung across the area. Several minor injuries resulted and the house on which the bomb fell was destroyed. No radiation sickness occurred.

The strangest story, (as I recall from the podcast I heard), was the protracted legal battle the unfortunate inhabitants of the destroyed house waged with the newly formed USAF.


There's some hair-raising stuff there. ...

That's some new ones that I hadn't heard before and suspect is likely BS. There were certainly instances of nuclear weapons being dropped or involved in crash incidents, but they are far and few between. Besides, the radioactivity in such incidents are easily traceable.

Originally Posted by PDKL45

I also seem to remember a cold-war era tactical nuclear weapon (from a book I have in storage many tens of thousands of kilometers away) that may have been shoulder (or vehicle?) launched. The operators had to dig a reasonably deep trench as they were inevitably within the blast radius. I think it was a envisaged as a stay behind, last-resort kinda thing to blunt the tip of an advancing Warsaw Pact armored division.

The US nuclear arsenal of the 1970s was truly stranger than fiction...

Now this one is a little closer to reality. In the 50s, the British had entertained buried thermo-nuclear weapons located in European middle-ground (Germany, France, etc) that could be detonated to halt a Soviet advance. There is a thread here somewhere with the technical quotes, but I can't remember where.

[machine shop tom]

Originally Posted by Matt308

Not sure where you are coming from Tom. Sarcasm I suspect.

Sarcasm? Heck no. I just figured that it was stranger than fiction.

Sorry.

tom

[JugBR]

Originally Posted by Graeme

Somewhere around 1992 Citroen produced a TV commercial that involved a Citroen BX 19 GTI car seen flying on the back of an airliner (707). I don't know the 'storyline' of the commercial, but the article that I got these photos from spent nine pages discussing the intricacies and the difficulties involved including how to remove Hylocks from the fuselage paneling. The problem was that the 707 was leased and had to be returned in 'pristine' condition.




From Air Enthusiast Forty Two.

[Matt308]

Originally Posted by Matt308

Not sure where you are coming from Tom. Sarcasm I suspect.

Sorry Tom. I misread your post.

[Airframes]

Re the 'lost' nuclear weapon podcast.
A few years ago, an aquintance of mine (no names, you understand!) who deals in ex-military equipment, was inspecting a shipment of containers, one of which was supposed to have held radio equipment.Upon opening said container, he discovered three nuclear weapons, I believe of the air droppable kind! Having informed his contacts at the British Ministry of Defence disposal site, he was told that he must be mistaken, such a thing was impossible! Finding the manufacturers lable, he contacted them to tell them of his find with the same result. He eventually loaded one of the weapons' transit cases, with the 'bomb' inside, onto his trailer and took it to the manufacturer's premises to prove his story. He was eventually arrested and held for three days! Needless to say he eventually got some good deals on kit for keeping quiet! I am assured this story is true!!

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Sorry, I find it rather hard to believe myself...

[syscom3]

I dont believe it.

"I am assured the story is true"...... dead give away!

[Airframes]

Re my last on the nuclear weapons found in a container.
The guy involved normally deals in 'heavy' kit, such as tanks and aircraft. Some of this kit has been exported to various parts of the world, including the U.S.
When I was last at his site (somewhere in England!) he showed me the container in question. It still had 3 sets of suspension slings in place, which were designed to hold the weapons containers. This guy is a genuine fella, a sort of upper-class type, if you know what I mean?
I have no reason to disbelieve his story, as he once fired an anti-tank missile across his estate, and used to see how fast he could go down the runway, without lifting off, in the surplus Phantom he bought from the R.A.F. disposal sale when both FG1/FGR2's and F4J(UK) types were withdrawn from service.
I leave it to you all to decide; true or not (and I'm sure it is!), it's a good story!