The Day We Lost the H-Bomb

Rooney, Michael. Telephone interviews. January 14, 2005, April 14, 2005, and June 27, 2005.

Sass, Rick. Personal interview. January 8, 2007.

Singleton, Robert. Telephone interview. November 27, 2006.

Smith, Francis. Personal interview. March 28, 2007.

Smith, Joseph. Telephone interviews. January 23, 2007, and August 9, 2007.

Sproull, Robert. Telephone interview. May 11, 2007.

Starkweather, Glen. Personal interview. July 29, 2005.

Stevens, Denford. Telephone interview. November 30, 2006.

Strickrott, Bruce. Personal interview. July 2, 2007.

Towell, Timothy. Telephone interview. January 5, 2007. Personal interview. January 8, 2007.

Tyler, George. Personal interview. September 26, 2006.

Tyndale, Clyde. Personal interview. November 3, 2006.

Ulrich, Rebecca. Personal interview. October 24, 2006.

Vornbrock, Walter. Telephone interview. April 23, 2007.

Walden, Barrie. Personal interview. July 25, 2006.

Wendorf, Charles. Interview by Flora Lewis. AFHRA, KWG-68-5U-PE (tapes 1 and 2). Undated.

—. Telephone interviews. October 16, 2004, and July 30, 2005.

White, Alton “Bud.” Interview by Flora Lewis. AFHRA, K416.051-63 (tapes 1 and 2) and K416.051-64 (tape 3). Undated.

White, Gaylord. Personal interview. March 3, 2007.

Wiley, Mo. Personal interview. August 23, 2005.

Winkler, Allan. Telephone interview. January 14, 2005.

Wolk, Herman. Telephone interview. November 21, 2005.

Zablocki, Robert. Telephone interview. December 11, 2006.

NOTES

ABBREVIATIONS

AFHRA Air Force Historical Research Agency

DOD U.S. Department of Defense

DOE U.S. Department of Energy

DOS U.S. Department of State

Duke Duke University Rare Book, Manuscripts and Special Collections Library FOIA Freedom of Information Act

LANL Los Alamos National Laboratory

LBJ Lyndon B. Johnson Library

NARA National Archives and Records Administration

NHC Naval Historical Center

NNSA National Nuclear Security Agency

SMV Science Museum of Virginia

SNL Sandia National Laboratories

WHOI Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute

PROLOGUE

ix Francisco Simo Orts stood: Simo’s actions on the day of the accident come from several sources, most notably Flora Lewis, One of Our H-Bombs Is Missing (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967), pp.

37–41; Tad Szulc, The Bombs of Palomares (London: Victor Gollancz, 1967), pp. 38–40; U.S.

Department of the Navy, Naval Ship Systems Command, Aircraft Salvage Operation Mediterranean (Aircraft Salvops Med). Sea Search and Recovery of anUnarmed Nuclear Weapon by Task Force 65, Sixth Fleet, 17 January–7 April 1966 (Reston, Va.: Ocean Systems, 1967) (henceforth Aircraft Salvops Med), vol. 1, p. 9; and author’s interviews with Joe Ramirez, January 27, 2007, and April 27, 2007.

ix Like a bronzed Kirk Douglas: The quote is from Lewis, One of Our H- Bombs, p. 40.

x And two splashed down: Some sources list the distances in meters, others in yards. The sources agree that Simo saw six parachutes, but to avoid confusion, the author mentions only those that the fisherman saw landing in the water.

JANUARY

CHAPTER 1: MIGHTY SAC

3 Twenty-four hours earlier: Wendorf’s personal history and his account of the day of the accident come from two major sources: author’s interviews with Wendorf on October 16, 2004, and July 30, 2005, and U.S. Department of the Air Force, Report of Major Aircraft Accident, KC-135A, 61-0273, B-52G, 58 -256 (Directorate of Safety, Sixteenth Air Force, 1966).

4 logging 2,100 flying hours: Lewis, One of Our H-Bombs, p. 5.

4 His copilot: Rooney’s personal history and his account of the day of the accident come from two major sources: author’s interviews with Rooney on January 14, 2005, April 14, 2005, and June 27, 2005, and Report of Major Aircraft Accident.

4 One writer described the pilot: Rooney enjoyed “the charms of nurses, daughters of senior officers, and belles of nearby Raleigh.” Lewis, One of Our H-Bombs, p. 7.

5 The third pilot that day: Messinger’s personal history and his account of the day of the accident come from two major sources: author’s interviews with Messinger on January 31, 2003, and October 19, 2004, and Report of Major Aircraft Accident.

6 The big news stories: The New York Times, January 16, 1966, p. 1.

6 And 35,000 feet above it all: Author’s interview with Charles Wendorf, October 16, 2004.

6 32,193 nuclear warheads: www.brookings.edu/projects/archive/nucweapons/50.aspx.

6 674 bombers, 968 missiles, and 196,887 people: Alwyn T. Lloyd, A Cold War Legacy: A Tribute to the Strategic Air Command, 1946–1992 (Missoula, Mont.: Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, 1999), pp. 676–677.

6 The commander of SAC directed: SAC, in conjunction with the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff (JSTPS), was legally responsible for selecting targets for Air Force and Navy strikes, but the commander of SAC was also the director of the JSTPS. Jerome Martin, e-mail to author, March 10, 2008.

6 SAC supplied much of the military intelligence: An excellent overview of SAC’s dominance comes from Mike Worden, Rise of the Fighter Generals: The Problem of Air Force Leadership, 1945–1982 (Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.: Air University Press, 1998), especially chaps. 3 and 4.

7 At dusk on March 9, 1945: Information on the bombing of Tokyo comes from Thomas M.

Coffey, Iron Eagle: The Turbulent Life of General Curtis LeMay (New York: Crown Publishers, 1986), pp. 155–165; Bruce Rae, “300 B-29’s Fire 15 Square Miles of Tokyo,” The New York Times, March 10, 1945, p. 1; Warren Moscow, “Center of Tokyo Devastated by Firebombs,” The New York Times, March 11, 1945, p. 1. See also “American Experience: Victory in the Pacific,” directed by Austin Hoyt, 2005, transcript at www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pacific/filmmore/pt.html.