Few things are more dangerous than extended distance flights. Yet, occasionally, brave pilots will attempt to fly extreme distances in one go. A single flight around the world is dangerous business. A flight around the world is child’s play compared to flying around for 8 years, straight, with nuclear bombs on board. That is exactly what the United States Military did from 1960 to 1968. It was the height of the cold war, and fear of the looming nuclear apocalypse birthed one of the most ambitious defense strategies ever composed. Operation Chrome Dome put a handful of pilots in the sky 24/7 for 8 years straight while carrying a nuclear payload, just in case. Needless to say, this was incredibly dangerous and nearly ended in disaster multiple times. With a name like Chrome Dome, you know this is a wild story.
Operation Chrome Dome
During the cold war, the United States and Soviet Russia stood at an absolute stalemate with one another. Each took turns demonstrating their military and technological might to drive the other nation into fear. With each proverbial flex, the other flexed back or entered a frenzied state of panic. It truly is a miracle that these nations didn’t destroy the world during the cold war. Unfortunately, operation Chrome Dome is one of the many examples of a cold war-driven plan with disastrous ramifications.
The Mission
Early in the Cold War, the Russians developed the world’s first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). The stunning military technology gave Russia the ability to launch a missile from mainland Russia to the continental US in under an hour. However, the United States was still operating with nuclear bombs dropped by bomber planes. In the event of an attack, it would take the US hours to respond due to the distance needed to travel by plane to drop their bombs. So, the US devised a plan to keep nuclear bombs airborne, and en route to Russia 24/7, this was Operation Chrome Dome.
So, how did they do it? The military loaded up B-52 bombers with a nuclear payload and set them out on one of three flightpaths, around the Mediterranean sea, around the continental United States, and around Greenland. The B-52s refueled while airborne, which was a hazardous maneuver. Before the route was complete, a new B-52 would join the route so there would be no lag time between when one plane landed and another took off. Flight crews typically spent 24 hours in the air at this time.
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
Chrome Dome Was a Disaster
There were several immense dangers with the strategy employed by Operation Chrome Dome. First, non-stop 24-hour flights are dangerous today. At that time, the dangers were even greater. Such a long flight posed various risks, including engine failure, pilot fatigue, and loss of fuel. Speaking of fuel, the next great danger was the refueling maneuver conceived for this program. Today mid-air refueling is down to a science, albeit a dangerous science. At the time of Operation Chrome Dome, mid-air refueling had never been done before. The military created a system for airborne refueling due to this mission. The maneuver requires two planes flying extremely close to one another and stretching a crane arm from one to the other. The opportunities for failure during this process were many. Lastly, these planes had numerous live nuclear bombs on board. The dangers of that need no further explanation.
The Incidents
On multiple occasions, these B-52 bombers crashed. Most commonly due to collisions during refueling or engine failure. Luckily, none of these crashes led to the nuclear payload’s detonation, and only a couple crashed in populated areas. However, there were a couple of very close calls.
The Palomares Incident is likely the most significant of the crashes. After a mid-air collision during refueling, the B-52’s fuel line erupted in flames. The plane broke apart and dropped three thermonuclear bombs. One of the bombs fell safely into the Mediterranean sea without detonation. However, the other two fell onto the shores of a fishing village on the coast of Spain named Palomares. These two bombs, however, did detonate their non-nuclear payload. Since the entire nuclear payload didn’t detonate, the blast was relatively small. The explosions did unleash radioactive plutonium in the area, though. Spain was obviously quite unhappy with this incident, and the Palomares crash would lead to the cancellation of Operation Chrome Dome.
Conclusion
During the height of the Cold War, Operation Chrome Dome was put into place to defend the Us against the imminent threat of Soviet Russia’s Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. Whether the mission was the best method to protect the US is not clear. What is clear is that this operation was insane and ended poorly. Multiple crashes cost US pilots their lives and nearly caused monumental loss of life and damage to property both in the US and abroad. However, there are many more interesting storylines when it comes to Operation Chrome Dome. To learn more, watch or listen to this episode of the Things I Learned Last Night Podcast.
Things I Learned Last Night is an educational comedy podcast where best friends Jaron Myers and Tim Stone talk about random topics and have fun all along the way. If you like learning, and laughing a whole lot while you do, then you’ll love TILLN. Watch or listen to this episode right now!
Sources
Operation Chrome Dome – Wikipedia
Palomares B-52 Crash – Wikipedia
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