Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 15, 1992 — Page AS

: A GIANT: With a length of 162 feet and a wingspan. of more than ‘230 feet, ihe
/ Sbeengine pusher type B-36 is the largest combat airplane the Americans ever.

BROKEN ARROW

1950 B- 36 bomber crash was
our very own nuclear a

By JEFF NAGEL
ITH THREE
engines feathered
or on fire and the
ee massive B-36
-. bomber steadily losing altitude,

the U.S. Air Force crew had no

: other choice: they had to drop the
bomb.

“Fortunately. for everyone and

everything on the north coast, the

‘! Asbamb was unarmed when it bit

“the waters of Hecate Strait.
It exploded, but without the
plutonium core required to cause

* "a nuclear explosion.

.The date was Feb. 13, 1950, in
the depths of the Cold War. And
the 42-year-old incident is still
classified as a ‘‘Broken Arrow’’

— the U.S. mililary’s codeword

. fora nuclear accident. -
The B-36 bomber had been fly-
- ing from Eielson Air Force Base
» near Fairbanks, Alaska, to Fort
Worth, Texas, over western Can-
ada and the U.S. to simulate a
combat, bombing nun over the
“Soviet Union. -

But around. anidnight the crew

ire ig’

§ forced to abandon ‘tie “plane

evel the B.C. coast after running

“into serious engine trouble

_.. coupled with excessive icing. .
They jettisoned -the ‘planc’s .

" atomic bomb over. salt water, set
- the autopilot to fly southwest, and

“bailed out over Princess Royal Is- —

land.

the Search and Rescue operation
(code named Operation Brix), 12
of the 17 crew members were
rescued on the island. The
remaining five were never found.

It would be a straightforward
case if it wasn’t for where the
plane ended up — hundreds of
kilometres north in the Kispiox
Valley.

“There was a lot of speculation
back then that somebody stayed
on board and flew it,’ says Scott
Deaver, an old planes enthusiast
from Greens Farms, Connecticut.
“What I don’t understand is if

somebody was on board why .
west of Hazelton on the east side

would they head straight north?”
For Deaver, finding out’ what
happened to the plane bas been
something of an obsession since.
discovering an “old news aper
Sag abouc the Vea tid # fi ae *s
attic:
ey thought ‘it would just-be-an
open‘ and shut thing,’” he says.
“But it just turned into one
mystery after another.”’
“It’s so. spooky the idea that
this bomber was somewhere out
in the middle of nowhere just fly-

of American:

The wreck was found virtually
intact in 1954 when searchers
were looking for another plane
missing out of Ketchikan.

According to 76-year-old
Kispiox resident Marty Allen,
who was part of the search party,
it was found on Old Baldy
Mountain about 30 miles. north-

“built A B-36 that ran into mechanical trouble off the Charlottes in’ 1950 had to jet
tison its atomic weapon betore the crew bailed out.

destroying the ‘plane fuelled
speculation that cither the bomb
or perhaps the plutonium core
was still aboard it. :

“There was something on ‘il;
but they kept that quict,’’ Allen
says. ‘Whatever it was, they took
it back with them. They were
very secrelive about it.”

! : .

“It’s so spooky the idea that this bomber was sone-
where out in the middle of ne nowhere just fying itself at

night.”

of the Kispiox Valley.
“We couldn't get all the way in

because, ‘there was, too much -
§ little‘about the: incidettCA ettagilti #
gifieds reports: of «USwmilitaryi6ns nlite: the, bon

‘nuclear accidents ~~ released un- ."

snow,” Allen said, ailding @ a team
army: “eipihitérs
ended up flyitig in by helicopter.

First they ‘dynamited the plane.

Then they ‘triggered explosive
Jandslides to bury whal was left
of it.

“They apparently did a pretty
good job blowing it up into litle
pieces,’’ says Deaver.

Allen also says other searchers
Claimed the co-pilot was still on
board, a skeleton in the cockpit.

American military ‘records say

der the ‘American Freedom of In-
formation Act — ~ provides’ only.
sketchy details.”

' “The weapon ‘eboard the air-
craft had -a dummy capsule -in-

“stalled,’” the report states. ‘‘After
_ Six hours of flight the aircraft de--

.- According to. the report from ing itself at night.”’ _ The Americans’ ‘vigour in’ veloped serious mechanical dif-
ae —. yi ae 4
‘USAF B-36 BOMBER | vy
- APPROX, FLIGHT PATH yae® KISPIOX vaucer:
Greenville CRASH SITE

SS
tS ISLANDS
. oc

-{ GHARLOTTE

mC ROYAL ISLAND:
CREW RESCUED

\

SL 50.2km

its nuclear bomb in Hecate

Alaska to Fort Worth, Texas,

B.C. coast. It dropped a mountain on the east

Princess. Royal Island. The plane ¥ was found four years later atop
side of the Kispiox Valley.

ccident _

ficulties, making it necessary to
shut down-three engines. The air-
craft was at 12,000 feet altitude.
Icing conditions complicated the
emergency and level flight could
not be maintained.”?

“The aircraft headed out over
the Pacific ocean and dropped the
weapon from 8,000 feet, A bright
flash occurred on impact, fol-
lowed by sound and shock waves.
Only the weapon’s high explosive.
material detonated. The aircraft
was ‘then flown over Princess
Royal Island, where the crew

: bailed out.’’

The report throws in a twist of

misinformation by stating. the .

wreckage’ «was later found on

Vancouver Island. Nowhere does.

it state. whether. the, plutonium ..
apse, Fr _eeaggy fBneta
wae Laibave ty ot

“-“Acéoiding to ‘What’, they're’ =

> saying, ‘there should not. have

been,”’, says, Deaver. “Not unless
“this exiting, thing is a lic,”” , .
Carrying a real bomb but not a _
 real- ‘capsule | would also be -con-
-sistent with thé B-36’s flight plan,
which called for ‘a situlated .

American wesl coast.
The bomb itself was relatively
- small as nuclear weapons zo. <=
‘A Mark VI fission bomb, it was

built before fusion was harnessed |

to create the more. powerful H-
bomb, With a roughly 20-kiloton
yield, it could deliver-a. blast.
equivalent to 20,000: tonnes of
TNT ~- about as. big as the
atomic bomb dropped on
_ Nagasaki.

Although the. incredibly: deadly
_ plutonium: may not have been on
the plane, there is.a shell. of un-
enriched uranium called a tamper
surrounding the high’ explosives
in the bomb.

- The tamper is designed to boost
the yield of the bomb by creating
a surface for neutrons to deflect
off of .and back into the
plutonium core.

Deaver said: extremely low, vir-
tually undetectable levels _ of

 yadiation from the tamper might

have been released with the drop-
. ping of the bomb.: °

He said he tends to believe the
declassified report’s assertion that
the. bomb. was dropped in the
ocean, not’ buried by the

_ engineers high in:the Kisplox. .

Given the Cold War era, it’s

' more: likely military officials

were simply making sure there
was nothing left for enterprising
Canadians to find and self to the
Russians.

training
for duty |

TERRACE — Camping is a
popular past time during the
summer but a group of local
residents went on an outdoor
expedition of a different. kind
“recently. -

‘Members of the local Ranger
patrol, a unit of the Canadian
-Atmed: Forces reserves, spent
- three days ‘arching under full
packs. in high, dangerous ter-
‘rain 35 miles cast of here.

: They - underwent survival

“training - and’ took’ part in a

‘group rifle shoot as part of the
training.

‘The local unit’ was formed

-Plastspring is one. of ‘several

« new formations intended to act

| as the eyes and. ears of the reg-
~T ular-forces in ‘the bush’ should
i the need arise.

[t's an ‘all-volunteer unit
‘made with an. authorized
strength of 30 and is lead by
local resident Joe Bradley who
-carries the rank of sergeant,

“We'll be carrying out regu-
lar patrols and training ex-
ercises to maintain and Jearn
skills;’’ said Bradley last week.

Each patrol member is issued
a .303 Lee Enfield rifle. -

Similar units have been
formed on the coast and one is
being | planned for New
Aiyansh i in the Nass Valley.

- Ranger patrols were common
in B.C. during the Second
World War and | were recently
revived,

__ Assisting the recent weekend
exercise was. Master Corporal
- Diane Parnell-Jones. '

Each member of the unit |
takes an oath,

iM, advanced training will

provided ‘by ” Canadian
pany FotSées persia frdin
‘Bsquimalvecivilol saver,
~The / unit: holds regular
monthly meetings in addition
to the outdoor exercises. More
information is available from
-Bradley at'635- 4797, evenings
during the week. °

| Postcard

‘bombing run along the North .

boosting
national
unity —

TERRACE: = The local Scars
outlet is one of 40 in B.C, par-
ticipating in ‘a national, unity

; campaign. oon

* Called: Speak, Up. For. Cana:
da, the campaign encourages
people to sign. postcard-size
Friendship: Cards which -con-
tain a bilingual message in
support of keeping Quebec in
Confederation.

The expectation is to collect
2.5 million of the cards,
enough for every household in
“Quebec.

Those cards are available: at

the local Sears outlet and
should be signed by July 29 in
time for shipment to the com-
pany’s regional office ‘in
Regina, manger Bob Buell said
last week,
_ Also. taking part in the
campaign are Bay and: Eaton's
_ stores and shopping. centres
‘ACTOSS Canada, aaa

Locally, the, Skeena Mall
organized a large birthday card
leading up to Canada’s . 125th
birthday July. Le

The Start is for people
_ learning how to. read. A,

Blood

The man in the photo is
Guy Farkvam.

He gave blood last week
at the Red Cross blood
donor clinic.

blood will be used.
- But, donations
_ down this year... | :

That is because it took

were

this year.

Nearly 500 units of

longer to check people .

donor

Some people had to wait
two and a half hours.

It was supposed to take
only 45 minutes to give

blood.

There will be no blood
donor clinics up north

_ hext year.

It costs a lot of money

‘to bring up. nurses and

equipment from” _ Van-

~ conver: .

Dont

Watch out if’ you, water
your - lawn. when; “you
should not,

The city might turn yout
water off,

‘You ‘can ‘water. your
lawn only at certain
times.

The city is worried there
might ‘not “be: enough
water, %
ee 1 get ignore: “the.

vening F