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One of Our H-Bombs is Missing
Book by Lewis, Flora
254 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 7, 2013
Propaganda, straightforward cold war era propaganda. But extremely well-written and entertaining propaganda that gives the official story of the most astonishing example of military incompetence and blundering of, well, 1966.
Long story short: a routine refueling mission 6 miles above Spain goes wrong and the explosion and falling debris kills no one(!) in the small town of Palomares just below. Four H-bombs are among the debris, one falls to the ground undamaged, two fall near the town and the conventional charges that initiate the chain reaction detonate upon impact, spewing kilos of plutonium (it's the most poisonous material known to humanity) into the wind. At the time Lewis was writing the book, the clean up of that massive toxic and radioactive spill appeared was quick and unproblematic. The US military moved in, set up camp, found the dangerous areas, cooped up the dirt, shipped it to South Carolina for burial at the Savanna River Plant, were it continues to poison the watershed to this day.
The real heart of the story, and the part that most people remember, is the one bomb that fell into the Mediterranean Sea. At the time, the 80 day search and recovery mission was deeply humiliating to American prestige. Through this book, that perception was turned around, and the recovery of the missing bomb became a real triumph of American Can Do! spirit.
The story the book tells is only accurate in broad strokes, to be sure. Still worth reading.
Long story short: a routine refueling mission 6 miles above Spain goes wrong and the explosion and falling debris kills no one(!) in the small town of Palomares just below. Four H-bombs are among the debris, one falls to the ground undamaged, two fall near the town and the conventional charges that initiate the chain reaction detonate upon impact, spewing kilos of plutonium (it's the most poisonous material known to humanity) into the wind. At the time Lewis was writing the book, the clean up of that massive toxic and radioactive spill appeared was quick and unproblematic. The US military moved in, set up camp, found the dangerous areas, cooped up the dirt, shipped it to South Carolina for burial at the Savanna River Plant, were it continues to poison the watershed to this day.
The real heart of the story, and the part that most people remember, is the one bomb that fell into the Mediterranean Sea. At the time, the 80 day search and recovery mission was deeply humiliating to American prestige. Through this book, that perception was turned around, and the recovery of the missing bomb became a real triumph of American Can Do! spirit.
The story the book tells is only accurate in broad strokes, to be sure. Still worth reading.
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May 30, 2012"One of Our H-Bombs is Missing", full title
yeah, my dad said it didn't happen like that, and he was there, so-
yeah, my dad said it didn't happen like that, and he was there, so-
March 6, 2010
Excellent read. Good insight into cold war mentality and limitations of American military.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews