NUCLEAR WEAPON ACCIDENT TRAINING FILM "BROKEN ARROW PROCEDURES" 1962 74892
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2024
- This amazing 1962 U.S. Air Force training film BROKEN ARROW PROCEDURES shows the procedures used in an accident involving a nuclear weapon. In this case, a airborne B-52 has caught fire while carrying a nuclear weapon. The film was likely made in response to the Goldsboro incident of 1961, in which an atomic bomb survived an airplane crash and fire. It was one of the most terrifying moments in the history of the Air Force, SAC and the Cold War, since after the incident it was determined that most of the bomb's safety mechanisms had failed and, in a terrifying scenario, the device could have actually detonated. The incident led to a wholesale reappraisal of safety standards and serves as an enduring lesson to nations that have atomic weapons of the necessity of redundancy with these safety devices.
The film suggests different scenarios, including a nuclear detonation, or a "dirty" fire that presents a hazard to personnel due to nuclear radiation, or a situation in which atomic material is spread over a large area by a crash. In these instances a full scale disaster response, including mass evacuation of personnel and civilians in the area, is needed.
The film includes footage at the 13 minute mark of a B-52 making a hard landing on the runway and its gear collapsing. It also uses b&w footage of a military accident in 1959, with an airplane aflame and first responders arriving on the scene.
The 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash was an accident that occurred in Goldsboro, North Carolina, on January 24, 1961. A B-52 Stratofortress carrying two Mark 39 nuclear bombs broke up in mid-air, dropping its nuclear payload in the process. The pilot in command ordered the crew to eject, which they did at 9,000 feet (2,700 m). Five men successfully ejected or bailed out of the aircraft and landed safely. Another ejected but did not survive the landing, and two died in the crash. Controversy continues to surround the event as information newly declassified in 2013 reinforced long-held, public suspicions that one of the bombs came very close to detonating.
In 2013, investigative journalist Eric Schlosser published a book, Command and Control, in which he presented a declassified 1969 document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. In the report, entitled "Goldsboro Revisited," written by Parker F. Jones, a supervisor of nuclear safety at Sandia National Laboratories, Jones says that "one simple, dynamo-technology, low voltage switch stood between the United States and a major catastrophe," and concludes that "The MK 39 Mod 2 bomb did not possess adequate safety for the airborne alert role in the B-52."
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Love the guy talking on two phones with a smoke hanging out of his mouth! The good ol' days...
This is another good Lookout mountain instructional film on the subject matter and much of it still applies today. I’m an instructor for radiation safety and I’m certified by state and federal authorities so it’s a subject of great interest to me. My trade is that of a filmmaker so I can really appreciate the skill that was put into making most of these films.Job well done!
As a former USAF firefighter I love seeing the classic response
I'm not sure what is more scary, the fact that it happens. Or that it happens often enough to need a video on it.
It's interesting to see the Cardox rigs in action
@@jayp7171
liquid carbon dioxide
Very much "in an ideal world" scenario I suspect? I was QRF commander in UNFICYP one weekend in Limassol, supposedly with a platoon on standby, when I checked there were 6 men on available, the rest were on leave, courses or sick. Next weekend a bomb went off in Nicosia, that was interesting!!!
I spent 3 years on a SAC base. Our "broken arrow" drills were a joke. Not to many people took it seriously. I was a medic and part of the "response team" and were basically told kiss your ass good bye if this is for real. Others may disagree, but that was the world I was in. We were woefully unprepared, understaffed and under equipped with the necessary equipment and supplies. Was even worse in Germany to counter ANY threats of chemical, biological or nuclear warfare.
With your attitude, I'm glad the USA was able to fool the Soviets we were better prepared, armed, and willing to survive. You must been a real riot to your superior officers.
@@JDAbelRN Yeah. I joined to play the game like it was for REAL, not run around with wooden guns. When I was in basic when we did the gas mask training, we were told we couldn't use tear gas because some pissy little asshole DIDN'T PAY ATTENTION and burned his poor widdle eyes and cried to mommy and she contacted her Senator and we couldn't use tear gas any more because some little momma's boy DIDN'T PAY ATTENTION AND BURNED HIS EYES. "Over there" they use the REAL DEAL" for training and if you didn't pay attention, YOU DIED and you mother MIGHT get a telegram saying "Little Sergi didn't pay close attention in training and died".
I can give you a LAUNDRY LIST of shortcomings, most of which was the refusal of Congress to provide the proper equipment to do our jobs.
And the Soviets KNEW how unprepared we were, but they were EVEN WORSE OFF and their troops had NO CHOICE but to do as they were told. Even today, they are poorly trained, treated even worse and have no supplies.
So, tell me, did YOU ever serve in ANY military branch?
For anyone who read the above account of the Goldsboro Broken Arrow: not surprisingly author Eric Schlosser shapes his info to make a better story - does not mention that the Parker Jones Sandia report is actually a criticism of the idea the bomb “might have gone off” - on the first page Jones sarcastically pokes fun at an earlier book that claimed this. His quote that “one simple low voltage switch stood between the United States and a major catastrophe” does not refer to a danger at Goldsboro, but that the accident showed safety should be further improved from the current “one in a million”. The simple switch Jones tongue-and-cheek refers to is not simple and is the master arming switch - a screw-drive device that to arm must receive a specific low voltage for a specific amount of time before the bomb is dropped. An unintentional arming would require that during an in-flight breakup a stray voltage of the coincidental right power and timing got into the arm wiring just before the bomb was jettisoned. Jones was pointing out that, if you’re going to fly bombs around 24/7, this should not be technically possible even if nearly impossible. Again - Parker Jones did not believe there was a chance of a nuclear explosion at Goldsboro.
The Goldsboro incident. I was in my mama's belly in Raleigh NC at the time. I've done the blast radius calculation etc. It would not have been pretty. Don't know which way the wind was blowing, but it's not reliably from one directions seeing how close it is to the Atlantic, the influence of the Gulf, the Appalachians running interference and so on. But it didn't happen that way, enough of that. Let's plan for a better future. I'm not trying to be sarcastic or ironic.
Ya it would have been terrible if there was a chance it could have happened, which in this case there wasn’t - just have a problem with book authors making stuff up to scare people even if they think it’s the right thing to do.
'Command and Control' was an excellent book. Even if it was slightly sensationalized at times
This is truly amazing!
I thought a Broken Arrow was when you sent a Christian Slater after John Travolta. You learn something new everyday!
After 3 1/2 years on a Sub Tender, 40 years later I still hear “Emergency November” in my head on occasion. (My shop was a deck above RadCon). Can’t even begin to guess how many “Bubbleheads” in canary suits I saw.
Sorry but could you explain what a bubble head in a canary suit is? I was born in 87 never heard of such a term. Thank you
@@lifeindetale it's definitely an interesting phrase. I admit this piqued my interest as well
I haven't seen the terms you wrote in a very long time. I served in the USN way back in the 70s. They had just invented ships and subs then. LOL!!!🤣😅😂
There was an operation "Broken Arrow" on November 10, 1950 near the small Quebec (Canada) village of Saint-André-de-Kamouraska. An American bomber, leaving the military base of Goose Bay, in Labrador (Canada) to return to its base in Tucson, Arizona, lost a Fatman Mark-IV bomb in the St. Lawrence River. There was a detonation of 45 kg of uranium, fortunately, without causing any damage or casualties. It was not until 2000 that the accident was confirmed by the Minister of National Defense of Canada.
Broken Arrow rule 1 :"Don't shoot at the thermonuclear weapons"
I feel like I'm the only one who got that. I love that movie.
Saw essentially the same movie in the Navy.
Yeah, me too. We saw fims like this on every Thursday which was training day. I was in the USN in the 70s and the films the Navy showed looked old even back then. ✌
OK, who else saw the guy at 2:50 positively smirking with delight at the idea of an imminent disaster?
Do you forget to take your meds, is a training film, the people on the film they know that this will be the only time that they will be in film
@@TheCaitlinlopez I am well aware this was a training film. Apparently my jest was lost on you.
GENTLEMEN WE CANNOT ALLOW A MINE-SHAFT GAP!
"One or two million tops... depending on the breaks!"
One of the most brilliant movie directors.
MIEN FUHUR!!! I CAN WALK!!!
"Gentlemen! You can't fight in here! This the War Room!"
As long as the Commies don’t sap our precious bodily fluids
The Supervisor of Flying (for that day) in the tower was a Master Aviator/Pilot (and a fairly older looking guy as well) ,...and he was only a Captain?? Something strange there. I know promotions were very slow in coming in the late '50, and 60's before Vietnam,...but still.
He might of been a Prior Enlisted. My dad was a USAF Captain, in his late 30s, at the time this film was made.... he was a Prior Enlisted.
The timecode window is very annoying I don’t know why you guys do this these are all public domain films even if you’re going to try to resell them to people It creates a distraction that’s unnecessary
Here's the issue: Tens of thousands of films like this one were destroyed and many others are at risk. Our company preserves these precious bits of history one film at a time. How do we afford to do that? By selling them as stock footage to documentary filmmakers and broadcasters. If we did not have a counter, we could not afford to post films like this on online, and no films would be preserved. It's that simple. So we ask you to bear with the watermark and timecodes.
So, in the past we tried many different systems including placing our timer at the bottom corner of our videos. What happened? Unscrupulous CZcams users downloaded our vids, blew them up so the timer was not visible, and re-posted them as their own content. We had to use content control to have the videos removed and shut down these channels. It's hard enough work preserving these films and posting them, without having to deal with these kind of issues.
I’m glad you’re doing the work I’ll have to look at your website and see what you charge for an entire film on DVD
A bomb does not have to be present. Any priority A resource that has a accident or is about to be lost is a " Broken Arrow" incident . As such incidents have occurred regularly. Not all are public knowledge!
20:47 Hardest-working guy on the base...
Ruh-Roh, Rorge.
Omg. The last gasps.
morale? being a man? guilty conscience? but then you comment was rhetorical wasn't it?
Whilst I appreciate that this is a training film and it was made at a time when procedures were not tried and tested, however, it just seems so wooden and strictly “by the numbers” it’s as if the film was made as a public relations film for base families and/or they were trying to reassure USAF personnel that commanders DID know what they were doing, it’s still an excellent look back to a time when the Cold War was new and nuclear weapons were routinely carried, and combined they led to a much more rigid way of doing things, I am glad that the conditions surrounding nuclear weapons deployment are more safely and securely carried out in the present, I hope that these weapons can one day be eliminated. Thanks for sharing this interesting and informative film. 😀👍🇬🇧🏴
P.S Right at the end of the film the narration mentioned a weapon belonging to a “tenant organisation”, what is one of those when there at home?.
Wooden and by the number was the Le may way of doing things.
Those labels were still present at ILN.
Broken Arrow. Accident involving nuclear weapons material.
Shattered Bone. - USAF procedure for stolen or hijacked B-1B. With or without munitions.
I thought I was gonna watch the John Travolta movie
14:32 turn your damn car alarm off!!!!
I was going to say that but It's all yours.
What's so rad about the EOD team? Other than getting to work with explosives.
palm trees? B52s? MCAFB? McCoy Air Force Base, which is now Orlando International Airport (MCO IAP)
How many times has this really happened? (Not false alarm)
when the Titan missile was burning inside its silo some years later............the US Airforce called the makers of the multi megaton warhead and asked would it detonate............to which Sandia labs said........."we dont know". The missile later exploded in the silo and the warhead section was expelled and landed harmlessly in a nearby farmers paddock.
I couldn’t imagine if a nuclear warhead landed in my backyard
They were so lucky with all the nuclear hazards they goes trough during all those years 30 main accidents in 20 years
Hey wazza, I dropped my socket wrench. I order you to climb down this ladder to the bottom of this silo and fetch it for me. Be a buddy, huh? My name is stenciled on the handle, this is going to hurt my promotion to E-3. Whew, just caught a wiff of Hydrazine, I'm going topside, I'm taking the jeep into town.
Bent Beak - USAF code for missing, stolen, hijacked, or defecting B-2 (B-21 in future) Spirit stealth bomber.
I thought aircraft fuel was denoted in "pounds" not "gallons". And I have never heard an ATC clearly enunciate on any radio like these actors do. It's always muffled and extremely short.
Referring to the jet fuel in gallons makes calculations, easier, and quicker to calculate for firefighting officers to determine minimum required amounts of water, foam concentrate,water/foam flow rate,diameter of hose lines, safety zones, and other important information. If an actual broken arrow incident occurs, there is no time for additional calculations. If things go as bad as possible and the nuclear device/devices detonate, everyone within several miles will be vaporized instantaneously!
Anyone knows what air base this is?
It's a fictional airbase.
I know. :-) I meant what base did they film it
Remco Hoonte looks like Burpelson AFB, from before General J. D. Ripper took command.
@@neildahlgaard-sigsworth3819 Dammit, I wanted to say that!
@@RHoonte think its McCoy, which is now Orlando International. The command car with MCAFB stenciled on the hood and some of the shots with Sabal Palm trees in the frame lead me to this conclusion, but it is also a compilation of shots from all over.
Yeah… how about “head out to sea and ditch”.
Isn't the idea to get people out of there, not crowd the plane?
There are certain personnel that are needed in the immediate vicinity of the incident, to attempt to mitigate the incident! You evacuate everyone else!
at 3:47 whist kind of truck where they getting into?
They look like Internationals, but could possibly be AM Generals.
Not sure.
At 3:47 it looks like a 1959 Ford F500 stake truck with an enclosure in the bed. The red revolving light is a Trippe light. As the scene continues a different truck is shown at 3:53.
58 or 59 Ford
@@jozsefnyisztor2109 AM General did not yet exist. It's 59 Ford F500
A LEAD lined one
🤣🤣🤣
Non military hardhats ⛑️
= plastic 🤔😶🫤
Military helmets 🪖
= metal
😁🤣🤣
Very good description of this near disaster, definitely a propaganda film to assure frightened Americans. It may have worked...until the missiles of October [1962]. After that, everyone living South of Tampa FL would simply be 'collateral damage.'
We all knew it, too!
This as a TRAINING FILM, FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY, this film not made for public use in any way.