01-17-2025 - On This Day in Insane History

On January 17, 1966, a peculiar aviation incident unfolded over Palomares, Spain, that would become one of the most bizarre nuclear near-misses in Cold War history. A B-52 strategic bomber collided mid-air with a refueling tanker during a routine mission, causing four Mark 28 hydrogen bombs to plummet earthward. Two of these thermonuclear weapons broke apart, scattering radioactive material across the landscape in what became known as the "Palomares Incident."

The U.S. military immediately launched a frantic cleanup operation, with American personnel scouring the Spanish countryside, literally picking up radioactive soil by hand. One bomb landed intact, while another was found relatively undamaged. The third exploded on impact, dispersing plutonium-laden debris across the landscape. The fourth bomb disappeared into the Mediterranean Sea, triggering an extensive underwater search that captured global attention.

Most surreally, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson later arrived in Spain and dramatically picked up a handful of sand on the contaminated beach to demonstrate everything was "fine," in a moment of political theater that would be unthinkable by today's standards. The incident ultimately resulted in a massive cleanup operation, diplomatic tensions, and a stark reminder of the precarious nature of nuclear weapons during the Cold War era.

The missing bomb wasn't recovered until three months later, highlighting the incredible complexity of deep-sea retrieval operations in 1966.