A-bomb dropped on US

[Robert Porter]

I did not join SAC until the late 70's but those accidents figured prominently into our training. On the missile side not long before I graduated tech school a missile cooked off in its silo because of all things a dropped wrench. The warhead was eventually recovered relatively intact. The running joke was they were going to issue velcro suits to missile techs and wrap the tools in velcro. As one crusty TSgt said, if you drop a tool it better damn well be attached to you when it happens.

 

[tyrodtom]

I wonder what the wrench hit ? Or a mighty big wrench.

But i've got some wrenches I wouldn't want dropped on me from the height of a Minuteman silo.

The Minuteman , I forget which generation, was going online when I left the USAF, it was a solid fuel rocket, hard to damage as long as you didn't drop it during a movement, or get a fire in a silo.

 

[Robert Porter]

No idea what it hit, but I do know it caused a fire, that then lead to the solid fuel igniting. The silo was pretty well destroyed internally, I pulled camper duty on it a year later while they were still rebuilding it. Don't know if it was ever placed back in service.

My first wife was a FMMS with the 90th MMS based on the same base as I was, FE Warren in Cheyenne Wyoming. I was in the 90th MSS. She was not involved directly but was certainly impacted. After the accident the rules about tools being attached to lanyards were much more strictly enforced.