The Day We Lost the H-Bomb
Page 26
I also owe a great debt to Flora Lewis and Tad Szulc, two newspaper reporters who published books about the accident in 1967. These two books, One of Our H-Bombs Is Missing (Lewis) and The Bombs of Palomares (Szulc), offer clear, straightforward reporting, with details of Palomares in 1966 and the immediate aftermath of the crash. These accounts were especially valuable because the town of Palomares today bears little resemblance to the town in this story and several key characters are deceased. Thus, occasionally I relied heavily on one of these two books. In those instances I either quoted them outright or cited their contribution in the endnotes.
Closer to home, I’d like to thank Doug Starr, who taught me well and saw promise in this story, and Ellen Ruppel Shell, who told me to swim at Mojácar. Johanna Kovitz, my transcriber, offered lots of enthusiasm and news tips. Karen Rowan and John Ost provided excellent research assistance. Carey Goldberg helped with the Lotsman and other things Russian. Jon Palfreman funded a research trip to Florida to interview Mac McCamis and Larry Messinger. Fred Schwarz, my editor at Invention
&Technology, suggested I turn this story into a book. Jonathan Jao, my editor at Random House, gave me wonderful edits and made my first draft much better. Without his help, the book would have sunk under the weight of chapter 8. My agent, Michelle Tessler, offered encouragement and advice, and worked hard to get this story noticed. Shannon Densmore and my sister Patty were great friends throughout, especially after Finny was born. And my friend Steven Bedard read early drafts of this book for a measly payment of sardines. If I had the means, I would offer him a ride on the Trieste.
Finally, I want to thank my husband, Brian, who always believed in me and this story. Over the past six years, he has listened to endless stories of Alvin and H-bombs, read many drafts of this book, helped me drive in Spain, and offered other assistance, large and small. I owe him more than I can say.
PHOTO INSERT
President Kennedy, General Curtis LeMay, and General Tommy Power. LeMay transformed SAC from a “creampuff outfit” to the most powerful military force in history.
Official United States Air Force photograph, provided by the U.S. Strategic Command History Office
A KC-135 tanker refueling a B-52 bomber. In 1966, the Strategic Air Command kept bombers in the air at all times, loaded with nuclear weapons, in anticipation of a Soviet surprise attack.
Official United States Air Force photograph, provided by the U.S. Strategic Command History Office
The village of Palomares in 1966. Courtesy of Lewis Melson
Found on the day of the accident on the bank of a dry river, the first bomb was largely intact.
Courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories
Some of the high explosive in bomb number two detonated, exploding weapon fragments up to 100 yards in all directions. The surrounding area was highly contaminated.
Courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories
Pepe López pulled the parachute aside to find bomb number three. “I immediately knew this was a bomb,” he said. As in bomb number two, high explosive had detonated, scattering radioactive debris.
Courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories
By February, hundreds of Americans were scouring the Spanish countryside for the missing bomb. When searchers found debris, they marked it with a colored flag or a bit of toilet paper.
Courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories
Admiral William S. Guest (white hat) briefs Ambassador Angier Biddle Duke (right) at Camp Wilson. Duke clashed with the military over the secretive press policy.
Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Special Collections Library, Duke University
Duke speaks with Palomares resident Antonio Sabiote Flores during a visit to the village, as Admiral Guest (left) and General Delmar Wilson (right) look on.
Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Special Collections Library, Duke University
The Air Force collected aircraft debris in a pile near Camp Wilson. Here it is loaded onto a barge to be dumped at sea.
U.S. Naval Historical Center photograph
Workers cleared a dense thicket of tomato stakes so fields could be decontaminated. The Air Force bought the tomatoes and fed them to airmen.
Courtesy of Lewis Melson
To dilute plutonium in the soil, the Americans agreed to plow or water more than five hundred acres of land.
Courtesy of Lewis Melson
The most contaminated dirt was packed into 4,810 barrels for shipment to the Savannah River nuclear processing center in South Carolina.
Courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories
Manolo González (right) and Joe Ramirez (standing left) with a photo-mosaic map used for claims work.
Courtesy of Joe Ramirez
Alvin being lifted from the Fort Snelling’s well deck. The sub had completed only one mission prior to Palomares.
U.S. Naval Historical Center photograph
Alvin pilots Bill Rainnie, Mac McCamis, and Val Wilson.
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Admiral Guest outlined four search areas, encompassing twenty-seven square miles of ocean. The area to search was larger than Manhattan.
Courtesy of Lewis Melson
Aluminaut under water. Larger and less maneuverable than Alvin, Aluminaut could stay submerged for up to seventy-two hours.
Courtesy of Georgianna Markel
Francisco Simó Orts, the Spanish fisherman who saw a “dead man” on a parachute fall into the sea. Guest centered a high-priority search area on Simó’s sighting.
Courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories
Lieutenant Commander DeWitt “Red” Moody, an EOD expert who joined Guest’s inner circle.
Official U.S. Navy photograph, courtesy of D. H. “Red” Moody
Brad Mooney, a thirty-five-year-old Navy lieutenant, was a veteran of the Thresher search and understood the submersibles’ capabilities.
Courtesy of Brad Mooney
Ambassador Duke (right) and Manuel Fraga Iribarne waving to photographers during their famous swim. The publicity stunt made papers around the world; Variety dubbed it the “Best Water Show since Aquacade.”
Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Special Collections Library, Duke University
On March 15, 1966, Alvin took this photo at about twenty-five hundred feet below the surface. “How do you know it’s not a parachute full of mud?” asked.
Guest. U.S. Naval Historical Center photograph
To retrieve the bomb, Red Moody helped construct POODL. One Navy man called it a “kludge.”
U.S. Naval Historical Center photograph
CURV, a torpedo-recovery device, used a specially designed grapnel to attach lines to the parachute.
Courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories
CURV twists a grapnel into the parachute.
U.S. Naval Historical Center photograph
April 7, 1966. The log of the USS Petrel reads, “0846: Weapon on deck with parachute.”
U.S. Naval Historical Center photograph
An EOD technician begins to render the bomb safe. Everything went smoothly until the team reached the battery. U.S. Naval Historical Center photograph General Wilson (left, hands on knees), Red Moody (center), Cliff Page, and Admiral Guest examine bomb number four. Lieutenant Walter Funston, who safed the bomb, is in the foreground. CURV is in the background.
U.S. Naval Historical Center photograph
Aerial shot of the USS Petrel during the press review. The bomb and CURV are visible on the fantail as Alvin and Aluminaut pass by. This was the first time that the United States displayed a nuclear weapon in public.
Courtesy of Brad Mooney
BIBLIOGRAPHY
ABBREVIATIONS
AFHRA Air Force Historical Research Agency
DOD US Department of Defense
DOE US Department of Energy
DOS US Department of State
Duke Duke University Rare Book, Manuscripts and Special Collections Library FOIA Freedom of Information A
ct (denotes a document obtained through a FOIA request) LBJ Lyndon B. Johnson Library
LANL Los Alamos National Laboratory
NARA National Archives and Records Administration
NHC Naval Historical Center
NNSA National Nuclear Security Agency
SMV Science Museum of Virginia
SNL Sandia National Laboratories
WHOI Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
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