CHROME DOME
Operation Chrome Dome was a United States Air Force Cold War-era mission from 1960 to 1968 in which Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, B-52 strategic bomber aircraft armed with thermonuclear weapons remained on continuous airborne alert and flew routes to points on the Soviet Union's border. Background During the Cold War, General Thomas S. Power initiated a program whereby B-52s performed airborne-alert duty under code names such as ''Operation Head Start, Head Start'', ''Chrome Dome'', 1968 Thule Air Base B-52 crash#Thule Monitor Mission, ''Hard Head'', ''Operation Round Robin, Round Robin'', and ''Operation Giant Lance''. Bombers loitered near points outside the Soviet Union to provide rapid first-strike or retaliation capability in case of nuclear war. Primary mission The missions in 1964 involved a B-52 Stratofortress#B-52D, B-52D that left Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, and flew across the United States to New England and headed out to the Atlantic Ocean. The aircraft refuel ...
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