The 1964 Savage Mountain B-52 crash was a U.S. military nuclear accident in which a Cold War bomber's vertical stabilizer broke off in winter storm turbulence. The two nuclear bombs being ferried were found "relatively intact in the middle of the wreckage", and after

Fort Meade Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States Army Field Band, and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, the ...

's 28th Ordnance Detachment secured them, the bombs were removed two days later to the Cumberland Municipal Airport.

Accident description

The B-52 D was returning to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

from

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after an earlier Chrome Dome airborne alert to Europe. Near

Meyersdale, Pennsylvania Meyersdale is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, on the Casselman River, southeast of Pittsburgh. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area. In the past, Meyersdale's chief industry was the mining of coal ...

, on a path east of

Salisbury, Pennsylvania Salisbury is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 707 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Salisbury was laid out by Joseph Markley in 1794 ...

; and after altitude changes to evade severe turbulence; the

vertical stabilizer A vertical stabilizer or tail fin is the static part of the vertical tail of an aircraft. The term is commonly applied to the assembly of both this fixed surface and one or more movable rudders hinged to it. Their role is to provide control, s ...

broke off. The aircraft was left uncontrollable as a result; the pilot ordered the crew to bail out, and the aircraft crashed. The wreckage of the aircraft was found on the Stonewall Green farm. Today, the crash site is in a private meadow of Elbow Mountain within

Savage River State Forest Savage River State Forest is located in the north and northeastern part of Garrett County, in the U.S. state of Maryland. The state forest has many waterways, including Savage River Reservoir, which was built in 1952 by the U.S. Army. The dam was ...

, along the public Savage Mountain Trail just north of the Pine Swamp Road crossing.

Crew

As the only crew member who did not eject, the radar bombardier died in the crash and was not located until more than 24 hours afterward. The

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...

and

tail gunner A tail gunner or rear gunner is a crewman on a military aircraft who functions as a gunner defending against enemy fighter or interceptor attacks from the rear, or "tail", of the plane. The tail gunner operates a flexible machine gun or a ...

died of exposure in the snow. The navigator's frozen body was found two days after the accident, from the crash and away from where his orange parachute was found high in a tree near Poplar Lick Run. Unable to disentangle his chute he released the Koch fittings and fell over through the tree, suffering injuries from the branches; his survival tent and other gear remained in the tree. He then attempted to find shelter and "meandered", eventually falling down a steep slope in the dark into a river basin. After landing in the "Dye Factory field", the tail gunner trekked in the dark with a broken leg and other injuries over to the embankment of Casselman River – in which his legs were frozen when his body was found five days later, from a Salisbury street light. The pilot parachuted onto Maryland's Meadow Mountain ridge near the

Mason–Dixon line The Mason–Dixon line, also called the Mason and Dixon line or Mason's and Dixon's line, is a demarcation line separating four U.S. states, forming part of the borders of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia (part of Virginia ...

and, after being driven to the Tomlinson Inn on the National Road in Grantsville, notified the United States Air Force of the crash. The co-pilot landed near New Germany Road, remained where he landed, and stayed "cozy warm" until rescued.

References

External links

"Pilot Lands B-52 After Losing Tail"
(Historic video of B-52H s/n ''61-0023'' landing without vertical stabilizer after test flight.)

National Archives and Records Administration The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

, archive i
2050727
local id 200-UN-37-19. 10 January 1965. MCA/Universal Pictures newsreel, hosted by Criticalpast.com.
''Buzz One Four''
– a documentary film about the incident by

Matt McCormick Matt McCormick is a Spokane, Washington based video installation artist and filmmaker. His work extends documentary and experimental filmmaking, focusing on the sublime decay of contemporary culture and the landscape both urban and rural. McCormic ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Savage Mountain B-52 crash Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1964 Aviation accidents and incidents in Maryland Garrett County, Maryland Aviation accidents and incidents involving nuclear weapons 1964 in Maryland Nuclear accidents and incidents in the United States January 1964 events in the United States Aviation accidents and incidents caused by in-flight structural failure

Accident description

Crew

See also

References

External links