Warbird Information Exchange

Having been in two other branches of the military and neither of those being Air Force, I don't know what THEIR procedures were/are, but I do know from dealing with "Special Weapons" in the Navy that there are MANY different stages required in order for a flight with them onboard has to go through. Like Tom said, who released the weapons from the magazine area? Who transported them to the loading area and subsequently loaded them? Who did the pre-flight on the aircraft? In P-3s, the really detailed pre-flight fell to the FE, but the P and CP each had one to do as well--at least on the plane as a whole. Each crew member has their own respective pre-flight to do is the point with that. Anyway, I don't know the folks involved but I DO know that this type of incident indicates a systemic problem/breach more than merely an individual problem. That crew didn't just decide to grab some and run off with them--that's for certain. MANY things went wrong here--not just on the part of the crew. Although it may seem like no big deal, let's put it in a slightly different context. Let's imagine what kind of message this incident sends to the uninitiated (militarily speaking) as well as our enemies? It doesn't exactly instill a great deal of confidence in the security system in place there does it? Addressing those who are feeling like "WTF, so those birds are meant for that payload"--that's true, they are. However, as previously mentioned ad nauseum, it is not merely what was flown but WHY and HOW did it happen when IT WAS NOT PLANNED. Bottom line to me is this is embarassing, disconcerting and DANGEROUS. What if they had had an IFE and had to jettison what they believe to be "regular" ordnance? Even if the core material didn't go off, it is still the equivalent of a dirty bomb for the area.

Lots to think about here...

For what its worth...

Jim

You don't know the half of it. My brother is a USAF O-5 at the Pentagon (former GLCM and Peacekeeper ICBM launch officer), and this was ALL the blue-suiters there were talking about. On a scale of 1-10, this is a 90 on the "this stuff can't happen" meter. He knows nukes and how they're handled better than almost anyone, and he said this will plow through that entire chain of command like a tornado through a trailer park. Their personnel folks are breaking out the "The End" rubber stamps to use on a lot of officer evaluation reports!

The funny thing is this is exactly, word for word, what my brother said about this!

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Former REMF (US Army, O3)

"Their personnel folks are breaking out the "The End" rubber stamps to use on a lot of officer evaluation reports!"

And rightfully so in my opinion! Imagine what LeMay would have done?! Holy S&(&!!!!!!!!! He might have actually spit that stogey out!!! Whats that signature one of you guys uses here?, "I feel for you, but I'm filled with apathy" or something...DITTO!!!

Jim

I was a bit shocked this made the news. I figured it would have been dealth with very quietly.

Wow, but talk about a total system screw up!

Tim

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www.tailhookstudio.com

Yes, you are correct, the failure in the SOP ( standard operating procedure ) failed and therefor, due to the extent of the item ( nuclear ) heads and a55es will roll for that one.

I remember we lost a Top Secret part on our aircraft ( E-4B ) christ, they shut the base down for 4 hours. I cannot imagine misplacing a nuke.