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Rating: 
Summary: FOUR, actually.
Review: In 1966, a midair refueling accident scattered four nuclear weapons over a remote area of southeastern Spain. Three were found quickly; the fourth fell in 2,550 feet of water and required the ingenuity, resources - and courage - of some of America's best brains to recover it.
The logistical and technical challenges, chronicled very well here by one of the leading civilian participants, makes for an interesting account in itself, but of perhaps greater interest is the reassuring sense which emerges that American nuclear weapons are indeed in responsible hands.
Maps, photos, diagrams, documents, reading suggestions, and an excellent index enhance this absorbing account.
(The "score" rating is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not "score" books.)
Rating:
Summary: Interesting true story of US dropping nukes on Spain
Review: This book gives a fascinating true account (with pictures and diagrams) of when the US accidently dropped 4 nuclear bombs on Spain in 1966 and the corresponding weapon recovery search and plutonium cleanup from debris.
This was back at the height of the cold war, when we not only had B-52 bombers on the ground loaded with nukes, but we also *constantly* had B-52s with nuclear bombs in the air flying multiple routes. At that time, there was concern that the U.S. might not be able to survive a nuclear first strike and respond in force. So, we kept bombers in the air continuously, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Kind of amazing we are still here to read about this, huh? One of the 24 hour duration B-52 routes involved bombers taking off from North Carolina, flying across the Atlantic and over Spain, refueling, relieving other B-52's that had been circling in the air "on-station", circling for a few hours ready to cross borders and bomb at a moments notice, and then flying back to North Carolina when releived by the next wave of bombers. Over and over, continuosly, round the clock. Just in case... But on this day, one of the B-52's collided with its refueling tanker in midair over Palomares, Spain. Its four nuclear bombs broke free and fell to the ground. Part of the normal delivery system of this weapon involved parachutes, which in the case of this accident fully or partually deployed on the different bombs. 2 of the 4 bombs hit the ground hard enough to detonate the conventional explosives and blow plutonium over the countryside (no mushroom cloud). 1 of the bombs went into the sea and involved a massive underwater search to locate and recover. All in all, a fascinating true story of an important and very dangerous part of our history. [Oh, and I've actually seen one of the recovered bombs from this accident. It is on display at the National Atomic Museum on Kirkland Airforce Base in Albuquerque, NM (free and open to the public) which has exhibits of the evolution of our nuclear weapons, with about 50 or so different nuclear weapons on display (minus the important parts, of course) -- gives you a *whole* new idea of what nuclear proliferation is all about, and its challenges. The Museum is not anywhere as much a downer as you might think, too. They give a pretty balance perspective, all things considered.] [If you like this true story, then you might also want to watch the classic Peter Sellers comedy, the fictional movie "Dr. Strangelove" which portrays the bombers and flights during this general time of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD)philosophy of National Defense.]
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