The Palomares incident

[carlos]

 I don’t know how much news coverage this got outside of Spain but it’s still a well-remembered incident here.

Exactly 50 years ago today there was a Broken Arrow incident in Palomares, a small village in the southern Mediterranean coast of Spain.

On January 17 1966, a USAF B-52G bomber collided with the tanker that was refuelling it on air (there’s a nearby American base). Both planes were destroyed and the four hydrogen bombs carried by the bomber fell down. One of them was quickly found intact. Another one fell in the sea and was recovered three months later, after extensive underwater search.

The parachutes failed in the two other bombs, so their conventional explosives detonated on impact, spreading several kilograms of plutonium in a rural area of 1 square mile. A cleanup work followed, during which tons of contaminated soil were removed and sent to the US in barrels. But despite the efforts, a considerable amount of radioactive material could not be recovered.

Since the economy of the area depended heavily on tourism, Franco’s government tried to minimize the incident, to the point that the American ambassador and the Spanish minister for information and tourism swam in the affected beach before the press to try and persuade tourists that there was no danger.

Fifty years later radioactive levels in the area are still higher than normal, and a few months ago an agreement was reached with the U.S. Secretary of State to finish the cleanup of the affected area.

[rocket]

There was a news blip about it on the 17th. It is documented on the History Channel. It was also a big part of the Movie "Men of Honor" with Cuba Gooding Jr. play a Bell diver searching for one of the dropped bombs.  It is interesting that Spain would be the only other country in the world besides Japan and itself that nuclear bombs were dropped on and the US wasn't even angry with Spain. 

13 times the U.S. almost destroyed itself with it's own nuclear weapons.

http://www.deseretnews.com/top/2605/0/13-times-the-US-almost-destroyed-itself-with-its-own-nuclear-weapons.html

[Tortuga]

I remember that the Smothers Brothers made a comment about  which countries had bombs and they included two fishermen off the coast of Spain. The Smothers Brothers comedy team did a lot of political satire in the 60's.

[Trina]

It's horrible how this earth is being destroyed by governments. The bible was correct when it says if Jehovah didn't shorten the days no man would survive. This type of situation is probably happening way more than all of us are aware they just don't give us the truth about it.  My heart goes out to all affected and I pray Jehovah's kingdom takes over down here soon.

[Old]

2 hours ago, Tortuga said:

I remember that the Smothers Brothers made a comment about  which countries had bombs and they included two fishermen off the coast of Spain. The Smothers Brothers comedy team did a lot of political satire in the 60's.

I once worked under an ex Air Force officer who claimed he was responsible for much, he claimed all, of the search for the missing  Palomares bomb. If he was typical of the search team it is no wonder they never found it.

As a project manager he spent most of his time looking in the mirror and combing his mustache. He looked and behaved like Peter Sellers doing Inspector Clouseau. He bragged that he didn't have to work as he had married a very rich,  very dumb, widowed blonde. 

Beautiful wife, fine house with ocean view, and an impressive Air Force resume (?) didn't cut it, he was fired for incompetence. For someone that didn't need to work he cried a lot when he was given notice.

[Julieann]

I watched a documentary on this incident not long ago. Very interesting piece of history and the political environment surrounding it. I remember thinking that there is so much Jehovah is going to need to help clean up when the time comes. Wonderful to know it, as it helps to keep from getting anxious about such things. Our poor Earth. I'm looking forward to the day when we can fulfill being good caretakers to it.

[Rosalie4u]

So much is kept from the general public - I had not seen anything about this - you just have to "catch" the right documentary or national news to know some of these things.  I have a feeling that the time Jehovah steps in is in order to save the Earth because of these type of things.  It is a miracle any of us are not poisoned - oh wait, I think we actually are poisoned by the air, radiation, water and food grown in these conditions!