1965 Philippine Sea A-4 incident

The 1965 Philippine Sea A-4 crash was a Broken Arrow incident in which a United States Navy Douglas A-4E Skyhawk attack aircraft of Attack Squadron 56 (VA-56) carrying a nuclear weapon fell into the sea off Japan from the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga.[4] The aircraft, pilot and weapon were never recovered.[5]

1965 Philippine Sea A-4 incident
A MK43 free-fall nuclear weapon on a handling dolly
Incident
DateDecember 5, 1965
SummaryPre-flight human error
SitePhilippine Sea,[1]
27°33.2′N 131°19.3′E[1]
Aircraft typeDouglas A-4E Skyhawk
Operator Attack Squadron VA-56[2]
Carrier Air Wing Five
RegistrationBuNo 151022[2]
FatalitiesPilot (LTJG Douglas M. Webster)[3]

The accident

On 5 December 1965, 31 days after Ticonderoga's departure from U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay in the Philippines,[4] the attack jet fell over the side during a training exercise while being rolled from the number 2 hangar bay to the number 2 elevator.[3] The pilot, Lieutenant (junior grade) Douglas M. Webster; the aircraft, Douglas A-4E BuNo 151022 of VA-56; and the B43 nuclear bomb were never recovered[6] from the 16,000 ft (4,900 m) depth.[1] The accident was said to occur 68 miles (59 nmi; 109 km) from Kikai Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan.[7]

Ticonderoga had aboard Carrier Air Wing Five during this cruise, with two squadrons of Skyhawks, the other being VA-144.[8]

Revelation

It was not until 1989 that US DoD revealed the loss of the one-megaton H-bomb.[9] The revelation inspired a diplomatic inquiry from Japan requesting details.[10]

See also

References
  1. USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14) Deck Log (transcription in YouTube caption) (Report). "National Archives"(previously at Washington Navy Yard: Deck Log section). December 5, 1965. Retrieved 2012-04-18.CS1 maint: location (link) Note: The Joe Baugher aircraft listing for this A-4 mistakenly identifies different waters (South China Sea near Vietnam) from those specified by the Deck Log's coordinates (E of a Japanese island).
  2. Oskins, James C; Maggelet, Michael H. (2007). Broken Arrow: The Declassified History of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Accidents. Raleigh, North Caroina: Lulu Publishing. p. 217, ch. 29. ISBN 978-1-4357-0361-2.
  3. "LTJG Douglas M. Webster". A4skyhawk.org. 1965-12-05. Archived from the original on 2010-12-06. Retrieved 2010-03-28.
  4. "Ticonderoga Cruise Reports". Archived from the original (Navy.mil weblist of Aug 2003 compilation from cruise reports) on 2004-09-07. Retrieved 2012-04-20. The National Archives hold[s] deck logs for aircraft carriers for the Vietnam Conflict.
  5. Richard Halloran (May 26, 1981). "U.S. discloses accidents involving nuclear weapons". The New York Times.
  6. Broken Arrows at www.atomicarchive.com. Accessed Aug 24, 2007.
  7. Maruyama Kuniaki 丸山邦明 (2005). "Gunji kichi mondai to Amami 軍事基地問題と奄美". In Kagoshima-ken chihō jichi kenkyūsho 鹿児島県地方自治研究所 (ed.). Amami sengo-shi 奄美戦後史 (in Japanese).p.254
  8. "CV-14".
  9. "U.S. Confirms '65 Loss of H-Bomb Near Japanese Islands". The Washington Post. May 9, 1989.
  10. Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post, "Japan Asks Details On Lost H-Bomb", Wednesday, 10 May 1989, page A-35.
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