1960 New Jersey BOMARC Missile Fire

[@gigamut11b86]

My dad was in the USAF & he gave me a small, maybe 3" long, solid plastic model of the BOMARC in the black and white paint job. I never got the chance to ask him about his time in service, both US Army & USAF, he died while still in the Air Force back in '75. I have no idea what became of the BOMARC model that I had, but it was great to learn more about it. To whomever reads this: I hope you have a great day & be safe.

[@ozone5100]

I was stationed at McGuire AFB (before it became a joint base) back in the early to mid 80's. A lot of history in that area. We still had equipment that belonged to Iran that was being held due to the hostage crisis. The Air NG still flew F-4's. The Air Force flew C-141's. The C-5 was just getting their new wings. Those were the halcyon days. Retired after 22 years.

[@OGKenG]

What AFSC were you? What job? I was a flight line cop from 81 - 84

[@ozone5100]

@@OGKenG At the time it was 204X1. NAVAIDS. We maintained the equipment in the red and white checked buildings around the runway.

[@OGKenG]

@@ozone5100 Ah yes.

[@Roadglide911]

Had a buddy of mine turned down two sets of orders to McGuire back in the mid 80’s. He said he’d rather get out than go there. Evidently they needed E-4 E-5’s at the time. We were stationed at Charleston at the time and McGuire was everyone’s fear at the time.

[@davetimmer5149]

My dad was the senior engineer for the guidance system for the Bomarc. It was a gyro inside a gyro each spun I think at 28,000 rpm. With the air speed measurement it could hit within 300' of target with x,y and z coordinates. The middle was programmed before launch and once fired could not be called off or jammed. I have the control gyro assembly and the blueprints for it. I think the Bomarc was one of the first reliable SAMs.

[@nmarbletoe8210]

interesting! piece of history

[@orbitalair2103]

I remember someone asked me about the old BOMARC boosters when I was working at Thiokol about 1990. They had found a warehouse full of them. I pulled the drawings and chemistry, and suggested they not try to re-use them. They were Thiokol XM51, solid propellant boosters, designed to replace the hypergolics. First successful test intercept was July 1960, and the new IM-99B were deployed to squadron in June 1961. The SRB allowed the missile to carry more fuel, thus extending its range as well. More tidbits of the BOMARC story.

[@jwenting]

yeah, after 30 years or so in storage those solid fuel components were probably dangerously cracked and degraded.

[@JohnJones-oy3md]

1:01 - RIP 'Miss Bomarc'. She passed away in 2019.

[@daviddunsmore103]

She looked a lot like Marilyn Monroe.

[@jwrockets]

@@daviddunsmore103 I'll bet many of them did.

[@lancer525]

Her name was Fran Frost.

[@whitehedr]

I enjoyed this video. I brought back fond memories of my youth model building days. I built all of them “back in the day”.

[@OGKenG]

I was stationed at McGuire from late 81 to late 84 and worked as a flightline cop. Some of the base cops I worked with used to go out to that BOMARC site to do security checks once per shift. We all heard about that accident. One day, a couple of my friends and I drove out there to see it, but the gate was locked and all we could see was pine trees and a fence line.

[@gregq3474]

Was stationed at McGuire in the 90's and used to perform random checks at this site while on patrol. Cool memories.

[@njoldguy8728]

This hits close to home. I live about five miles from this site.

[@cab4]

I also live in the area, always heard about this event but it was good to get the video and details!

[@JesusisJesus]

Did you used to pick on the kids with hair and teeth?

[@1real_one]

Pemberton?

[@vondumozze738]

@@1real_one Looks like we're forming a mini fan club. I know the "Be More Better" channel fellow i8 from North Jersey.

[@1real_one]

@von dumozze what do you mean? Did we also comment on another video?

[@fatboyrowing]

Feeding the algorithm here. I am thankful for stories such as this. It is history that we need to not forget

[@frankwebster9110]

My father retired a Chief in the USAF and spent time working on the Bomarc in the 70's at Hurlburt/Eglin AFB and on the GLCM at Dugway proving grounds. Being an airforce brat, I was able to see these things up close. The Bomarc I got to see had a shed that the roof opened only and not the entire building. I was about 7 years old when I got to see the Bomarc which they tested over the Gulf of Mexico. Really cool stuff now and then.

[@walterdebnam8021]

My uncle was one of the designers of that project and many more of them. For the Air Force and Boing etc. for 30 years. I remember all the models of the missiles that I'd see him have, even the prototypes, that never went into production.

[@davetimmer5149]

My dad did too at Lear-Seigler, they did the guidance system.

[@mamarussellthepie3995]

Epic

[@robertstack2144]

BOMARCs are more foolproof than soap said a General.

[@donadams5503]

I'm an engineer. The warhead failure mode worked as designed. It's like 3 mile island, the failure was mitigated by design. ie it worked. It didn't fail.

[@jrt818]

I seem to remember TMI emergency safety systems working as they should but someone mistakenly overrode it. Human error is something that can't be completely made fool-proof.

[@petergray2712]

@@jrt818 It works like this: Engineer: "It suffered a critical failure, but the safety margin exceeded the failure threshold by a factor of three." Random Nontechnical Authority Figure: "So you're saying that we can push three times harder?" Engineer: "No!" RNAF (dialing his phone): "Bill? I just got some really good news from the technical team....."

[@philperry4699]

TMI wasn't _quite_ mitigated. The reactor _did_ suffer a meltdown, but fortunately the nasty stuff was largely contained within the reactor vessel and coolant piping. It will never be usable again, unless you volunteer to crawl inside and jackhammer out the corium. Good luck!

[@philperry4699]

@@johnanon6938 Chernobyl and possibly a few of the others you listed could be called criticality accidents. Or, as Mr. Burns would say, "an unrequested fission surplus." The others (including TMI and Fukushima Daiichi) were Loss Of Coolant Accidents, where the means of keeping hot fuel cooled down failed for one reason or another, and it melted. The nasty thing about even slightly-used reactor fuel is that it's so radioactive that it keeps generating a lot of heat for years to come. It's a shame that no one has figured out a good way to make use of that decay heat to generate power. _The China Syndrome_ was a run-of-the-mill movie that would have soon been forgotten had it not had the lucky marketing accident of TMI happening a week or two after release. Clips from the movie were shown over and over again on the evening news.

[@philperry4699]

@@johnanon6938 We are apparently not using "criticality" in the same sense. For a reactor to go critical, it has to have enough fissile fuel in a small space, and control rods removed, for a self-sustaining chain reaction. Contrast with an atomic bomb, where rapidly assembling a supercritical mass (or density) leads to a _runaway_ chain reaction (boom!). Once a reactor has been operating for any length of time, fission daughter products and trans-uranics (Plutonium, etc.) accumulate and are highly radioactive. Their decay can keep the fuel rods quite hot for a long time, requiring active cooling. At TMI and Fukushima, among others, that cooling system failed for various reasons, permitting the in-reactor fuel to overheat and melt. In contrast, Chernobyl was a reactor excursion caused by poor (unstable) design and misoperation (unauthorized experiments). The reactor overpowered and instantly boiled off its coolant into steam, resulting in an explosion. It was not an actual nuclear explosion (not an uncontrolled chain reaction, despite some claims to the contrary), but running at far too high a power level for the cooling to have any hope of keeping up. Add: TL;DR Hot fuel can still melt even after the nuclear chain reaction has been shut down, so criticality doesn't even enter into it.

[@larryrudy9620]

I was a mission mechanic from 1964 to 1967 at this facility. We worked around the site ..... we never knew there was any problems then. I lived down the road at Colliers Mills trailer park.

[@tomschauer9161]

Thanks for filling in a gap in my "local lore". I've lived within 20 miles of the site my entire life. I became aware of the incident about 10 years after it occurred and got the "short" version of what had happened. Now I understand why it wasn't fenced off until the mid '70's - it was still an active site ! I was always amazed that you could drive so close to such an installation (radiological hazard not withstanding). All through the cold war, "security" seemed practically non-existent around what is now the "joint base" compared to post-9/11. Several asides: my mother had been on a tour at Lakehurst NAS the weekend before the Hindenburg disaster; my father watched the Hindenburg fly by that afternoon from his bedroom/sickroom window (he had the measles); there is an e x t r e m e l y long runway the northwest end of which, coincidentally, is quite close to the BOMARC missile site - this runway was constructed as an alternate landing site (one of three alternates) for the space shuttle. Also, it has been categorically denied that there were ever any nuclear weapons stored in New Jersey. However, had they all detonated at once, the "break" of the resulting tsunami wave would have occurred at Trenton (the Delaware River) ! I took Dr. Strangelove's advice - I learned not to worry !

[@tomconnor2481]

There were definitely nuclear weapons stored in New Jersey.On NAD Earle N.J. It’s Neck

[@tomconnor2481]

NAD Earle in Colt’s Neck,Monmouth County the location called “ theHill” was magazines and locations for the marine guards(tower,etc) for storage and guarding nukes..Earle was the only U.S.Navy base I saw in 17 years that had 2 marine barracks on the base.

[@emergencylowmaneuvering7350]

@@tomconnor2481 When i used to fly all over Mid Jersey in the 1990's i noticed those little hills on a field south of the Raritan Bay. A student told me those were weapons storage area and to notice the railroads leading to the military port on the bay. Crazy i could fly my airplane all day long over those weapons areas.

[@connor3288]

You should look up "Red Cell" i think its called. It was a then-secret program to test security of us military installations. During the program they were successfully able to plant a mock explosive on a nuclear sub.

[@jpsned]

I grew up in West Windsor Township, which is about a half hour from Ft. Dix. In 1960 I was one year old, so I don't remember this incident. 😎

[@timmotel5804]

I had a Cape Canaveral missile toy set in 1959-1960 as a Christmas gift. One of the missiles was a Bomarc, Snark and others. Really cool toys back then. Educational. Thanks

[@mitsospiros]

I was born in Oct 1972 in nearby Mount Holly, Burlington County. Same month the missiles were retired. Have lived in Burlington County my whole life and never heard about this story. So glad I stumbled upon this. Thanks History Guy!

[@Gmtail]

Demetrios M Another neat fact told to me by multiple sources; McGuire is a Nuclear capable AFB having the infrastructure to accommodate and service the weapons and aircraft. It’s a vital spot in the area because it sits between Philly and NYC. At the time all communications lines went through Mt. Holly that serviced the area including the now joint base. The Russians knowing this, on their list of first strike sites included Mt. Holly because they knew if they did so it would also knock out communications to McGuire, possibly delaying the counterstrike, and also the deployment of the BOMARK and multiple NIKE sites in the area.

[@mitsospiros]

Gmtail That is fascinating info! Thanks for sharing. My father moved to Mount Holly in 1969 and we lived there until 1975. I now live slightly north of the base and see the cargo planes fly near my house. Amazing to see. They are huge. Also see large helicopters once in a while. Base really helps the economy around here. Hope they stick around.

[@tigerburn81]

@@mitsospiros As a kid, I lived by the Ft. Dix ranges. In the approach to Desert Storm, there used to be tanks rolling down the roads at all hours. I would collect the little parachutes in the woods from the flares they would launch during night. It's also where the government took in a few thousand Kosovars in '95 or so. They complained that the milk that we gave them was too watered down.

[@edwardhewer8530]

The people who figured out the layout and construction of the bunkers must have had a fair idea of what could happen. Great video. Thanks.

[@bigDbigDbigD]

I wish I had history teachers like this when i was in school.

[@philgiglio7922]

Got lucky enough to have a history teacher this good at LSU in 1973; learned a lot and fell in love with history.

[@andreaswiklund7197]

Well. The films are great, I love them. But a teacher must cover a topic like the cold war in just a few lessons and that can hardly be done by telling a few exciting storys about dangerous events. Don’t get me wrong, there are several awesome history-youtubers out there and they are doing a great job. But it is a bit unfair to a teacher to be compared with them.

[@naturelvr123]

Another history lesson we would not be taught in a general history school room. Keep it up THG! 👍

[@BuzzinVideography]

Once again, thank you for the quality teaching lessons. I have severe memory problems and truly, I forget more than I could ever fathom to remember. But watching your videos gives me some flow into my hippocampus. It stems the loss, and actually teaches me useful world history. Thank you, for everything

[@anthonym8586]

To the History Guy , PERFECT TIMING ! 2 days ago a story of a former NIKE Missile Base for sale in Woolrich Township New Jersey that came on market for sale appeared in The Business Insider . The reason i point this out is that only half the base is for sale by the town , the other half is still Federal property due to THERE'S STILL MISSILES IN THE SILO'S ! On the bright side , if there is one , the silos hatches are sealed 30 feet underground . By the way , thank you for another great story .

[@General_Eisenhower1945]

The site now, is very creepy. Where the missle was has been bulldozed and cleaned but the remaining site is unsettling

[@DaylightDigital]

Got a chance to see one of the Marquardt ramjets in person last year in a museum, incredible pieces of engineering; the fuel system is powered by a ram-air turbine and the flame holder is an absolute work of art

[@skychildoflight9867]

I was stationed at Fort Dix in 1988 for a short time before heading to Germany and while at the NCO club, heard one of the old timers speak of this event. Area is still off limits as far as I know. Our local former BOMARC site at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts was recently bulldozed, but I did visit before it was gone. Those shelters were amazing!

[@Joe-pb3bm]

1983 13B10 Special Weapons "Mike 5."

[@Famous887]

Bill Harris They actually built a building over top of it now after many years of removing a ton of soil for many years.

[@skychildoflight9867]

Christopher Cunningham Really? I figured that spot was probably so irradiated due to the warhead and the leakage that would be unusable as a building site for a lot longer than this timetable. Is there anything left of the BOMARC site or has it all been bulldozed?

[@Famous887]

Bill Harris So it's not on the whole site but yes they did knock what was left down. I actually live off Range Rd. Less than 5 minutes give or take from the former site.

[@skychildoflight9867]

Christopher Cunningham I see!

[@reapcon]

This area is still abandoned on the site it’s pretty cool. Great video

[@joeyjamison5772]

I'm from NJ and the place is so damn polluted already that this is really just a minor episode.

[@joeyjamison5772]

Q: Why is New Jersey called the Garden State? A: Because Oil, Petroleum, Nuclear, Land Fill, & Toxic Waste State won't fit on a license plate!

[@hoilst]

That great gag from Fletch Lives: Fletch: What do you mean, toxic waste? Frank: Well, it's some special stuff. There's only eleven places in the country that makes this shit. Fletch: Where?... Frank, just give me the ones that aren't in New Jersey. Frank: Uh, there's only one.

[@kge420]

Do not drink the well water in that region.

[@kge420]

R Williams The whole state doesn’t stink. Get away from the NYC metropolis and you’ll see some very beautiful places.

[@Zehnuss]

We had a bomarc site on cape cod too and they dumped the fuel in the impact area of the firing range, CS-19 is the name of the plume it caused. Federal Superfund sites are wherever the military has been.

[@dragonsbreath1984]

I’ve seen the command and control computer for this system. It has a track ball, a fire button, a CRT display showing incoming bombers and missiles, and a little slot where you insert a quarter to play. They called it the “Missile Command” system. I know, if you were born after 1980 you probably have no idea of what I’m talking about.

[@Jimbobthebarbarian]

I was at McGuire for years and never knew!

[@shadowraith1]

That brings back memories. Lived in N.J. most of my life and I can remember back when I was maybe 8 or 9 going on a field trip. Somewhere in Jersey and brought to a very large field. Apparently 14 missile bases dotted New Jersey at the time. With a rumble of machinery these loaded missile launchers popped out of the ground on what looked like an overgrown cow field. I still have that amazing sight in my head. Back then the U.S. was willing to concede the populations of both coasts. The nuclear fallout alone would have killed millions back then. I doubt the mentality of government has changed much. Thanks for sharing. :)

[@MultiPetercool]

My father was one of the members of the Telstar team at Bell Labs in Murray Hill. There was a Nike base a mile or so away from Bell Labs. The greatest minds in the US were in the crosshairs of the Soviets. Bell Labs and Western Electric were the source of many military innovations. The birthplace of the transistor was a MAJOR Soviet target.

[@marks1638]

I remember the BOMARCs at Otis AFB in Mass. when my dad was stationed there in the late 60's. They had them on display during Open House's along with Nike Missiles, Air Defense fighters (from F-101's to F-104's), and training jets. Did anyone notice that some of the BOMARC's in the video had RCAF on the wings? That means Royal Canadian Air Force, so some of those missiles were in Canada not the US. That poor Sergeant who called the local police probably didn't have a good day (or good career) after that incident.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Yes, Canada did acquire BOMARC missiles, which caused controversy for several reasons.

[@paulhart7129]

I remember hearing how the Canadians weren't happy about the nuclear-tipped missiles on their soil.@@TheHistoryGuyChannel

[@rogermwoodbury4966]

I was a GCI controller stationed at North Truro Air Force Station on Cape Cod. We were in operational control of all interceptor and surveillance activity during Level IV training and if it happened, during war if the large SAGE direction center in up-state New York was destroyed. One of my first tasks upon initial assignment was to be part of the Bomarc release team. Our radar control system was a computerized BUIC III system and the computer would form an air picture of the entire north east of the US from above New Jersey to the Canadian border. We practiced against a mass Russian bomber attack coming from the northeast primarily and the we regularly fired simulated Bomarc missiles from their launching points. As I recall the only active Bomarc facility at that time (1968-69) was in Bangor, Maine. Those shelters are still there today, long ago converted to commercial purposes and made part of an industrial park. I well remember seeing the symbology for a simulated Bomarc as it streaked out to sea. The concept that time was that the Bomark would explode creating a large area over the ocean where any group of Russian Bear heavy bombers would be destroyed. The assumption then was that a mass attack could easily overwhelm the available F-101, F-102 and F-106 interceptor aircraft we possessed. I still remember the first time that I held the Bomark key, part of the concept of two man control. Each key station was on either side of the huge area map located in the operations center. I had one key and another young officer had the other and when commanded to do so by the senior director, the keys had to be turned simultaneously that would arm the circuits that would release and authorize the actual launch of the Bomarks. I found the experience as a newly minted second lieutenant to be daunting because I knew if and when the keys were actually turned in earnest, those Bomarcs would launch and once airborne, they could not be recalled. Fortunately all our "launches" were merely symbolic and done in training.

[@stevenwiederholt7000]

I used to work (guard) the BOMARC site at French River Mn.

[@johnmurdock3471]

That site is still fairly intact. The perimeter fence is intact and someone still clears the area outside of the fence. The 28 above ground missile bunkers are now rented out as public storage buildings, What I imagine was the headquarters/admin building is still standing also. There is now a gun store doing business out of what might have been a maintenance building. It is easy to spot on Google Maps or Google Earth because of the distintive 4 rows of 7 bunkers each.

[@stevenwiederholt7000]

@@johnmurdock3471 I checked that out a while ago. Its getting to be A Long Time Ago. Someone screwed up and stationed me in my hometown.

[@robertcombs55]

I was a USAF Brat; Grew up Dad was in SAC; there were FAR more accidents; than were EVER reported.

[@jim5870]

The BOMARC site in North Bay, Ontario was sold to the local community college after the BOMARCS were removed. The college used it for it's aircraft maintenance and flight training campus. I still remember the former warhead workshop was my piston engine classroom.

[@robertstack2144]

The room always glowed so no lights were needed.

[@Smart-Skippy]

Thank you HISTORY GUY !

[@shmismith7196]

Enjoyed the video, History Guy! That reminds me of my high school rivals, Jackson Heights, in Kansas, whose school building was converted from an Atlas nuclear missile command center. It seems like such an unusual conversion, from nuclear missile silo to public school, I’d really enjoy this story getting the full History Guy treatment. Thank you!

[@davidgrenis638]

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE SHORTNESS OF YOUR KZbin POSTINGS THANK YOU FOR KEEPING THEM SHORT AND THANK YOU IF YOU KEEP MAKING THEM EVEN SHORTER DAVID ADAM GRENIS MAPLETON AVENUE BOULDER COLORADO USA

[@tolli4919]

still the best channel on all of youtube! thanks for putting so much effort into helping remembering history and learning from it!

[@DraftySatyr]

As ever, flawless treatment of a fascinating historical tid-bit. Thank you.

[@sfastroworld]

I love these episodes. Thank you.

[@rudolfyakich6653]

H.G. your delivery is brilliant. You are a cut above .

[@sillyone52062]

I've hiked the woods of Fort Dix in my ROTC days. I flew to Germany out of Maguire AFB. Truly, the middle of nowhere.

[@Gmtail]

While there is still a lot of woods in the area, sadly tons of developments have sprung up as well, mostly retirement villages.

[@robertbeirne9813]

sillyone52062 yeah Chris and Paulie Walnuts lost a Russian commando there.

[@stonewallrussians]

Robert Beirne that’s funny. Great episode of the Sopranos

[@Talisman-tb6vw]

I worked at the BOMARC site at Boeing in Everett WA. There's nothing left of the site for the missiles except a concrete pad. The site today has a logistics transfer site for a shipping company, and 4 buildings that house Boeing employee's. The reason for the BOMARC to be located here is that across the street was the Airforce Base Paine Field - which is now run by Snohomish County, and Boeing uses the field to test and deliver 747's, 777's, 767's, 787's and the KC-46 Tanker. And Snohomish County recently opened a commercial terminal that has been used by several commercial carriers.

[@Dsdcain]

Yay! I've been asking for this to be covered since I first found this channel in late 2017. So glad he covered this forgotten bit of history.

[@JesusisJesus]

Dsdcain Well it deserves to be remembered.

[@Dsdcain]

@@JesusisJesus Yes it does.🙂👍

[@billflynn6903]

Thanks!!! Still a Modeler, this brought back some great memories and I received this model from REVELL on my Ninth Birthday!!

[@tonylatorre3168]

I’ve actually been to the abandoned base where the fire happened, such a cool thing to find in the woods. I had no idea what it was at first.

[@troskinatior]

Same, I have the control panel from the roof and erector.

[@savagetuner2404]

@@troskinatior You stole? And what happens to people who steal missile control panels

[@knightowl3577]

@@savagetuner2404 They tell you about it on KZbin apparently.

[@savagetuner2404]

@@knightowl3577 sounds very legit lol

[@JohnJones-oy3md]

@@savagetuner2404 Apparently nothing. His LinkedIn says he works as an MP for the Army down there.

[@ellisgreen4131]

Awesome history. If I recall my local history growing up, there was a BOMARC base near Raco, MI during the Cold War. Raco Field was a fighter base during WWII and later an emergency landing strip for B-52s on approach to Kincheloe AFB. And there's a whole bunch of military history around that area going back to the original English settlements in the 18th century.

[@christopherlynch3314]

"Close enough for horse shoes, hand grenades, and nuclear weapons."

[@daleslover2771]

👍👍👍🤣

[@chevyon37s]

And government work

[@gofastwclass]

Haha, I say that all the time.

[@chrisukowich8674]

And shotguns!🤣

[@kiowablue2862]

@@chevyon37s When I was in the USAF, the standing joke about "close enough for goverment work" was Measure it with a micrometer, mark it with a crayon and cut it with an axe.

[@DOCAMAZON]

Thanks for this story. Me and all my siblings have heard this story from our dad who was there at the site during the fire. He's 85 now and really enjoyed seeing this on your channel. He continued in the bomarc program until the mid 1980s when it was deemed to dangerous to continue on Santa Rosa Island (Eglin AFB) Florida due to increase population across the sound from the site.

[@zhubajie6940]

I remember the BOMARC displayed outside of the Patrick AFB Technical Missile Center (The center was also commonly shown in "I Dream of Jeannie"). For an excellent book on the history of nuclear weapon safety, I recommend is "Command and Control" by Eric Schlosser.

[@colderwar]

It's a good read, but he gets some details wrong...either by accident or to make the book a little more sensational. I'd still reccommend it as well

[@terryboyer1342]

I still dream of Jeannie!

[@TranscendianIntendor]

Eric Schlosser did a fine job of describing the growth and endgame of corporations in his book Reefer Madness. Essentially he said that mobster financial engineering as pioneered by Meyer Lansky was all made legal under President Clinton. This is why Obama said post 2008 none of the figures who crippled the economy went to jail.

[@highlypolishedturd7947]

That book nearly kept me awake some nights. HOW did we not blow ourselves to hell?

[@davewhelan3001]

Command and Control is an excellent read and gets most of the details correct. I spent 3 years in a nuclear missile Battalion in Germany (Pershing)

[@Bill23799]

I was a section chief in a Lance Missile unit stationed in West Germany during the cold war. The Lance was a tactical Nuke that also use a Hypergolic fuel system. The fuel we sued was UDMH ( Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine ) and the oxidizer also was IRFNA ( Inhibited Red Fuming Nitric Acid ). We did not use helium to pressurize our tanks. We used a SPGG ( Solid Propellant Gas Generator ).

[@v.e.7236]

I remember doing "Atomic attack" drills in elementary school, where we would get under our desks, head down between our knees, w/ our backs to the windows. It was just a welcome distraction, as a kid.

[@Kieselmeister]

The funny thing is that that drill wasn't pointless. There is a pretty large range band around a nuclear detonation where the primary killer would be the shockwave collapsing buildings and carrying flying debris. If you were far enough away to experience the "flash" separately from the "thunder", then reflexively diving under a table or into a ditch could actually save your life. It's pretty much the same logic behind earthquake and tornado drills. The US Federal government stopped the PSA videos for the same reason they stopped funding the public bomb shelters. There decided wasn't any point of increasing the number of initial survivors of a nuclear war just so they could starve to death over the course of the next few months. The cost of maintaining an national 18 month food stockpile (along with a seed bank and livestock) to keep the survivors fed until agriculture could be restarted once the fallout dissipated was prohibitive. (Clean water would be obtained by boiling and collecting the condensation. Same as distilling seawater, as water soluble fallout is chemically in the form of salts. It's also part of why Iodized salt was promoted, since you can block the absorption of the radioactive iodine component of fallout by loading your system up with an excess of normal iodine.)

[@bobbydixon9368]

We did that too we were in school next door to a defense plant. Ground zero!

[@kenshores9900]

This incident shows the need for having technical individuals familiar with handling of highly hazardous materials involved with the incident as quickly as possible. Typically fire fighters are not trained in how to address such incidents. Other nuclides were present that have half life's of 90-100 years. Remediation and mitigation of such sites as you point out is not inexpensive. It truly is history that bares remembering.

[@Romany1111]

Correction: the base, at the time of the accident, was named McGuire AFB, as you originally stated, NOT JB-MDL. Joint Base-MDL came to be in October 2009. Prior to this, the Army, Air Force, and Naval Air Station Lakehurst were maintained as separate entities, with only Ft. Dix being an "open" base, accessible to the public.

[@boothbytcd6011]

I got to go to the White Sand Missile Museum last year while in NM. Lots of interesting bits and pieces of history out there in the desert.

[@bernarrcoletta7419]

General Pritchard: “The nuclear warhead is safer than soap.” 2019: Tide Pod Challenge!

[@Taistelukalkkuna]

Drop a soap, or drop a nuke? Tough question....

[@md_vandenberg]

That's not what the General said. Let me remind you: "Bomarcs are more foolproof than soap." If you're going to make a joke, be accurate.

[@raynus1160]

Well done. Excellent presentation as always.

[@aboversite]

Many Canadians well remember the Bomarc as the weapon system foisted upon our military in exchange for cancelling the Avro Arrow program which you documented so well. There was a Bomarc on display outdoors next to a CF-101at the Alberta Aviation Museum.

[@robertpearson8798]

Yes, the politicians of the time bought into the belief that the day of manned aircraft was over.

[@kahirdey9547]

This is a story very close to me as my Grandfather who had raised me was the head of civil defense in Mercer county and the police reserve in Trenton/Ewing at the time. He passed away in 1997 but not before telling me many stories of that day as well as many other bits of history that deserves to be remembered.

[@DCDura]

What is your Grandfather's name?

[@economics360]

Hey history guy, I love your videos and have been a long time subscriber. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and was hoping you'd do a video on hawk hill across the golden gate bridge with its military installations or the Hamilton air force base near by. I grew up near both of these and I think that would be really cool to learn more about them. Thanks and keep up what your doing, some of my favorite content on youtube! 👍

[@FitU-et7qn]

This occurred on Route 539 on the border of Ocean and Burlington counties in New Jersey. The plutonium isotope used in the warhead is, to my knowledge, still on the ground. According to what I know of this, said plutonium is highly lethal if as little as one tablespoon is exposed through airborne means in a densely populated area--which this location is not. However, the soil in that area is part of the N.J. Pine Barrens. It is, essentially, beach sand. I know this for the fact that I worked in geo-technical engineering during the '90s. There's no silt to hold anything back from seeping into the ground. In the Pine Barrens, you have groundwater--some of the freshest groundwater on Earth--flowing at roughly 6-7 feet below grade. This stuff has been on the ground for approximately 60 years. Given that Toms River, N.J. experienced a significant cancer cluster, as did the Legler section of Jackson--and both are in very near proximity to this location (bring it up on a map, you'll see)--it's no wonder. How do I know so much about this, you might wonder. I was supposed to be the engineering inspector for the remediation of this site back in 1997. Suddenly, the government pulled the budget. Consequently, all that's been done in the years since is that they've planted trees so that you can no longer see the site from the roadway.

[@micheleszczuplak2767]

There was the Ciba Geigy Corp. site in Toms River that was also responsible for cancer issues.

[@SuperDiablo101]

Does anybody else find abadoned places like this fascinating

[@General_Eisenhower1945]

I was posted as a sentry there few years past as an MP and we do random checks where we sit for a set amount of time. We know no one died there, and it's just empty rotting fenced off areas, but I could help but feel like I was being watched at night time. I certainly didnt like be there long

[@larrydee8859]

Thanks again for your well detailed history reports! Recalling as a kid, in 1961, one of these rokects, with launcher, was included with my toy Cape Canaveral set.

[@scotchsoda3165]

The US Navy's Port Chicago Mutiny, is history that deserves to be remembered.

[@chain3519]

Looked it up. Interesting for sure

[@scotchsoda3165]

The History Guy will be able to tell the story likes it's supposed to be told.

[@Erick.Aviation]

My grandfather was stationed at the BOMARC site at Otis AFB, Cape Cod MA in 67'. Have some cool color photos from his time stationed there. Unfortunately he's not around anymore to ask him questions about his time there.

[@garyb.1266]

I was stationed at the BOMARC sites at Otis 66-67 & McGuire 63-65. What was grandfather's name & department at Otis?

[@Erick.Aviation]

@@garyb.1266 He worked in the power plant side, his name was Richard Novak. Moved from Brockton to the Cape. Here's a picture of him. Not sure if the photo was his time at Otis or when he was in Alaska. imgur.com/a/CBcNDDJ

[@Erick.Aviation]

@@garyb.1266 Any recollection?

[@chrisk5566]

Very interesting, thank you!

[@nickw7619]

Bridgewater, NJ- my home town! My mom worked for the courier when they still had the large building on rt 22

[@bepbep7418]

You should do an episode on Logging on the Penobscot River here in Maine. It's quite the fascinating tale.

[@edglunz9917]

I so love this Channel. So much information. So well done

[@n3glv]

Thanks a kiloton for another great show about the cold war era. I think I'm going to join Bert the Turtle under my desk where he's cowering in place.

[@robertlabaw2037]

I remember this incident as a little kid - the family drove past this base almost daily. Somewhere in a big box of pictures is a skinny little kid standing in front of one of the missiles, as they had one on display at the base entrance off Route 539.

[@daviddunsmore103]

12:05 The Palomares B-52 crash happened on the 17th of January, 1966, not in 1962 as mentioned in the video. Otherwise, another great documentary, and I appreciated the photos of the RCAF Bomarcs, just for diversified content.

[@jerryforeman4543]

Well done! Thanks for sharing!

[@NeoMorphUK]

Looks like something from Thunderbirds...

[@skyserf]

Neo Morph *Feyveee* ...

[@trob0914]

Thunderbirds are go! Que the theme song!!👍

[@JesusisJesus]

Rob Tinsley I always wondered why they farted around so much sliding down shit, moving trees and pools, and what if Virgil had a few martini’s before some shit went down?

[@nothandmade9686]

In that show the missiles were always unsheltered and too close together. Corrupting the minds of the young audience in proper base design.

[@boathousejoed9005]

F.A.B.THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!😆

[@stevehaug3603]

I was a Air Force Security Police guard in 1971 and patroled all over this facility and never even heard even a whisper about this incident until I read this post.

[@bikerchrisukk]

I enjoyed that, thank you 👏

[@cjespers]

Thanks for the video and entertaining commentary.

[@scruffscruffeton986]

Boy, it's a good thing their was an NCO around to screw up notifying the civilians. Imagine how awful it would have turned out if their had been an officer making the call.

[@georgebuller1914]

Such a cynic! LOL

[@johndemeritt3460]

I worked for some of those officers . . . .

[@apegues]

FYI... back in the day it was not a Joint Base (JB) They were separate bases, McGuire AFB & Fort Dix

[@notthatdonald1385]

"Cold War kids were hard to kill under their desks in an air raid drill" - Billy Joel I agree, I was one of them.

[@dave8599]

and we ate junk food, red dye, soda, even peanut butter, we rode bikes with no helments, and were allowed outside to play all day long with no supervision. I took off on a three day bike ride with two friends when in 7th grade, rode along the coast highway, slept on the beach. Now days that would rate a child endangerment charge on the parents. and my parents were considered a bit overly protective back then.

[@oldgoat142]

@@dave8599 My brothers and I talk about those days, and we made it just fine in spite of what critics think and believe. Shame that we've become such a nanny state.

[@artjones2498]

@@oldgoat142 this world we live in now is sick.....and getting sicker by the day.....dont know how old you are but the early mid-late 70s seemed great when i was a.kid

[@oldgoat142]

@@artjones2498 I was a kid in the 60s and 70s. In my opinion, in spite of things like the energy crises and a declining public school system where I grew up in NYC, growing up then was simply terrific.

[@russwoodward8251]

Great research and story telling, thanks,

[@donparker1823]

Great story, I spent my first 8 years in the USAF in the nuclear missile business (SAC and USAFE). US nukes are thermal safe and one-point safe. That is accidental dropping and or burning in a fire will not result in a nuclear yield. Unfortunately this has been tested a bit too often but it's true.

[@disorganizedorg]

I never thought I'd be grateful for such a video, but there it is in the times we live in. Thanks for the perspective.

[@SeaHearts1]

Hey History Guy, could you make a video about the history of pens, paper and ink? Thanks.

[@dave8599]

yes!

[@Sublette217]

Several Bomarc missiles that were on static display in parks and museums for many years were removed in the 1990s and 2000s, the reason cited being the combined risk of fire with the thoriated magnesium structure of the airframe. Both a park in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, and the U.S . Air Force Armament Museum at nearby Eglin AFB had their examples taken away.

[@stevedietrich8936]

Damascus, Arkansas says "Hold my beer!"

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHXGoJpoj7VpbpY

[@OMG_No_Way]

The History Guy - Well played sir. Well played. LOL

[@stevedietrich8936]

@@TheHistoryGuyChannel Your fine video is where I learned about it. You might find it interesting to know that Tucson was formerly ringed by about 16 Titan missile sites. One has been preserved as a museum. The unfueled missile still sits in its silo. Docents offer tours. titanmissilemuseum.org Thanks for all of your wonderful videos.

[@Monster11B]

And that a few of those Tucson sites are now privately owned. And have been excavated.

[@F_Tim1961]

@@TheHistoryGuyChannel Re the subsequent clean up. Uranium oxide is not particularly dangerous except if you ingest it and it sits in your intestine (because of the short range to the nearest cells) . Depleted U is not dangerous. Oxidised Pu is dangerous because it is toxic and of course radioactive as well but the initial danger is toxicity. I'd say the authors of that second report went overboard on risks for their own reasons.

[@JG-mp5nb]

Excellent history lesson! We have a “lesson” waiting to be learned not far from our house in Georgia. The Air Force had a plant located near Dahlonega which had several reactors for studying the problems of unenclosed reactors- a possibility for an aircraft propulsion system. Some of the facility is now a public park! Unable or unwilling to remove some of the structures has resulted in many lingering doubts about the plant. Most of the questions revolve around how one reactor would be run unshielded in the out of doors-and the consequences today. A good read is “Atomic Adventures”, by a researcher involved, James Mahaffey. It covers the tanning of a mule (instant taxidermy) in the presence of alpha radiation as well as the “production “ of plywood, known as “Lockwood “, used as flooring in the AEC building in Maryland. Some scary, and unintentionally funny (Science Fiction 3000 material) stuff.

[@robertnoakes2185]

While I was in the US Army there was an incident where a Nike Missile was accidentally fired from a base during a test. You should do that story.

[@jwenting]

Nike Ajax or Nike Hercules?

[@scottcped]

I grew up in Muskego,WI. We had a Nike Missile site. I stood on one of the capped silos. My mom thought I was with my friends playing baseball at Mill Valley Elementary.... We could SEE the school from the site..... 😉

[@robertnoakes2185]

@@scottcped I grew up in San Francisco and toured a Nike Base while in high school. Two years later I was a fire control technician in the US Army on the NIke System

[@chiefpontiac1800]

Watched a program on the Military channel yesterday regarding broken arrows. This fits right in there! Good story HG!

[@jwenting]

not quite. Broken arrow means a missing nuclear weapon. This one wasn't missing, they knew exactly where it was at all times.

[@Vanilla0729]

This event proves, as always, that failure is always an option.

[@michaelwier1222]

An option is a choice. Who chooses to fail?

[@lordgarion514]

@@michaelwier1222 You choose to have that as an option when you decide to try.

[@michaelwier1222]

@@lordgarion514 Failure is a possibility... not an option.

[@johndemeritt3460]

. . . especially when the system is built by the lowest bidder!

[@johndemeritt3460]

@@michaelwier1222 , it becomes an option when you deploy a system that hasn't been made "GI Proof". Remember that little kerfuffle in Damascus, Arkansas in 1980 -- something about a Titan II missile full of IFRNA and UDMH with a 9 MT warhead on top and a 9 pound socket?

[@36736fps]

I have read many accounts of nuclear weapon accidents including "Command and Control", but I do not recall reading about this event. The site obviously lacked fire water runoff control and the bunkers were placed much too close together. A chemical explosion during launch could have damaged or destroyed several other missiles and of course a nuclear detonation would have wiped out the entire complex. We did many dumb things at the height of the cold war.

[@etarheel1]

I love your shows! Thank you

[@walterdebnam8021]

I should add that I admired him a great deal.

[@RicheBright]

Excellent stuff as usual! I greatly enjoy your channel.

[@av8tor261]

Canada dropped the Avro Arrow for the Bomark. Sad days.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/fGXdZmCibNpli9E

[@kleinjahr]

AV8TOR Ayup. Dief replaced the Arrow with the Bomarc. Mostly for political reasons. Though some good did come from it. Apparently many of the Avro engineers moved to the States and ended up working for NASA.

[@fergusmallon1337]

@@kleinjahr Canadians put the men on the moon

[@ericandre6766]

@ned pod Jacques Cartier 1534 The New France

[@leftcoaster67]

@@kleinjahr Good for the US. Not so much for Canada.

[@Mumbamumba]

I really appreciate your work. There are so many historical incidents I would never have heard of if it wasn't for your videos. Thank you.

[@knutdergroe9757]

Nothing, Absolutely nothing of any value, is without risk......

[@TonboIV]

With nuclear weapons, the risk is apocalyptic. We can't keep up the current situation indefinitely. Eventually, someone will make a mistake that none of us can afford. That's why nuclear disarmament treaties are important. At least we should be able to reduce everyone to a few hundred active warheads each. Sort of a UK level of deterrence. Thousands of warheads aren't needed.

[@lordgarion514]

@@TonboIV The real problem is we can't uninvent them, and TBH, several countries with several hundred each is well more than enough to end us as a species.

[@TonboIV]

@@lordgarion514 I wouldn't say so. Most nukes these days aren't the giant multi-megaton devices anymore. Those aren't needed with modern guidance, and they're hard to deliver with long range missiles. Modern fusion warheads also release less fallout than old style bombs. A nuclear exchange on that level would be a huge catastrophe, but probably not civilization ending.

[@lordgarion514]

@@TonboIV But much of the reason for making warheads smaller is having so many. If America and Russia only had a few hundred each, they'd be massive.

[@DAndyLord]

@@TonboIV Nuclear weapons are very scary, because they pack a megaton of TNT equivalent blast in something that weighs +-1000kg. If the Tsar Bomba was detonated at it's full 100Mt design yield on London, Portsmouth would be okish. Nukes are scary because they're small.

[@MrWATCHthisWAY]

I was very surprised that you can mention Lakehurst New Jersey without referencing the explosive disaster on May 6, 1937 of the Hydrogen filled German Airship Hindenburg just prior to WWII. This area of New Jersey has a torrid history of disasters that seam to plague it for some reason. All three of these military installation are physically connected to each other, US Army Fort Dix, US Air Force McGuire and US Naval Air Station Lakehurst New Jersey. There are even a couple of UFO Alien reports made by airmen from both the USAF & US Navy that were we documented but the military doesn’t take these reports seriously and contributes them to improper identifications. Except for the radar contacts then they are described as signal return anomalies. Thanks History Guy for another great lesson & reminder that nuclear weapons can do more harm when not maintained properly than good!

[@wtfbuddy1]

I grew up near the site in North Bay, part of a college now. Just think the range of the missile, how close a bomber would have penetrated North American airspace before these were used.

[@xaenon]

I remember reading, some time ago, that most of America's ICBMs were located more-or-less within the middle 1/3 of the continental US for the very reason that it would make them easier to defend and provide as much time as possible to launch them in the event of attack. And the logic was that the Soviets would almost certainly go after ICBM and fighter/bomber installations first in such an attack. Don't know for sure if any of that is true, but it does seem to make sense.

[@libertyman3729]

Wtfbuddy, Trust me. The Dewline was created about that time and by 1967 anything getting off the ground in Russia was known and being intercepted long befor it hit the U.S.

[@FalbertForester]

Also in part because the Midwest's geography is more stable for missiles in big holes in the ground than some other parts of the country . Wouldn't want to have my missiles sitting on the San Andreas fault line!

[@gsheac]

200 miles

[@xaenon]

@@FalbertForester Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, too. I'm sort of a cold-war 'fan' (in that I take interest in the technologies, strategies, and the general mindset of that era) and I saw a video a while ago about how, in the pre-missile days, when the only viable delivery system for nuclear bombs were aircraft, (mostly propeller drive, no less!) a bomber attack on the US would take place on a scale of HOURS. Hence all the CONELRAD and stuff they dreamed up. The planes would likely fly over the pole to reach us, and we'd have like easily two to three hours warning. We actually had time to dig in! Then ICBMs became a thing and CONELRAD, Civil Defense, and so forth was rendered almost instantly obsolete. It's little wonder so many people were spooked when Soviet first-strike missiles turned up in Cuba. The estimates were that those missiles could reach like 3/4 of the CONUS within something like 15 minutes.