USA dropped nukes on Spain
An interactive cartographic reconstruction of the 1966 Palomares incident. A mid-air collision between a USAF B-52G bomber and a KC-135 tanker released four B28 thermonuclear weapons over the coast of Almería, Spain.
Impact & Recovery Sites
4 Weapons • Palomares, SpainThe Palomares Incident Narrative
On January 17, 1966, at 31,000 feet over the Mediterranean coast of Spain, a USAF Boeing B-52G Stratofortress carrying four B28FI Mod 2 Y1 thermonuclear bombs (1.45 megatons yield each) collided with a KC-135A Stratotanker during routine mid-air refueling.
The collision ripped both aircraft apart, killing all four tanker crew members and three of the seven bomber crew. The four nuclear weapons separated from the disintegrating fuselage and plummeted toward the coastal agricultural village of Palomares in Almería.
Found intact in the dried riverbed of the Almanzora River. Parachute deployed correctly.
Equipped with a 16-foot ring-slot parachute which functioned flawlessly. Drifted into the soft gravel wash of the riverbed, approx. 1.5 miles north of Palomares. Recovered completely intact within hours.
High explosives detonated on impact. Plutonium scattered, contaminating the area.
Parachute failed to deploy. High-velocity terminal impact directly into a cultivated tomato field east of the village center detonated the conventional high-explosive lens without nuclear yield. Radioactive plutonium-239 and americium-241 were aerosolized across urban streets and vegetable crops.
High explosives detonated on impact. Created a crater and scattered radioactive material.
Parachute malfunctioned. The bomb struck a rocky ridge immediately north-northwest of the village. The conventional blast gouged a deep impact crater and distributed alpha-emitting plutonium dust downwind over agricultural plots.
Fell into the Mediterranean. Recovered after 80 days by the mini-sub Alvin.
Parachute partially opened. Local fisherman Francisco Simó Orts ('Paco el de la bomba') pinpointed the offshore splash site. A fleet of 34 US Navy vessels and the experimental submarine DSV Alvin hunted for 80 days. Found on March 17, 1966 on a steep underwater canyon face at 880 m depth, and lifted intact by CURV on April 7, 1966.