The 1964 Savage Mountain B-52 crash was a U.S. military nuclear accident in which a Cold War bomber's vertical stabilizer broke off in winter storm turbulence.[3] The two nuclear bombs being ferried were found "relatively intact in the middle of the wreckage",[4] and after Fort Meade's 28th Ordnance Detachment secured them,[5] the bombs were removed two days later to the Cumberland Municipal Airport.[6]
![]() 10 January 1964: 3 days before the Savage Mountain crash, a New Mexico B-52 test showed the vertical stabilizer could fail. | |
Accident | |
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Date | 13 January 1964 (1964-01-13) |
Summary | Structural failure |
Site | Savage Mountain, Garrett County (near Frostburg, Maryland) 39.565278°N 79.075833°W / 39.565278; -79.075833 (1964 Savage Mountain B-52 crash) |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | Boeing B-52D Stratofortress |
Operator | 484th Bombardment Wing, Heavy (SAC, United States Air Force) |
Registration | 55-0060 (c/n 464012,[1] call sign "Buzz 14") |
Flight origin | Westover Air Force Base |
Destination | Turner Air Force Base
![]() ![]() Crash site ![]() Barton, MD Crash site in Maryland |
Crew | 5:
|
Fatalities | 3 |
Survivors | 2 (Pilot, copilot) |
The B-52 D was returning to Georgia from Massachusetts after an earlier Chrome Dome airborne alert to Europe.[7] Near Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, on a path east of Salisbury, Pennsylvania;[8] and after altitude changes to evade severe turbulence;[4] the vertical stabilizer[7] broke off. The aircraft was left uncontrollable as a result; the pilot ordered the crew to bail out, and the aircraft crashed. The wreckage of the aircraft was found on the Stonewall Green farm.[8] Today, the crash site is in a private meadow of Elbow Mountain[9] within Savage River State Forest, along the public Savage Mountain Trail just north of the Pine Swamp Road crossing.[10]
As the only crew member who did not eject, the radar bombardier[2] died in the crash and was not located until more than 24 hours afterward.[11] The navigator and tail gunner died of exposure in the snow. The navigator's frozen body was found two days[2] after the accident, 6 miles (10 km) from the crash and 3 miles (5 km) away[12] from where his orange parachute was found high in a tree near Poplar Lick Run.[8]: 1 Unable to disentangle his chute he released the Koch fittings and fell over thirty feet (9.1 m) through the tree, suffering injuries from the branches; his survival tent and other gear remained in the tree. He then attempted to find shelter and "meandered", eventually falling down a steep slope in the dark into a river basin.[2] After landing in the "Dye Factory field", the tail gunner trekked in the dark with a broken leg and other injuries[2] over 100 yards (90 m) to the embankment of Casselman River – in which his legs were frozen when his body was found five days later, 800 yards (700 m) from a Salisbury street light.[8]: 2, 4
The pilot parachuted onto Maryland's Meadow Mountain ridge near the Mason–Dixon line and, after being driven to the Tomlinson Inn on the National Road in Grantsville,[8]: 2 notified the United States Air Force of the crash. The co-pilot landed near New Germany Road, remained where he landed, and stayed "cozy warm" until rescued.[8]: 2
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1964 (1964) | |
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1963 ◀ ▶ 1965 |